They seem to have relied on doing this
with us; but they have not done so, though it has taken them several
costly experiments to discover this fact. From the statements of
prisoners, indeed, it appears that they have been greatly disappointed
by the moral effect produced by their heavy guns, which, despite the
actual losses inflicted, has not been at all commensurate with the
colossal expenditure of ammunition which has really been wasted. By this
it is not implied that their artillery fire is not good. It is more than
good; it is excellent. But the British soldier is a difficult person to
impress or depress, even by immense shells filled with high explosives
which detonate with terrific violence and form craters large enough to
act as graves for five horses. The German howitzer shells are 8 to 9
inches in caliber, and on impact they send up columns of greasy black
smoke. On account of this they are irreverently dubbed 'Coal-boxes,'
'Black Marias,' or 'Jack Johnsons' by the soldiers. Men who take things
in this spirit, are, it seems, likely to throw out the calculations
based on the loss of _moral_ so carefully framed by the German military
philosophers."
Every word of this admirable official message is borne out by the men's
own version of their experiences of artillery fire.
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