The Germans also regularly delivered night attacks, which never succeeded
or looked like succeeding. They were made apparently in order to annoy our troops and prevent them from sleeping, yet the Germans lost great numbers of men in these enterprises. "On the whole," says the eye- witness, "there is evidence that the Germans are beginning to be affected by their heavy losses." Among the prisoners there are young recruits who have had no practice in musketry or entrenching. On the other hand, the writer warns his readers against making too much of these facts, and he ends with a notable tribute to German bravery :—
"Whatever deterioration there may be," he says, "in the material now being drafted into the ranks of our enemy, it must be admitted that the Prussian war machine, acting on a nation previously inured to the sternest discipline, has obtained the most remarkable results. The Germane have up to the present time been able to make good their losses, to continue to deliver repeated blows with fresh men when required and where required. • . . In spite of lack of officers, in spite of inexperience, boys of sixteen and seventeen have faced our guns, marched steadily up to the muzzles of our rifles, and have met death in droves, without flinch- ing. Such is the effect of a century of national discipline."
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