THE GERMAN MACHINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 August 1915, Page 8

THE GERMAN MACHINE.

SIGNS OF BREAKING UP. INFANTRY DETERIORATING. An interesting letter has been received by the Governor of New South Wale?, Sir Gerald Strickland, from his brother, who is serving at the front: "While the unmbcr of optimist* is diminishing," the letter states,; ''l still hold that the war is not likely to last through another winter. Ths German machine is, on doubt, a very r.crfeet 01 ■ ganisation, but, like all machines, if one wheel goes wrong, the machine stops.' Now on one point at least all agree. The German infantry has deteriorated from whit it was at the beginning of tn.i war. They no longer push an attaclc home: our Tommies do. If it were not for the incredible number of their machine-guns and all sorts of batteries, provided with apparently unlimited ammunition, we could,walk through all their entanglements'. The Turks, according to ail accounts, show a better fight. When the new Ministry of Munitions will have provided us with more guns and shuils the end will come.

ARTILLERY PREPARATION. "Last week I had a confirmation pf this view. Our troops not far from here, at Hooge, were told to straighten out a salient o.f the German lines that nin towards our trenches. We succeeded beyond our expectations, and made over 200 prisoners. ... I came across a batch of them—two officers and 120 men. It was the first time I met Germans out here, after eight months campaign. . The officer in charge of the German machine-guns was one of the prisoners. He told me that they never stood a chance, because the fire of our artillery was too accurate, and the yellow smoke —our lyddite—was too much for them. Within an hour their trenches had been shattered, their dug-outs blown up, and their four machine-guijs knocked out of action before they had a chance of firing a shot. One third of the men were killed, many wounded. The rest—so the officer said —got so unnerved —unvernunftig— i.e., unreasonable, as he put it in German, that there was nothing left for him but to surrender. The men said the same, adding that they did not mind facing French infantry, but it was hopeless to stand against English infantry.

WHAT THE GERMANS THOUGHT. "Perhaps my most curious experience was to realise haw perfect was the German system in succeeding to make all the German nation believe that black was white. The prisoners all thought that we —the Allies—started tiie war, but that victory would be theirs became they were winning all along the line. Even the Italians, they said, were running away everywhere before the Austrians. Fortunately, I got hold of the last English paper, and the officer had to acknowledge that as far as the Italians were concerned they had been misinformed. As to the rest! lie stuck to his opinions, adding that Germany could continue the war indefinitely, and that we could not increase our numbers because the Irish refused to «nlißt and to flgnt. In vain I told him that we had several first-rate Irish regiments in our own division who tire as brave as lions. The officer hesitated to believe me. At last I told him. Tou don't understand the irony of your present position. Bo you know what troops are escorting you! It is the Loyal North Irish Horse, the very min who you foolishly thought wou'd prevent the Expeditionary Force from landing in France by causing a civil war.' This stopped further slander of our brave Irish boys, whether north or south of Ireland. Though not an Irishman, my heart was sore for the losscs a few dayß before of two Irish regiments. They had both been 'gassed'. . . and yet the 'Dubs' (Dublin Fusiliers) held out till evening, because it was found impossible either to support them or to call them back. The only surviving officer from the firing line, simply told me, 'I had no orders to retire till nightfall.' Meanwhile, in the morning, the Germans had taken one of their trenches, and I do not care to repeat the stories that arc current about what they did with those that fell into their hands.

EFFICIENT RESPIRATORS.

"This last incident will, however, explain to you why, when some of the prisoners expressed surprise at being so well treated by us, after having been led to believe the contrary—of course, to prevent their surrendering—l could not help telling them that they should be thankful for having fallen into the hands of a regiment that had not been 'gassed.' The fact is that the attitude of our 'Tommies' towards the enemy has changed since they haj-e found out that international law is put aside by the enemy. Some regiments now neither forget, nor forgive. "You will be glad to know that we have now discovered efficient respirators to cope with the poisonous gas. Even with the other respirators, most of them recovered, but it was a. sad sight to see hundreds of men coughing, half dazed like drunken men for hours. Those who had a weak heart or bad lungs succumbed."