* The accompanying text reads: "LIKE A CROWD LEAVING A FOOTBALL MATCH"! GERMANS ADVANCING IN MASSED FORMATION WHAT "TOMMY ALKINS" FACES WHEN THE ENEMY CHARGES: GERMANS COMING ALONG TO THE ATTACK IN "BUNCHES," IN A MANNER WHICH MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO HIT SCORES OF THEM. "We could not help hitting them. We saw them first about 800 yards away, and they came along in bunches just like a crowd leaving a football match . . . For every one that fell on our side they lost ten or twelve. It was ‘rapid firing: and we gave it them hot." So one of our soldiers speaks of the German densely massed formations in attack. As a British officer who has served in the German Army relates: "It is interesting to note that this formation followed pretty well the model of formations in the days of Frederick the Great, namely, that the non-coms. are placed behind the attacking lines, no doubt in order to encourage the men to vigorous assault in the suave Prussian manner." The officer remarks that, on the other hand, it is a "complete mistake" to imagine the "German Soldier is not trained to dig himself in . . One of most important features of the military training is in the direction of entrenchment." The Aisne Battle has show that.- [Drawing Copyrighted in the United States and Canada.] |