The military correspondent of the Times in the fourth of
his interesting articles on the German military manoeuvres deals somewhat severely with "the far-famed Prussian infantry." He admits it has a rifle and ammunition superior to ours, is kept up to full strength, is sternly disciplined and remarkably good as regards physique. But according to him the German infantry leaves the impression that the hearts of the men are not in their work.
"There is nothing in their eyes. The things which one sees in the look of men in a British or a French regiment one seeks in vain in the rather sullen-looking, half-cowed, and machine- made Prussian foot-soldier. The feeling that one receives is that these mon are marching and manoeuvring, not because they like it, but because they must, and that without the drive of the corps of officers they would melt away in the stress of battle. By other arms and by the Staffs the infantry are badly treated on the march. Guns and cavalry and Staffs trot and canter past them and cover them with dust as if it were quite a natural thing to do. The men march so close together, herded as it were, that the air can scarcely circulate in a column. The equipment is very old- fashioned, trying on the march, and out of place in the modern combat. The German boot is the worst military footgear conceiv- able. The marches were not severe in Mecklenburg, but columns left behind them a trail of tired and footsore men for whose con-
veyance and assembly under military control no terrangementa appeared to have been made."
After further commenting on their perfunctory tactics. neitleel of scouting, and indifferent entrenching, he sums up '.
German infantry lacks fire, and there is no bite on the infantry attack."
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