GERMAN DISCIPLINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15748, 24 October 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

GERMAN DISCIPLINE.

IRON RULE OVER MEN.

ORGANISATION MARVELLOUS.

A distinguished French artist arrested by the enemy at St. Gerard, near Namur, gives the following description of his march with the German Army: —

After sleeping in a barn with Zouave prisoners, a soldier standing over us with fixed bayonet, we w ere called at five tho next morning. The prisoners were told to peel potatoes for the field kitchen. At six all the soldiers began to form up. Orders came from the officers like pistol shots, the click of heels and the thud of shoulder arms coming as from one man. Woe to tho man slightly out of line! The close-cropped officer spat at him. A flow of expletives showing his teeth like a tiger ready to spring.

I was placed in the middle of a marching column, and as 1 was loaded with my knapsack and coat (a soldier near me carrying my papers) I could take part in the sensations of tho men under the iron discipline of the officers. The road lay inches thick of chalky dust which rose in clouds above out heads. Never were we allowed to open out as I had seen the marching Belgians do and let the air circulate. Wo plodded on the whole day, the only rest being when there was an' occasional block on tho road. The march was as if on parade. Should one fall out of 6tep the shouts of his superior soon brought him up. Now and then men were waiting with buckets, and as the column swung by tlfe soldiers dipped in their aluminium cups. Another man would be holding a biscuit tin full of sweets, or it might he handfuls of prunes, but still the march went on. It was remarkable to see the field post office at work; the armed blue-coated - postman stood by the marching column receiving the postcards handed to them. Sometimes an officer would hand over fowling-piece or antique with the address hanging from it. At noon I was handed over to officers, and I left the regiment. I was op the box seat, of a char-a-banc full of officers and could observe the marvellous organisation of the column. The pace was at a walk, but continuous. Ammunition waggons, field-pieces, carts filled with flour, whole trains of enormous pontoons pulled by heavy horses, and great traction engines pulling siege-guns, landaus and motor-cars filled with doctors and officers, whose only distinguishing mark i fi a strip of colour at the neck— advanced at the same pace. Should a slight block occur the whole column would stop as one tram, the drivers passing the message back by a pumping movement made with the fist'on high. The warning of a declivity or bend in tho road passed backwards like musketry fire. All vehicles belonged to the army. Some had chalked on their grey tides " Berlin-Paris."

Sometimes the column would let an enormous grey motor-omnibus Hash by, and through the. glass sides I saw staff officers bending over maps. Every driver and service man carried his weapons, the great waggons simply bristling with rifles.