AWFUL CARNAGE OF WAR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1464, 26 October 1915, Page 2

AWFUL CARNAGE OF WAR.

An instructive comparison of the losses ot the combatants in the great battles of history has been published by a Paris paper. At Marengo, in ISOO, the 30,000 French opposed to 35,000 Austrians lost respectively 20 and 22 per cent. At the battle of Jena, 1806, the French lost 9 per cent, and the Prussians 33 per cent., or 4,050 against 23,100 men. At Kylau, 1807, 55,000 French had 9,540 men out of action, or 18 per cent., and the Russians, 72,000 strong, lost 30,960, or 43 per cent, of theirs. At Waterloo, ISIS, 72.000 French lost about 36 per cent., and the 156,000 allies lost 20 per cent. At Solferiao, 1859, 125.000 French beat 150,000 Austrians, losing 7 per cent., as against 15 per cent. Coming to the Franco-Prussian war, at Froeschwiller, 18.70, the French lost 6,080, or 16 per cent., against 8,400 or 7 per cent., on the German side. At Rezonville, 130,000 French lost 11,000, or 9 per cent., and 200,000 Germans lost xo per cent. At Liao-Yang, in 1904, 95.000 Russians lost 14,000, or 12 per cent., and 100,000 Japanese lost 19,000, or 19 per cent, of the troops engaged. And, lastly, at the great battle of Mukden, 1905, 350.000 Russians lost 20 percent., or 70,000, whilst 300,000 Japanese lost 42,000, or 14 per cent. These figures sink into insignificance before those of the present war.

Not one of the more important engagements of 1914-15 has cost the Germans fewer than the various adversaries of the French lost in the old battles ot history. The fight at Les Kparges, for instance, equals three, and the battle of Notre Dame de Lorette half a dozen Marengos. The battle of the Yser cost the German armies ten times as dear as Jena’s field, and the battle of the Marne killed more Germans than Waterloo. Froeschwilier, Rezonville, and St. Privat together.