Their
system of fighting is demoralizing. "They come on in close formation,
thousands of them, just like sheep being driven to the slaughter," is
the description that nine soldiers out of every ten give of the Germans
going into action. "We just mow them down in heaps," says an
artilleryman. "Lord, even a woman couldn't miss hitting them," is the
comment from the Infantry. And as for the cavalry: "Well, we just makes
holes in them," adds one of the Dragoons. At first they didn't take
cover at all, but just marched into action with their drums beating and
bands playing, "like a blooming parade," as Atkins puts it. After the
first slaughter, however, they shrank from the attack, and there is
ample evidence of eyewitnesses that the German infantry often had to be
lashed into battle by their officers. "I saw a colonel striking his own
men with his sword to prevent them running away," is one of the many
statements. Revolvers, too, were freely used for the same purpose.
But, generally speaking, there is iron discipline in the Kaiser's army.
The men obey their officers implicitly. Trooper E. Tugwell, of the
Berwicks, tells this little story of a cavalry charge from which a
German infantry regiment bolted--all but one company, whose officers
ordered them to stand: "They faced round without attempting to fire a
shot, and stood there like statues to meet the onslaught of our men.
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