FRENCH SKILL BEATING THE GERMANS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 229, 24 November 1916, Page 6 (Supplement)

FRENCH SKILL BEATING THE GERMANS.

THE RUSSIANS IX FRANCE. Paris, September IG. French front and witness, among other phases, an extensive combat whefe n gallant part was played by Russian-. It was the first time any American correspondent had been permitted to see the Russians in action on French soil. I returned from the front with one fact certain in my mind (cables Alden Brooks to the New York "Times"). If in the course of these autumn months Hindenburg announces that he "has withdrawn" troops to the line of the Meuse for strategic reasons, it will be ns big a falsehood as that in the classic German statement of September 10, 1914. which spoke of the battle of the Matrno as a victory of certain German "detachments," afterwards " withdrawn" before superior forces. Everywhere on that long front the Germans are bringing to bear all their strength and all their cunning in a savage determination to hold on just as they are to the last man. If their hold is gradually relaxing, it is because the will of t-iie Allies at last has them 5n its power. The situation is this: The present German strategy proclaims its belief that all modem attacks are doomed to waste themselves in trench warfare. French military science (and there is such a thing) is about to show that if modern warfare is no longer analogous to a game of chess, it is, nevertheless, analogous to a game of checkers, and a victorious advance can be developed by the clever mass play of mobile heavy artillery.

To speak more fully of tits Allied attack is for the moment merely to dwell again on the well-known details of ihe role played by artillery, and the subsequent annihilation of trenches and villages. Moreover, an entirely erroneous comparison with the failure of the German efforts before Verdun arises m so many minds that all such detat's lose military significance and remain nothing but details. Tor those who know, this is the veritable beginning of the debacle of the German Empire. But the future shall speak for itself. Meanwhile here are the Russians close upon the edge of attack, eagerly waiting their turn to do their part. A finer siet of soldiers it would be hard to find anywhere. They are not picked troops. They are merely part of Russia's new levies drawn at random from all sectors. Their commander, General Nicolas Lohwitsky, is a courteous, alert man of middle size, unlike the tall, heavy Russian of tradition. During luncheon I asked him one of those questions which newspaper men sometimes permit themselves to ask, namely why he and his men made the long voyage round to France.

After glancing at his cigarette a moment, General Lohwitsky looked up with a smile and said: " You may say that we came to France to kill just as many Germans as possible."

It was the General himself who led our party to the firing line. The substitution of Russians for Frenchmen cannot make any great difference in the general aspect of trench life, and yet the Russian brings with him a certain colour. He makes his presence very picturesque. Whenever we came upon soldiers n the trenches, all stood up stiffly, in line at salute, and in answer to the General's pleasant greeting of "Good morning, brave boys," invariably shouted back In unison: "May youi Excellence be in good health." Their sincerity was ver yimpressive.

KEEP BUSY WITH NIGHT RAIDS.

As the Russians are impatient to be in the fray, they do not give themselves much rest. Every night sees them creeping forth from the trenches, bent on capturing or killing some of the foe. In reply to this delicate attention on their behalf, the Germans regularly scatter shells over the sector during the daytime. As we walked along shells were constantly whining around us. The General always detected their approach le fore ally of us, and as promptly predicted correctly where they would fall. Once lie stopped and expressed the opinion that certain of the shells were being fired from cannon the rifling t.i' which was worn out. A peculiar erratic whistling noise indicated this, lie said.

Upon niv expression of wonder at his knowledge, he replied lightly : "Oh, after two yctirs, you know, all this becomes a business."

Presently we examined the da ma go done by a shell that had landed recently near a small dug-out. A Routine! was standng at attention in front of the opening. Inside was a small stor? of hand grenades.

A captain explained to the General how this sentinel had remained at attention, while not only one shell but ten or more exploded all around him, as he guarded the open entrance to the dugout with his body. For my part 1 confess there wai something very moving in such devotion, but the lad stood there before us unmoved, apparently without the slightest wish to claim for himself the quality of hero. Nor was there any change upon his features when Genera t Jjr>lnv,itsky placed /his Jhand on (his shoulders and spoke a few words to him. Only his eyes stared at us frankly and took us all in. I tried to imagine what his thoughts were. Doubtless they might have been summarised by the simple statement, ' I am n Russian soldier." As wo walked along the road back to where the automobile was waiting to whirl us to another portion of the front, I asked General Lohwitsky his opinion of Hidenburg. He replied:— " Hindenburg's success at the Masurian I.akes has been greatly overestimated. We ourselves were largely at fault and we lacked ammunition. I'ut Hindenburg is a good general and I do not wisli to imply that he is not. His strategy before Lodz was very masterful. In respect to his nomination to the supreme German command. it is interesting to compare the methods adopted by the German Emperor and our own Emperor in times <it' great sties-,. When op'rations were not going with us as they should our Emperor tok command of all the armies in person in order to (cntre upon himself all the responsibility. But the German Emperor has acted differently. Instead of throwing himself forward to bear the brunt of possible disaster, lie j prefers.'now-that- the Allies are gradually hemming him in. to shift- and dodge a.way from responsibility by juggling with generals. " I prefer our Emperor's method, and the Western world cannot perhaps obtain eve ii;i small idea how the knowledge of the Czar himself commanded cVctrified our troops. Although thev had no ammunition and had to charge with only bayonets to rely upon, they fought as they had never fought before. "I know that it is the common dictum to speak of such devotion as so mii'h butchery but that opinion is only the offspring of the German lie that tries to discredit the simple spirit of

religious faith that animates our troops. When our country was in danger, all of us, officers and men alike, had to sacrifice ourselves unhesitatingly. It is our pride that we all did iike one man.

"We ore, howjver, as great respecters of human life as anyone. 1 ma. - say that our casualty list here <ll .France shows that not one Russian, dead, wounded, or prisoner, has fallen into Gorman hands. Is that the record of an army that cares nothing for human life? No, it is our devotion that irritates the German and urges lum to lie about us. '' But we do not care. We are calm in the knowledge that our faith and our religion are active factors in our life, and it pleases us to think that with all our faults there is in our most simple soldier something that savours greatly of nobility." General Loluvitsky paused a moment, and then added, as lie offered his hand in good-bye:— "With the English it is perhaps that iron tenacity that counts, with the French it is brains, with the Germans shall we say it is will power, but with us it is the heart. We are an army with a heart, an array with a soul."