The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-04-08
DYING LEAST SERVICE
SOLDIER CAN RENDER
French Are Training Their.
Men How to ESCAPE
From Death.
REDUCING THE RISK
Men Are Taught That Use
less Waste of Life Is Not
Best for Country.
REDUCING THE RISK

With the French Armies.-FreDch
soldiers are being taught today that
the smallest and most useless thing a
man can do for his country is need
lessly to give his life. Next to getting
killed. the smallest thing he can do
for her is needlessly to get wounded.
The greatest thing he ceD do for his
country IL neither to get killed nor
wounded. but to keep on fighting SO
long as his country has need Of his
services. A soldier killed is a SOL
der who can never be replaced. Such
Is the axiom of the French army in
Its effort to reduce to minimum the
risks taken by its soldiers in battle.
The French military authorities also
proceed on the theory that the great
majority of soldiers are brave and only
a few are not. Instruction is now given
French soldiers as to how best to save
themselves for their country. AS much
attention Is given to those who are in
clined to overexpose themselves as to
those who in an effort to protect
themselves, through lack of bravery
merely incur new risks and dangers.
The net result has been largely to
overcome the fear that Is always to
be found In certain small percentage
of men, and to reduce to a surprising
degree the French losses in action.
:" = How to Escape Big Shells.
One Of the first lessons the French
soldier is taught in the art Of self
preservation is that big shells, al
though about the most terrifying
things in the world. can, to brave and
intelligent man, be rendered practically
harmless. 1t has been demonstrated
that a big shell, in spite Of the terror
inspiring roar Of it's approach. is likely
to do very little harm unless 1t strikes
the precise spot where a soldier may
be standing. This happens in only
small percentage of instances. When
the shell does strike and bursts the
fragments nearly all fly upward so
that with the approach Of the missile,
IL a soldier throws himself flat on the
ground or into convenient shell hole
his chances OF being killed or wounded
are very slight If, on the other hand.
he falls prey to the terrorizing whizz
OF the shell as it approaches and at
tempts to run away, 1t is almost GER
tain that he will be caught in the fly
ing fragments or in those of some
other she'll
The teaching of these things to the
French soldier not only increases his
own natural bravery, but renders him
intelligently self protective. The SUI
preme contempt that the average SOL
dier has for an approaching shell, and
the bigger the shell the greater the
contempt. is one of the results of such
instruction.
A French Trap.
In nearly all charges across open,
shell swept ground the soldiers sooner
or later come up with enemy trenches
that run In the same direction they
are going. The temptation to leap into
the shelter of these covers. especially
as they still run in the direction the
troops are charging. is not only
very human, but very Irresistible
one. The soldier, therefore, has to be
taught that the soldiers who leap into
these trenches seldom II ever come out
alive. Nine times out of ten they
have been prepared in advance by the
Germans who have placed a machine
gun at the far end In the hope that
the French would leap into them and
be moved down like so many sheep.
The reduction to the minimum of the
risks OF battle and the consequent
losses was also one of the principal
In the complete change
by the French military authorities,
since the beginning of the present war,
of their methods Of attack. Instead OF
the troops dashing forward now side
by side, they leap to the charge with
an interval of from 10 to 20 yards be-
tween each man. This not only les
sens the chances OF their being killed
by flying bullets, but make it possible
for every man to leap into a conve-
nient shell hole for the purpose of es-
Gaping from exploding shells. In fact,
the whole charge may developed into
a leap from shell hole to shell hole.
The natural bravery of the French
troops caused many Of them for a long
time to have contempt for the gas
mask. These over brave ones were
forced to enter inclosed rooms filled
with gas and find out for themselves
the full value of the mask.
Both bravery and cowardice are at a
minimum Of needlessness In the army
today.