PADDED SOLDIERS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 6, 22 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

PADDED SOLDIERS.

GERMAN'S IN THE ROLE OP 4 FALSTAFF.

A good many hundreds of German prisoners have been taken into France. They seem practically all to be men who surrendered out of sheer physical misery, their powers of endurance being worn out by endless days of lighting la flooded trenches. In one day over a thousand surrendered.

Among the dodges to which the Germans resort as a protection against the bayonet Is to stuff their tunics with shirts, cloth, or an}'thlng they can find. The Belgian bayonet is a short, stumpy weapon with a ten-inch blade, which buries itself in the padding and fails to reach the body. At any rate, that is the theory of the patrons of this device. Most Germans of Landwehr age and practically all qualified for the Landstrum are so well provided with frontal padding by nature that any artificial increase of amplitude in this direction wouid swell their girth to Falstafflan proportions. But a few weeks' campaigning in the flats of Flanders has doubtless done mcfe for their figures than a score of Augusts,at Karlsbad. LACK OF OFFICERS. THE KAISERS PROMISE OF PROMOdiiON. TliJ German army is suffering from a shoirtago of offkws. The ," Berliner Naehrichtcn " makes the following complaint on this head:— " The uninterrupted and exhausting marches, attended with heavy losses, have greatly decreased the eori\» of our omo'.s. The officers are subject"fc*JJWr vous diseases, and frequently pronto" bo unsuitable in active service. Th»gs have gone so far that in many plaorp on tho we-'f rn front one lieutenant has to command two or three companies. The War Office is making heroic efforts to fill tho gap thus crea/tr ed in the officers' corps. " The Emperrir has issued a decree, according to which all persons who have had a superior education will bo promoted to officer's rank after three months' service." PRTNCES IN THE RANKS. The native princes of the tribes of the Caucasus, many of whom are Mussulmans, came forward ait the lvogimiing of the wair offering hones, men, and money. A magnificent body of native hor-e ha; now 'taken the field. Many Russian regiments are composed entir Iv of men of nrineely birth. Wealthy landowners, cn.'-li of whom su'bscribed tc:s of thousands to the W:ir Fund, are contented to serve tho Emperor *» s plain troopers. The response of the Russian Polish aristocracy has assumed iremarkabW forms. One of th:' crack Guard Rcpr'menis has formed two whole companies entirely eomno.sed of men of noble birth, among" th"rn being thirty Vo\m noMenvu. bonded by Prince Zamoyski, who. discarding his high Court rank, has d 'lined the Won o of a priwate i ft his Makßfy'rt Foot-srtiards. A French army corps is made up of twenty-four battalions of rather over 1000 men. each. These nre sectioned into tight regiments, ench of thr?c battalions, and Ihcso again are formed into four brigades, two of which compose a division.