FRENCH METHODS OF FIGHTING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1374, 16 March 1915, Page 4

FRENCH METHODS OF FIGHTING.

LESSONS OF GERMAN MISTAKES. Nobody has learned more from the German mistakes than the French army (writes a P-'.ily Telegraph special correspondent). W.e had, indeed, much to learn. Those who, like the writer of these lines, have been engaged in the war since the very first day, can hardly believe that the present French army is the very same which fought at Morhauge and Charleroi. We had to spend several montus in trying to complete our equipment and to mend our methods, This, by the way, escaped the attention oi many outside observers. They were wondering why the French were not pushing on at once, Well, they were making a new army. That new army is now rea'dy, but is still learning every day. The first thing we learned with our British allies was how to make a line impregnable. This was the most urgent matter. But now we begin to think that we also know how we ought to attack. The general principle underlying the new method in assaulting the enemy's line can be stated in a few words. It consists in doing nothing In a blind way. As compared with the German rush, the French method might be termed the method of the open eye. METHOD OK THE OPEN EVE.

Take, for instance, the use of heavy and field artillery. No infantry attack is now launched it it has not been thoroughly prepared by an efficient artillery fire. But it has been also found out that no artillery fire is efficient if the guuneis simply file from a map, without seeing what they are firing at. How the officers commanding the heavy batteries, which fire occasionally from a distance of seven miles, manage to observe their objective, as well as the officers of the field artillery, is

a technical detail which does not concern you or me. But the fact remains that no important attack is ever started before not only the batteries, but every gun in them, is in a position to shell a given point within an approximation of a lew yards. The result of this finished way of working has already proved very satisfactory. There is no line of trenches on earth which can stand an accurate and concentrated fire of several hundred guns. During the last weeks it has often happened that after such a formidable bombardment the troops walked into the enemy’s trenches without losing one man. INFANTRY AND RKCONNOITRING.

A second, and even more Jm portant, rule consists in never asking an infantry unit to carry a position before it has had time to reconnoitre. ft has often hap peued in the recent past that a regiment was suddenly ordered to make a dash on a line of trenches which the officer commanding had only seen on the man. Now, such a method cannot Lv: : . bring about a lamentable failure and useless losses. It is exactly ;s it you were to ask a lawn tennis player to play eff-haud an import ant match at Wimbledon without having even so much as looked at the court. In such a case the best champion is likely to be defeated. Fortunately, this error belongs now to the past. No French regiment ever starts rushing on a German position before the commanding officers have gone down to the trenches opposite, have carefully examined the ground, and found out how their men must be led in order to incur the fewest possible losses. All this minute preparation does not prevent the attack from being sudden and violent. The contrary is the case, for it is only by care fully combining all the forces at hand that you can give them their full effect. As a matter of fact, the numerous small successes achieved lately by the French army are all due to the method of the open eye. Their most satisfactoiy side is that they cost comparatively few lives, while previously the smallest attack delivered on the evemy resulted in a tragic number of casualties. But it is also interesting to know that the new method appears to be very efficient, as far as the gaining of ground is concerne'd. The men who lead us are, at any rate, quite confident that it will enable them to attain some important results. Why, then, do the French content themselves with pushing the Germans on lor a few yards here and there ? Why is progress still slow ? The answer to those questions was contained in one of the last French communiques, which said that the slowing down of the offensive must only be ascribed to the present weather conditions.