WAR- CHRONICLE

50
Every fourth German soldier in the field either had lived in
America, or had relatives living there.
An unofficial estimate gives 7,000,000 Russians under armsT
5,000,000 Germans, 5,000,000 French, 1,100,000 English, and about
2,000,000 Austrians. Turkey is credited with 350,000 under the
colours, and Servia and Montenegro with 300,000 between them.
Every railroad station in Germany has attached to it a receiving
hospital, where the wounded, who live in the vicinity, are
taken from the train and kept until they can be moved to their
homes.
The most striking feature of the modern warfare is the manner
in which cover is thought for men and guns. The smallest wood
patch is utilized for infantry stations and green fields are chosen in
preference to harvested ones. This is to afford concealment against
aeroplane reconnaissance. Guns in the open field are covered with
the vegetation of the field they are in. The trenches are screened
on the sides and at the bottom in the same way.
Frequently a bristling line of guns can be seen sticking out
from behind cover. You think the protection has not been very
carefully arranged until you come nearer and discover that they
are dummies, made out of wood for the benefit of the air scouts,,
while the real guns are very thoroughly and carefully concealed
as far away as possible from the decoys.
Most of the German soldiers have allowed their beards to grow,,
but the officers are as spick and span as ever. It is no uncommon
sight to see them shaving in the trenches during the fire pauses.
Inspections of superiors are frequent and the officers always try
to look their best before their commanders.
When the Prince of Wales was not permitted to go to the
front and Lord Kitchener wrote a public letter to the effect that he
did not consider the Prince's "military education was sufficiently
complete to permit him to go to the front" there was a general
laugh in Berlin, induced by the fact that the Kaiser and all six of
his sons are in action.
In this connection the Kaiser was credited with saying that
the Prince of Wales would never have a better opportunity of completing
his military education than at the present time, and his German
cousins would be happy to help him in the task.
After every battle Red Cross dogs are loosed on the field toseek
out the wounded, who may have been overlooked at the general
search that follows each engagement. Whenever they find a
man, the dog stands by howling until relief comes, or, if too far
away, they come to their company officers and lead attendants back
to the wounded, who are generally unconscious. As a rule thesedogs
are of the German sheep dog, or the Belgian so-called police-dog
breeds, fine animals with a high order of intelligence and a
complete indifference for everything but their masters and their work.