New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-06
Blood and Iron
Vivid Personal Experiences in
the Great War

on THE RIGHT or THE BRITISH LINE. ~
Captain Gilbert Nohts WITH two portraits Emo.
~ All. .s5. Char.cS Scrhuor's Sons.
FORCED TO FIGHT by Erich Ertch'en. Trans
lGtcd from The Danish Ivy Insebord Lund. Emo.
pp lS4. Robcrt NJ Mcbride q Co
WITH CAVALRY N TIE GREAT WAR By
Frederic Coleman illustrated from photographs
taken BY the author. iSmo. pp wi. 2e2. George
W. Jacobs & Go.
UNDER FIRE by Hsnh B,rbusse, Translated
h} J1tzvaier Wray. l2mo ~. Ih $50. L. +.
button 60.
Personal narratives Of the great war
multiply without becoming vapid or
banal. Never before did war produce
50 many or so interesting human doc
uments"; interesting and valuable both
because Of the individual experiences
and observations which they relate, and
because of the instructive sidehghts
upon the diplomatic and military his
tory of the war which they afford.
Unique in its fascination, for example,
Is the story Of Captain Nobbs. who was
wounded. blinded and officially reported
dead But even German war prisons
sometimes give back TO life their in
mates; as did that at Osnabruck. So
we have here a simple but graphic tale
Of the lighting at the Somme. of life in
a German hospital and a German
home whore he had long been sup
posed to be dead The book is filled
with intense feeling. but its account of
the conduct Of the Germans is not as
unfavorable as that in some other
books.
The writer Of Forced TO Fight" was
an impressed Schleswig Dane. who had
bitter experience in the trenches, and
= i.
aCery of the Huns warfare and their
blood fanaticism. One of his com
rades. a Mecklenburger, was Boosting
Of Gods aid:
Don't YOU think VIC should keep
God outside that?" answered,
"On the whole. / think we have far
too much TO do with God. Il some
times sounds like blasphemy."
He looked at me in establishment
and then said:
"You don't believe. perhaps, that
God is on or side. that ne are the
rod of chastisement over the others
because of their sins and their i'm
morality.
rip up their stomachs smash in
their skulls. We serve God
in that way. That is o1u' divine ser
vice"
This amiable young savage was. by
the way. a school teacher!
cavalry has figured so inconspicu-
ously in this war that many readers
have come almost 70 ignore its exist
once. Yet il has not been idle. albeit
the men have often had 70 fight afoot
Mr.. Coleman's account is that Of the
personal experiences of a British
trooper in the second battle OF Ypres,
and it is full of spirited action and also
Of Illuminating information concerning
many details Of that memorable con-
fict.
Henri Barbusses story Of squad AT
Crouy and Hill l19 might be charac-
terzed as a realistic rhapsody. Of its
realism, grim. stern and revolving, there
can be no question We have read no
more appalling account Of the hideous
atrocities of war. All that is cruel,
all that is bestial. all that is unspeak-
able in its wickedncss of wanton de-
prayity. is here exposed in all its
nskedness. Yet all Is illumined and
adorned if not at all redeemed with
the play of rich and lively fancy, the
purpose of which is not to distort nor
% conceal. but rather to emphasize
the truth; and through it all faith and
horc ERE irreprcssible and triumphant
Above most volumes Of the kind. 1t is
an epic Of the war.