Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-01-12

INSIDE LIGHT ON THE WAR
An Interview With Capt. John
Hay Beth.

of his recent visit TO Washington,
where he spoke before the National
Geographic society on the Human
Side of Trench Warfare.'' Capt. John
Hay Beth, of the Argyll and Suther-
land H~ighlanders and widely known in
the United States as Ian Hay, author
of The First Hundred Thousand" in
answer to numerous questions, threw
interesting sidelights on phases of the
European war which are not UGH
upon, customarily. in the dispatches
from the front. The Geographic so
ciety has issued i'm the form of the fol-
lowing war geography bulletin the sub
stance of an interview with Captain
Beth:
The widely heralded British tanks
have served their purpose, and ! doubt
Very much whether they will play m
further important role i'm the war" de-
clares Captain Beth. who was one of
the machine gun Officers having charge
of the training of the gun crews for
the tanks"
THE tanks are essentially a weapon
Of surprise. They made their advent
On the firing line at the supreme psy-
Geological moment. Our troops had
virtually reached an impasse IN the
Ihlepval woods, which the Germans
had fortified and refortified until it
seemed humanity impossible to make
any further Roadway. Then came the
tanks secretly made, piece by piece.
all over England, and shipped to a
point of assembly on the Somme front.
Not even the men whom ] was train
ing as a gun crew for one of. these pom
derous but astonishingly flexible death
dealers knew the kind of a juggernaut
in which they We're to operate until
they were ready for the terror spread
ing assault. The surprise to the Ger
Il nonS Wnc nnyOor1nta ind HN1,sor,1 ~,r,
ours. But now that the limitations of
the tank are known TO the enemy it's
usefulness is no longer exceptional.
while there must still be a vast
amount of important fighting on the
west front, it is the general belief of
many of u officers that the war will
be won from the southeast. Firm in
this. belief, the British, French and
Italians are making phenomenal prepa-
yations at. Saloniki, and in the spring
the world will be amazed by the gil
gantlc stroke which will be delivered
from this quarter.
1T is Interesting to note that. while
our tanks spread terror among sea
soned soldiers. the 'Zeps.'. upon which
.he Germans so confidently relied as a
means of overwhelming IIngland's CT
villain population with Uncomfortable
Year, have proved to be a complete fail
are. except that their comparative1y in
sC'oCIuSHeiol liz navy IedCleu dSdlIlS!
The would be ter:rorists and have been
he most effective recruiting agents
that the English army has had. In
deed, it would have been a profitable
venture if England had constructed a
Yep n sent it, flying enemy colors
IN a tour of our islands; for, whereve,
che a!rsl.ips have appeared, dropping
their comparatively ineffective bombs
there has followed a remarkable influx
of raw material from which fighting
men could he made to avcnge these
sai;s upon our helpless civilian classes
1T was my good fortune to witness
Sh. destruction of a Yep on the occa
sion of the first deliberately organized
but. as it proved. abortive air aid or
London several months ago. TIL air
ship was attacked by an aer"plane. a
wasD OF tn sky. which darted past the
cumbersome helix: and. at the momeu,