THE MAGIC OF BEING UNDER MOLTKE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1037, 28 January 1911, Page 6

THE MAGIC OF BEING UNDER MOLTKE.

A CREAT PART, THE CABBAGE PATCH AT SEDAN. . (Br Gyho.) . The terrible German device described has only once been used on a largo scale by British troops-tlio storming of Picters Bill. It was once succcssiuliy used against them-at Majuba. But it is practised everywhere in Europe It is. in fact, "tho trick" iu tho Contin- , cntal book.

Out at Makara manoeuvres tho volunteer with tho South African experience said that Boers sometimes wero posted low down the slopes of hills.

"And they got away from you?" said

"Too true they did, mister."

"Do you know why?"

"Oh, yuss,". replied tho resourceful young tactician in khaki. "I suppose it wero hecauso you wasn't thero to ketch 'cm I" '

This brings us, to the story of tho cabbage patch at Sedan, whenco tho slimmest Boer that ever ran away could not havo como'out of.it with a wholo skin—could not havo como out of it at all. /

Birds wore singing among tho trees on tho plateau of Floing, and the morning was full-of that peculiar quality of tho sunlight which comes through beeches and larches. On tlio other side of tho town tbo boom of battle w;as rising and falling liko tho waves of the sea, and, soothed by it, 5000 Frenchmen, lay among tho cabbages and drowsed, for there was no firing in their front, and they wero tired. Other French troops wore coming up, changing from column into line, and, exaggerated by mists now tardily fading before tho sun, Floing seemed to bo a little, world of giants. In front of tlio cabbage patch the ground sloped gently away in front, and also roso gently behind it. It was like a croquet lawn cut out in tho side of tho hill, and tho cabbages wero not moro vividly green than tho meadowa in which tho"cows were grazing, so that every way it appearcd'to bo an ideal place, and gave such beneficent cover that it really seemed that no one need be afraid of anything. At 6 o'clock tho men had shivered a little, in.tho chill of dawn, but at 10 they steamed under the ascending sun. They drank tho water in the cabbages and slept ■ again. And then' . .-• fitz -. •' • fitz ... . fitz . . .. The first German bullets, wore hitting ' tho cabbage patch at Floing. At noon a blizzard of lead was flying over tho cabbages,' and the company humorists were laughing at it. Truo-they could not come forward to the edgo of the cabbages and fire back in return, but neither could the blizzard harm thorn for the patch sloped a littlo backward from tho crest, and tho regimental humorists laughed and joked again. ....

It may have been an hour later that tho ghastly merriment died away, and the poor ashen faces took on a stiff immovable' Rape. Even in the' dullest head it had sufficiently dawned that they were pinned'among, the cabbages by tho- German fire. They could not como forward, thoy could not.stand up to stretch themselves, and, worst of all, they could not rim. ■To retiro they had to bravo, the..slope.- behind, now scared and scalped by a'firo which must at tlio very least have been equivalent to thrco. bullets per foot. These poor people word. dono. for, though, to be sure, ;thero.was, so far, very little hurt or injury. ;',.''" Later they saw. .the terriblo. sight begin- which thoy'had. .known all along must begin. On. tho hill of Saint Monges. before them, and on the Calvary of Illy, roso, bit by bit,, the Prussian artillery sharply, upheld: against tho. blue of summor.like little,toy tin soldiers..

Now the French commanders .were no fools'. They were,-'indeed,-very good men—at'least many of'them—and they saw, plainly enough, that if: that cannon lire from Saint Menges began, thcro would bo massacre among the cabbages. Massacre, indeed, was in , full - swing, when .they, ordered .up artillery. It camo up at., a gallop,., and, swung out among tho trees into battery, and commenced. '■/■•''

Tho Prussian, artillery turned slowly on it, much as a strong man turns upon an impertinence in tho street. ■ It did not tako long. | Their artillery done .with, the question for the French commanders 'then was just what.it had been at first: How to keep tho German, cannon at : Saint Menges 'off the cabbage patch? Perhaps, (they thought) if cavalry charged, it might do—it would bo what tho books called "tho substitution of ono target for another."

■ - Sunlit, glittering like ;a burnished, serpent, Marguerrittois cuirassiers moved out briskly at tho trot, and in fifteen minutes' were dead or dying to"tho last man, but not from the, rifto firo which still "fanned" tho cabbages. That had not shifted, for some other part of the line (so well did the German commanders know their business) had met Marguerritto's men with tho blastof Death. The cabbago patch was still a Gehenna of imprisoned lunatics'. They could, not be hit, but, equally, they could move no whither at all.

Tho. guns at Saint. Menges turned, free from other engagement turned deliberately on them once more. ... v. Imagination refuses to flgurc the terrible cabbage patch Sis it was later. in the day, when the white flag rose over Sedan, but the abstract study 'of the operation is interesting—for it is the study of what is known as "covering lire." It is pursued year after year with great zest at tho French and German manoeuvres, and German officers who may prove inept at -discerning ground suitable for bringing it into operation, are often asked to resign from_ tho army. In New Zealand it was introduced years ago by Colonel Robin, but seems still to be very imperfectly understood, while, in South Africa, its absence, and practically nothing else, accounts for the majority of Boer, escapes. In this connection it is interesting, but rather melancholy, to recall that "our Fourth Contingent had nine or'ten men knocked over at Ottoshoop, and that (though tho ground was similar to tho terain at Sedan) an officer of that contingent calmly told a reporter on bis return that "the squadrons working well together, carried tho position without firing a shot."