HOW PANICS IN WAR ARISE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1286, 18 August 1914, Page 4

HOW PANICS IN WAR ARISE.

EXAMPLES FROM HISTORY. In the pages of the Deutsche Revue Herr Sartorious enters into an interesting examination of the causes of panic in war. He finds one element to all panic a subconscious feeling lurking at the back of soldiers’ minds which predisposes them to become unsettled. In the war of 1806 the Prussian army was oppressed by a dim foreboding of Napoleon’s all-conquer-ing ability, and there needed only some disturbing incident to start a disastrous panic. So It was in the battle of Jena. As the troops passed through Jena about three o’clock a tuuult arose in the streets, and the cry went up on all sides that the French were close to the town. Away went rifles and knapsacks thrown hurriedly to the ground, though there was not a trace of the enemy to be seen anywhere. Such cries as “ The enemy is upon us ! ” or “ Back ! We are surrounded, lost ?” possess great power cl suggestion, if the morale of the troops is already in a shaky condition. This showed itself, too, among the Russian troops after their great deleat at the hands of the Japanese. Peculiarly dangerous are such cries when one part of the opposing army inspires particular fear. In the battle of Eylau the simple utterances of the word “Cossacks!” was enough to throw the Prussians into confusion.

At Nicholson’s Nek, outside L,adysmith, on October 30, 1899, the cry of “ Boer cavalry ! ” was enough to disorganise Carleton’s column. Mounted troops are more easily swept away by a panic than infantry, because the gregariousness of horses and their liability to scares makes them peculiarly responsive to the alarm of their riders. For example, in the battle of Trautenau Bredow’s brigade had to advance down a sunken road; an idea got into their heads that the enemy was hard on their heels, and immediately they all took to flight. Of panics in the thick and the press of battle the wars of Frederick the Great furnish many salient instances. They happened at Rossbach, Beuthen, and Zorndorf. At Rossbach, when Seydlitz had repulsed the attack of the first regiment of cavalry, the latter rode off in utter copfusion, shouting to the other troops: “Brothers, save yourselves! All is lost! ” Then ensued such a panic that the soldiers became utterly disorganised, threw away their arms, and took to their heels.

Much the same thing happened to the Austrians at Leuthen: a cavalry attack converted the Russian regiments into a hopeless rabble. It is only very seldom that when the mind of an army has been thrown off its balance its equilibrium can be restored and the troops can be reformed for battle. The best means for effecting this is to expose the terrorstricken mass to another danger. So at Wagram the bridges which would have been crossed by the fugitives were by Massena’s orders . blocked up, and guns were turned on to the disorganised mass. Or the officers on such occasions may do something by thjrowipg themselves in the path of their men with sword and revolver in their hands. Another useful way was resorted to by General Fock, when he had to stop the panic that had broken out in the battle of Nan-Kwanl-ing. He made the trumpets give the signal for a halt and play the National Anthem. This brought the flying rabble to a standstill. The most important factor in stilling a panic is the presence of mind of the commander-in-chief, a fine example of which was given by Frederick the Great’s action in the sudden attack of his forces at Hochkirch.