SURPRISES OF THE WAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12536, 6 May 1915, Page 8

SURPRISES OF THE WAR.

INTERVIEW WITH A GERMAN ; GENERAL. VON rIEE-BINGEN'S VIEWS* ] The view.; of one of tiui ?>l»i"st of the : German eommauders,"General vu» tiecriiigui, un sow-; surprises ol the present war are given in a rb.spateh iron) a correspondent ■ of the Aiswbitod I' l which appeared in the Aew lork "Evenin-- I'oss, recently. Writing Ivuiil Uio liud headquarter/of General von lloerinuen'.s army at "a place m i'lance,' where, mi a guest 01 the headquarters liifss, he had listened to the UeneraJ s "atter-dimier talks or, the new Jes»u::» and methods of this war/' the corrcspoii

■ Sixty-rive years of age., with sil'<y white beard," mild "eyes, a pTcasant voice, and a courteous consideration for visitors and all with whom he comes in contact, it takes the grev field uniform, with the black and white ribbon and the Iron Cross upon his breast, to reveal the man who, an War .Minister, drafted and put through the Reichstag the_ billion-mark levy for the increase in the army last year, and who, as commander 01 that army, hastily concentrated in the fir.it ten ilavs of mobilisation, broke up the Frciu'h invasion of Southern Alsace, and drove the invaders back upon Belfort.

General von Hcuriiigen has been hi 'close touch with the modern theory of war, but he admits that all did not come out as the experts had supposed. "Take the laving out of trenches, for example," he said. ' "The fust principle" to bo observed in laying out trenched, aocordng to our ideas "before the war, was to secure as extended a field of fire as possible, so

as tc force an attacking enemy to advance a long distance under the fire of the defenders. Now we have learned that the first essential is to have thorn concealed and protected from aiihl.ry fire, even, ii -the held of fire does not extend more than fifty yards before the trenches. That is enough, with modern weapons, to stop any attack. In a :....:iuei' of places along the front our men ai.c! the French occupy separate slope; of the same ridge, with the crest ol the ridge between them, so that neither side' ran "rice tile other. In the old days it v.oi-id have been thought

that the side :■ . ~ the crest could drive.out the ol jut now nether side dares show a he ;i above the crest. "Hand giena.... ;. we find, arc the best ■weapons lor si;-<.... ; . and house-to-house lighting. A <.■..;. pie o- hand grenades thrown into a ..jur.e occupied by the enemy will e!ur it more, quickly than anything eke. and with tar less, loss of life than by the use of the bayonet. Out men all carry them now. In the trenches we are nsing with remarkable effect not only hand grenades, but also large mines containing a great quantity of explosive, and thrown by a special type 01 gun. These exolede with tremendous cluct, killing or utterly demoralising everyone in the opposite trench." The correspondent was .-.luiwu a number

01 these hand grenade--'. They are about the size of a. baseball and are hound to

short woodui paddles, making them very handy to throw. Usually tiiey are provided with fuses, which the user I'ghts from a match or a cigar. A supply of these is kept in readiness in every trench. When patrols go out between the line?

each man usually carries two in his belt, and storming parties sent to take a village or town equip themselves, liberally with these weapons.

Genera] ion Heeringen was asked whether the first month's fighting had settled in any way the question of the superiority of dense or extended lines for attack, Hnedish and French re-

ports in the early days of the war inning described the German soldiers a

charging in almost solid lormation ant incurring heavy lus.-. The General in linialed that then; \ra- a great deal oJ in tjie story, and that, in ordej

to get the men forward i:nder heavy lire, it was noee.-sary to advance in euc-ecs-sive rushes rather than in dene;' linos, owing to tire effect of the modern infantrv weapons. <

"Which of the Allies lias the best troops'." ashed one ol his hearers. General von Heeringen had only praise for both Brithh and French. The French were stiff, hard fighters. but he seemed, iike most office: s at the iront, to think that the British soldiers were the toughest opponents. The correspondents had found German officers of all arms united in this opinion of the excellenee of the British peisonnel and material. 'The German infantryman has a wholesome appreciation of the way in which the 'Tommies .stick to their, trenches to the last. The German artilleryman prau"s the work of the British g'uns. the aviatovi who have had to do with both French and British flyers say that the Britons are more enterprising' than their French colleagues, aitd that the British biplane is superior in many points to all other aircraft.

The clothing and equipment of th-r English officer;, and soldiers are considered alnveit, ideal. Evidence of this is given by the number of German olli cer's encountered wearing British great coats, even staff officers of higher grades considering themeelvc; lucky when the;, can put their shoulder and hut tons on the brown overcoat of an English private. Deed---, of bravery in this war were to; common, the stands id -of corn-age anion;..

the supposed ovcr-ci\ dice J race* of Europe too high, the General believed, to draw any comparisons or 'to select any .special exploit- as the brave;!.. "What had ca'Ji'h-- his fancy most, however, was thtTiitticn of the untried regiment.; of vounu; troops thrown into the lighting in 'Flairders and getting tin ir baptism of. fire in what is conceded to be the most vicious fi«hting of the war, and went in -Tnging "Deutschland über Alles," and bore their part with 'the enthusiasm of youngsters tree! the steadiness, under heavy losses, of seasoned veterans. . The; telephone central, connecting the General with the Emperor's held headquarter, with Berlin. with the headquarters of the other armies, and with his own subordinates down to tliesimplest- non-comnii'isiuiied olricer commanding a squadron in the foremost trench. is in an adjoining room, but during the correspondente'is stay at headquarters, the commanding General waalmost never interrupted at table by reports of communications. The luisincst of running an arm;,- has been eo systematized that, the commander may take hi;meals undisturbed by military" routine.