THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1904. SIEGE AND DEATH
#N one of his books—' Barracks, Bivouacs, and Battles '—the noted war correspondent, *$ ;|Hk Archibald Forbes, tells the following story : t^KS/i] ' I remember standing with a German Gen)sJjlol eral before Met/ watching a skirmish. The < *g}jfjs«* German battalion engaged happened tjo conpWj^ 1 sist chiefly of young soldieis, and they were *^^ ' not very steady. The old General shrugged his shoulders and observed : " Dey vant to be a little shaoted ; dey vill do better next time." ' And according to Forbes, all yo>uing soldiers need 'to be a liUle shooted ' before they become steady enough to fire coolly and tolerably straight when bullets are zipping and shells crashing about them. Judging from the cool and determined -way in which the ' bould sopr boys ' of Japan and Russia appear to "be facing death aJid piling the corpses high around Port Arthur, they have long since learned the grim lessons of war trial turn the scared young wis»ps of cannon-fodder inio steady veterans, skilled in the use of the slaughtering machines that modern military science has placed in their hands.
The meagre and scrappy reports that come from the-iron-bound city on tlhe Strait of Pe-chi-li go to show that this is one of tihe most 'businesslike "bombardments in military history. The 1f13,722 shells that were sent like a hurricane into Strassburg in 187,0 poundod a third of the city into heaps of rubbish, but did, ty comparison, ridiculously little damage to life and limn. BeJ,f©rt had a similar tale. Dr. Russell, describing one of the three bombardments of Verdun, declared that thfe investing force ' might just as well have bombarded it with cherry-stones.' During the siege of Paris
25,000 projectiles were fired into Forts Noisy, Rosoy, and Nogernt in the four days preceding New Year's Day, 1871. The total result was a vast deal of noise, thirty deaths, and a hundred non-fatal injuries. Only four persons were killed and ten wounded by the 16,000 to 18,000 shells that fell in and about Fort Vanvres, and the 10,000 projectiles that were dropped into Paris «lurjng a siege of 23 days only accounted for a total casualty list of 107 killed and wounded. There was a tremendous din and uproar when the American fleet bombarded Matan-zas (Cuba). Tons of ammunition and tens of thousands of dollars were expen-ded in the noisy display ; and the net result was— the docking Of the tail of one Spanish army-mule ! Twelve thousand shells were thrown into Ladysmith during the Anglo-Boer war. They did little damage to the place, and killed only 35 persons and wounded 188. In a siege, hunger and disease are (worse enemies than hurtling shells 1 . It is, perhaps, the comparative 'bloodlessness of bomhardments up to the present war which has given rise to the legend that it takes a ton of metal to kill a man. It will be interesting from the scientific, military, and humanitarian points of view to watch the result of the fierce bombardment which the Japanese, with their hi'ghexpl'osive shells, are carrying on around the long lines of the fortifications of Port Arthur.
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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 34, 25 August 1904, Page 17
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518THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1904. SIEGE AND DEATH New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 34, 25 August 1904, Page 17
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