Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1918-03-07

How Battles Have Been Won by
Rain and Cold.
They Are Factors ~ Important a. the
Number Of Men and Guns-Winter
Played a Part in Nnpoleon's
Defeat.

The wonders of modern warfare are
too many and too great to even touch
upon, but there is one thing thai plays
exactly the same part in war that 1t did
In the first war that was fought-some-
| thing that the most expert military tacti-
clan cannot hope to eliminate-and that
Is the weather, says the Philadelphia
North American.
Since time immemorial It has been one
| Of the most important factors in war
fare, and It will continue to be so al
ways. Everything may be ready for a
great battle, then 1t rains or II SHOWS,
or suddenly a big wind rises, and every
thing Is changed. And the change is very
| likely to have consequences OF far-reach-
ing historical Importance.
| When general lays out his campaign
| the weather must be considered as de-
| liberately as the munitions or the food
and clothes for the soldiers. He must
always know in advance just what sort
| OF weather he Is likely to run UP against
and be prepared for 1t.
One cannot read any of the accounts
Of the retreat from Moscow without feel
| ing that General Winter" played a great
| part In Napoleon's defeat. The men were
| absolutely helpless when the terrific cold
Of the northern winter swept down upon
them.
Az Guizot SO dramatically puts It: with
winter coming on, and each day getting
colder. a passionate desire for return and
terror Of the frightful evils which
threatened the army had seized all those
men who. till recently, were so daring
and so ready to try any danger" 1t just
took their nerve. Suddenly the whole
army. almost to a man. felt itself beat
en-. and every heart was filed with des-
| pair.
In the 29th bulletin of the army Napo-
! leon told the world the part that Winter
played in his defeat. There is no doubt
but that he played it up in order to
detract from his own mistakes, but his
description of the woful suffering Of his
men is true enough:
THE army was in good condition on
the 9Th of November he wrote, land
until then the weather had been perfect.
! The cold began on the 18th, and from
that time on we lost every night several
hundred horses, which died during the
bivouac. Soon 10000 had succumbed and
| our cavalry were all on foot On the 18th
we were almost without cavalry, artillery
and transports.
without cavalry we could gain no
| information beyond a quarter of a league.
Without artillery we could not fight a
battle or keep positions steady.
1t was necessary to march to avoid
a battle, which the want Of supplies
made undesirable 1t was necessary to &C.
| cupy certain space to avoid being taken
in flank and that without cavalry to gain
information and unite the columns. This
difficulty, together with the excessive and
sudden cold. rendered our position diff
| cult Some men whom nature hadn't tenn
pered strongly enough to be above vicis-
STUDIES of fate and fortunes seemed stag
gered, lost their cheerfulness and good hui
NOR and thought Of nothing but disaster
and destruction
1t is generals job to see that his
men are protected as far as possible from
extreme heat and cold. dust, dampness
ana all the rest OF the unpleasantnesses
OF warfare. AS one captain puts 1t: You
can jolly we'll believe that there is a vast
difference in the morale of an army.
whether 1t Is marching over hard roads
under clear sky or whether 1t Is trudg-
ing along knee deep In mud and water.
with the rain beating down on it,"
The battle Of Crecy might have re-
suited very differently had a fearful
thunder storm not risen just as the two
armies had drawn up for the fight There
was small cloudburst for few minutes.
then the air cleared as suddenly as the
rain had come and the sun shone brightly.
But the Genoese bowmen. In whom
the French had put their faith. had
neglected to keep their bowstrings dry
during the shower. and when they started
in to use them they failed to work prop
er!y. The French king was furious and
| ordered his men to fall upon the archers
and Kill them before advancing. In the
CONFUSION that followed the English soon
had the advantage and the battle was
won.
Before Waterloo 1t rained all day.
| When Napoleon got up on the morning
OF the day of the battle he called Gem
eral Droui to him and asked him about the
weather. 1t looked as If it was begin
ming to clear. and the general told him
that If he would only delay the attack
Tor five or six hours he thought it would
dry on SO that the ground would bear the
| heavy artillery and would be much bet
| ter.
Napoleon agreed. thinking that the de-
| lay would give Marshal Grouchy. whom
he was expecting with achievements.
time to get to him. Instead, Grouchy
did not arrive, and the delay benefited
only the English. for it gave Marshal
biucher who had been wounded the day
| before time to join Wellington
| Howe was obliged to evacuatc BOSTON
in 1776 because of the weather. He felt
that his position was perfectly safe there.
then one day he was informed that Wash
ington was assembling his forces on Dor
| chester Heights.
II ne allowed them to establish them
selves there his position would be in dan
| ger. so In the words Of one of his aids
he determined to attack at them on the
the 9Th of March,
| But the Wind coming contrary and
blowing very hard. the ships were NOT
able to get to their Destination. &: the
attempt became unpracticabla. That the
stormy weather continuing all the next
! oay d night gave to the Enemy time to
improve their Works. to bring I'D the,c
canon q to put themselves into such a
state OF Defense that he could promi,.
| himself but little Success in Attacking
men, and therefore he judged It most
advisable to prepare for the evacuation
OF the Town."
AND 80 It goes. In almost every big
nattie the weather has favored one side
or the other. And 1t is exactly SO in the
present war. There are two kinds of
weather that the armies have to deal with:
the sudden storms, such as saved the dav
Tor the English Of Crecy, and the natural
weather, like the Russian winter. which
| Ors. 10 rs
our generals are having all these sare