THE MYSTERY OF WAR

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 55, 2 September 1916, Page 16

THE MYSTERY OF WAR

WHAT A FIGHTING MAN SEES

A SOLDIER'S STORY OF MONS

AND THE MARNE,

The saying that onlookers see most of the game is perhaps more true of war thon of any other thing else. Time after time soldiers, in their letters, express this idea, and, occasionally, some subordinate individual in the army gives brief glimpses of what war really looks like to the man who is shrouded in its fog of mystery and rumour. These glimpses are precious to tho people left behind. They are interested in whit the descriptive accounts of correspondents tell; but these aro written from a lofty and distant viewpoint, where the journalist, interviewing, reading despatches, and guessing, is able to paint a vivid and often wonderful picture in the large. The soldier is not on that detached pinnacle. He is in medias res and cannot see the wood for the trees. But his trees are wonderful, and when he can speak clearly about them, can set out vividly the peculiar aspect that his profession wears to him and to none who stand outside, his work is a gift to mankind. A_ fewsuch stories there are now in book form, and an excellent example .is "Contemptible.*' and annonymuus work by one "Casualty." (Publishers, Hein^mann, London.) "Casualty" is no flourishing journalist, and his work is unpretentious, but it is clear and strong, and the story rings true and honest. NOTHING FORGOTTEN. . The book tells*, of course, of things that befel "the Old Contemptibles," the little original British Army that has made into a, title of- undying honour the words that the German Emperor used in scorn. It describes the experiences of a junior subaltern, who left England by night with Ms battalion, in that amazing departure which was one element in the surprise that greeted tho world when the British at last moved into action in Flanders. It describes the embarkation —"nothing had been forgotten—not even eggs for the officers' breakfast in the captain's cabin"—tho landing in France; Tommy's • quaint astonishment and amusement at the unaccustomed sights, the French meals, the French drinks, and the consequences that followed ! Readers of the book should have a map. With its aid the story moves with astonishing ease, for where the battalion went the author has blazed the trail. On the borders of. Belgium, close to the field of Malplaquet, the troops got a rude shock. They were told that when they reached Harmignies,'a village only a few miles over the border, the enemy was to ibe hunted for and driven out. " The men were openly incredulous. ' The ruddy 'Oolans 'ere a'ready ! They're only teelin' us that to make us march!'" The Army knew • nothing of what had happened, of the -fall of Liege, or the-Germans' great drive through Belgium,- they had imagined meeting the " 'Oolans " somewhere near the RhineMONS AND THE . MARNE. . . Then came, after much marching, Mons. Says the book, "If you ask a veteran of Mons about the battle, all he will be able to tell you as likely as not is ' marching and digging, and then marching mostly, sir." ■ To this subaltern the battle of Mons seems to have passed with its. scheme and meaning hidden; but it merged obviously enough into that great and hearbreaking retreat which, till its very end, seemed .to tell of disaster. "The most that is seen of the enemy is but a passing glimpse. If tho higher command decide that to give battle in any determined measure would be to expose their force to unnecessary chances of defeat ... it is very unlikely that the infantry soldier will see his enemy, at a distance of ..less than five or.six hundred yards. . So far this division, at any rate, had succeeded in their mission of delaying the enemy by forcing him to deploy, at the same time taking the greatest care to refuse open battle." The temper of the men suffered badly. They did not understand the necessity for retreat; for not a word had been said of other set-backs. They had a firmly-lodged impression that this prolonged retreat was just another of those needless "fatigues" to which they were so often put. They got "fed up;" Early in the morning they were' miserable.. About 8 or 9 o'clock they began to sing lively musichall songs ("Tipperary" was only one of many); towards noon their songs became sentimental; after 2, they all had the dumps again. And so it went on, deadly monotonous, the mythical enemy '.■somewhere back there," the colonel into' whom the subaltern longed to pump revolver bullets to ease his own misery, riding ahead in a pair of shiny boots that seemed an insult to the dirty boots behind. This was the colonel who later on ran out into the open and dragged a, wounded gunner into safety. This nightmare of retreat was punctuated with little engagements, which, by exhausting the : nervous energy remaining in the weary men, left them still more weary for the next lap of the march ; but the end came. The armies turned, as it were,_ on their heels, and the subaltern's unit "began slowly to retrace their steps, in a progress that brought them into contact for the'first time with men carrying out the melancholy business of burying the dead, and'the battle of the Marne was well under way. It is of particular interest to note that it was not till the great retreat was over, and the battle of the Marne was won, that the junior officers had any real idea of the strategical scheme of the operations. After the Marne it was explained, says " Casualty," and he quotes the very clear story that, was handed on by the officers above him. In this key of mystery the whole of the story seems to be pitched. It is not for nothing that men have to be drilled till they are ready.to accept unquestioning the decisions of their officers. One very good reason is that they have no data on which to form decisions of their own.