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The Clinton New Era, 1915-02-04, Page 3Rffamt nova ' , • , , . . , , agaz OLINTON r•Iasv max trhtiiiiklaPp Oe)a—nary 19/5. Trainer of Britain's New Army Has Seen His Share of Fighting `4 Jeneral Sir Archibald Hunter Served With Distinction in Egypt, India and South Africa—"Hunter's Rag" Always to. bo Seen THE VARIOUS TYPES v . . Where Battle Raged Hottest OF ARTILLERY IN USE The Kaiser war once on his way to fused, saying it would ill become him to go to a scene of rejoicing when so many of his gallant friends. lay - dead on the battlefield. After this he went to India, where Kitcheker was Commander -in -Chief, and commando,: successively the Wes- tern Army Corps :.nd then the Southern. Probably the climate af- fected him, for one coming home he bitterly grieved and disappointed his chief, K. of K. by actually getting married. The lady of Ms choice was the widow of the and Lord Inverclyde, and to show he was forgiven Lord Kitchener was his best man. Now Hunter is turning Kitchener's cubs into an army. No one could do it better, but what heart -breaking work he has in front of taloa visit Lord Rosebery at Dalmeny, near • Edinburgh, at a time when General Sir Archibald Hunter was commander of the troops in Scotland, and General Hunter found himself called uponto play the hero. It happened,thus. As the Emperor was about to. enter his carriage at the railway station hie horses bolted and things 'began to look very serious for the warlord when Sir Archibald dealt one of the fright- ened animals a smashing blow on the nose and saved the situation. The Kaiser was very grateful. He gave his rescuer a standing invitation to • the royal palace at Potsdam. It is not on record that the General availed himself of. this invitation, but it is known that Sir Archibald is an- xious to send a million or two per- sodal representatives to interview the Kaiser in Berlin, and for • that pur- pose he is training the new army—the men who replace the killed and Wounded on the firing line and aug- ment the army that constantly grows in size regardless of German on. slaughts. General Hunter's father was a Lon- don merchant, and the future trainer of fighting men was born at Kilburn fifty-eight years ago. Of muse he is Scotch—his father was a Scotsman and his mother one of the Grahams ol Gleuny. P Early Military Life :-. en gie was but a lad his father died, and young Hunter went north to the Tweed, learned. bow to shoot grouse, hunted with hounds before he was in his teens, developed a great love for hoieses, indeed, pots of all kinds, and was duly sent to school at. the Glasgow Academy. From there he went to Sandhurst, getting a ,com. mission in the 4th Kingts Own Royal Lancaster *Regiment in 1874. Ile be. 'tame adjutant, and after ,some ten yearof regimental service joined e Egyptian army and made his :name: He was fourteen years in the L. Nile Valley, and when he left it he was P. Major-General. had a K.C.B., a D.S.O., and innumerable medals and mentions in despatches, as well as a brace of wounds, At Glniss he was severely wounded in the. left arm. The doctor wanted to amputate. Hun- ter said: 'rake off my arm and put rne on me= legs and Fla blow my brains out, That speech saved his artn„ al- though it is not a great deal of good te him now. He was one of Kitchener's dis- coveries„and in Egypt he used, to be called the point of Kitchener's lance. , Where fighting was there were Hun- ter and his men gathered together, and that all might know where they were to be found en old flag used to accompany his force known as Hun- ter's Rag. Among the jobs he was ! given in Egypt were the governorship of the Provinte of Dongola, and after- wards of Omdurman. Served in South Africa 1 -le began the South African War aa; chief of the staff to Sir George White, and all he did to keep up the spirits of the sometimes desponding garrison during the siege of Ladysmith has passed into history. Incidentally he had a row !with Admiral Lambton, criticizing with an astounding flow of language the- shooting of the naval guns. Lambton is said afterwards to have remarked: "What a loss a Man with such a fluent tongue is to the navy." Hunter was the life and soul of the whole defence, and was re- sponsible for planning the successful, fighting at Lor bard's Kop, Wagon Kam, and Cmsar's Camp. Also he led :the little band that get out from Lady- smith and destroyed the Boer "Loag 'tom." Light shoes, revolvers, and a • no talking were the order of the day --or rather night. Silentlo the party LOST REGIMENTS records Exist of Whole Bodies of Men Vanishing From Human, Ken By far the greatest number of casualties in connection with the army come under the heading of "missing." Soldiers who stray too far afield, or whose retreat is cut off, leave no clue behind them as to their ultimate fate, though usually, if they do not straggle, back to their com- rades, they are eventually captured by their foes and made prisoners of war. It is not often, of course, tbat a whole regiment vanishes in this way. Instances have occurred, however, in which vast bodies of men have march- ed away and have failed to return or in which they have temporarily vanished, During the Boer War an entire squadron of the 18e1 Hussars galloped out into the rain and the darkness, and disappeared from hu- man ken for the bettdr part of a week. It transpired that they had ridden too far and too fast, and had sped into the open arms of the advance guard of a new Boer army. Until their fate was learned, it was as though the ground. had swallowed them up. Another authentic record of the temporary disappearance of a British battalion comes also from the Trans vaal, Early in December, 1880, the 94th lett one station in the northern part of the territory in order to pro, ceed to another some hundreds of miles distant. It never arrived at its destination, however, and for some weeks speculation was rife as to what had become of It. Eventually it leaked out that 'the regiment had been intercepted by a party of Boers at a place called Bronkhorst Spruit; that the colonel together with a num- cbr of his men, had been slain, ana that the remainder, after being dis armed, had been turned adrift upor the veldt to fare as best they might Prior to the battle of Talavera, there existed in the British army a cavalry regiment known as the 23rd Light Dragoons. At the close of that stubbornly -fought engagement, when the muster roll came to be called, the corps could not be found. Nor did it ever again put in an appearance, and for the very best' reasons. While gallantly charging an entire division of the French army, it had becoine entangled in a series of ravines, and utterly annihilated. The 10th Hussars once -lost an en- tire troop. It was 111 Afghanistan, in the winter of 1879.. The niglit , was pitch-dark and bitterly colta and the men mistook their road and tried to ford the Kabul river at a point where it was some ten or twelve feet deep. The leading files were swept away into the turbid current; but the others followed like a flock of sheep, until, finally, not a man of them was left. A wet and riderless home, gallop. Ing wjldlyint� the camp twenty miles distant, was theaairst and only inti- mation of the disaster vouchsafed to the rest of the regiment. = crept in inky darkness over the hilly, broken ground right up to the Boer gun without being discovered. The work was practically over before the Boers knew it had begun. When the alarm was at last given Major Karri Davis shouted "Fix bayonets!" There was not a bayonet with the party. But the Boers fled. All returned to Ladyymith in satAt. iter the relief be commanded the th Division and had many notable successes. One was when General 'Prinsloo with 5,000 Boers surrendered to him. The Boers f eared but re. spec,ted him. When giving up their arms they never dared to palm off ancient weapons on laim. They knew that he o wanted their 'Viewers, and they ha a to give them to him. But be had time to think of kind actions, too. He returned Mrs. Delarey the horse on which her son had been rid- ing when be met his death, which touched her deeply. For his services Africa he was promoted to I.Aeut-General and received the thanks of Parliament. On his returning home the good people ,oI West Kil- bride wanted Min to be present at a demonstration in Me honor, He re - Earned Mother's Gratitude Artillery,. Field—A type of gun: which can be used in any country without an excessive strain upon= the horses. It consistsusually of two - patterns of weapon: (1) field guns iMoper, which are generally of 3 -inch to 3.3 -inch diameter or caliber, so mounted on their. carriages that when fired they do not jump or move and thus require relaying, and (2) howit- zers, which are short, equat guns that toss their projectiles high in. the air. The diameter of howitzers and the weight of their shell or shrapnel are invariably greater than in the field gun proper. Field guns proper are. furnished with shieldsto protect the men working them against bullets from the enemy's rifles and from his shrapnel. Their range varies hone 5,600 to 9,000 yards. The British field gun fires a shell or shrapnel of about 18 pounds, the French one of 16 pounds; the German one of 15 liounds;. the Russian of 141/1 pounds; the Aus- trian one of 140 pounds. The British field howitzer is 4.5 inches in diameter and fires a shell weighing 35 pounds. Artillery,•7-leavy—A heavier type of weapon than the field gun or field howitzer which can only be trans- ported with some difficulty over good roads or bard ground. The British heavy artillery consistsof four 60 - pounder guns (that Is, guns, firing a 60 -pound shell) witheach division. The diameter of the gun is 5 inciree. and the weight of the weapon is 39 hundredweight; it has a range of 10,000 yards. France has a short gun or howitzer designed' by Commandant Itimailho of 6-incla diameter; firing, a shell of about 94 -pound weight. Only a very limited number or these guns were attached to the French army corps. previous to the war; their dis- advantege is their great weight, which is 47 hundredweight!' Their range it 7,000 yards. Germany his a 6' -inch howitzer firing a shell of about 90 pounds and weighing 63 hundred- weight; she has also a 4 -inch gun which fires a 30 -pound shell but re- quires a specially prepared platform. The Russian army is also well equip- ped with heavy artil'ery in the shape of 4 -inch guns and 6 -inch howitzers but the details of these are confiden- tial. Artillery, Horse—A lighter type of gun than the field gun, specially de- signed for work with cavalry. In the field gun two' of the gunners are seat- ed on the carriage of the gun'; in horse artillery all the gunners are mounted. The British horse artillery gun has a diameter of 3 inches and fires a shell or shrapnel weighing l2ee pounds; there are 263 bullets in the shrapnel as against 375 in the field artillery projectile. The weight of the gun is 6' bundredweight. against the 9 hundredweight of the field gun, Artillery, Siege—A still heavier ind larger type of gun than heavy leld artillery, and is usually employed 'or reducing fortresses. The Germans eowever, are believed to, have taken number of their siege guns into the leld, though the disadvantage of thus using these ponderous weapons Is tbat they delay the movement of an army and require an enormous num- ber of vehicles to feed them with am- munition. The best known German siege guns are the 8,2 -inch howitzer, which fires a 250 -pound shell, and the 11 -inch howitzer, which fires a shell of 750 pounds weight. Howitzers of 12 -inch and 17 -inch diameter are said to have been employed by the Ger- man army at Liege and Namur and against Verdun, tiring shells of 880 pounds and 2,000 pounds. Great Britain has a siege howitzer of 9.2 - inch diameter firing a shell of 380 pounds, and France a weapon of 10.7 - inch diameter, firing a shell of .about 550 pounds; The Russian army em- ployes a 12 -inch siege howitzer, firing a shell of 800 pounds. Hermann Homburg, Attorney -Gen- eral of South Australia, resigned 'ow- ing to the prevalence of the- anti - German feeling. • KEEPING WARM IN THE FIGHTING ZONE Both the British and. German military authorities recognize the necessity= of keeping their soldiers warmly clothed and it is a great satisfaction te know ehat the British Government sent over many thousands of goat -skin under -coats to ameliorate the conditions of life in the tren- ches. Oil the left is a British soldier wearing one of the goat -skin coats, while on the right is shown a German sentry wearing a sheep- skin coat over his .regulation greatcoat.. The Queen of Belgium is Brave and Charitable Earned the, Love and Admiration of Her People Before the War and Later Proved•Herself Most Heroic Woman "Long live Queea Elizabeth, a great Sovereign, but above everything a good, and a true woman," was the toast drunk to Belgium's Queen at a banquet of the Municipality of Brus- sels, long before the war became a reality. "A great, a good, and a true wo- man." It is a phrase which is in no sense an exaggeration of the virtues of the Queen,. whose heroic deeds since the Germans crossed into Bel- gium at the outbreak of the war were only to be expected from one who was idolized by_her husband's subjects, and known among them as the "Angel Queen." It is about fourteen years since King Albert wooed and won the daughter of Duke Charier' Theodore of Bavaria,who was famous as an oculist. Inheriting that kindliness of heart and consideration for the weaknesses of others which led her father to establish a free hospital at Munich, where he performed over 6,000 oper- ations on the poor, Queen Elizabeth has always striven to ameliorate the lot of those in distress. When still in Antwerp, King Albert said to the Belgian Prime Minister: "If necessary, you, my dear Minister, and I will take our rifles and go into the battle." ''So, will 1," added the Queen, "and with me all the Belgian women." Queen Elizabeth kept this pledge, for she often has been on the battlefl?ld aidifig the avontided, cheer- ing the fightars, and comforting her husband. No sooner bad she placed her three children—Prince Leopold, born. in 1901, Prince Charles, born in 1903,, and Princess Marie -Jose, born in 1906 —in the care of Lord Curzon of Ked- leston, at Basingstoke, when the Kaiser and his army, violating the neutrality. of her husband's country, invaded Belgium,atban she hurried back to the King's side, insisting on sharing his dangers and discomforts. "I am not a Queen at present. I am a fellow -sufferer and helper," she re- plied, in a simple, dignified tope, When her husband and his officers urged her to leave the zone,of danger. As a nursp and the organizer of hospital equipment, Queen Elizabeth rendered invaluable aid, Before her marriage she gave serious attention to the study of 'medicine, and after some years obtained a degree of M.D. at Leipsio, being of great ser- vice to her father in his many good works, and herself gained experience in surgical affairs. Apart, however, from hospital and oursine, work, Queen Elizabeth has given further evidence of her prac- tical-rnindednese by her interest in the industries of the people, and her endeavors to further their work. After the funeral of King Leopold, who died in 1909, Queen Elizabeth did a pa- triotic thing in a characteristically womanly way. She gave orders for large quantities of Brussels lace to be used for her robes of State when she came out of mourning, and for her ordinary dresses. This, was at a time • ello, George. I see you've 'ad a parcel from the gelsl" —Fred Buchanan, in London Opinion assammac.ramauxecusamluarermonmenennzawaremz=reavamoomartmazencor=nresszoinsumeavaansznex when, for various reasons, Brussels lace had ceased to please its own country, and the industry required a fillip. And it was Queen Elizabeth who provided that fillip in a manner which gladdened the hearts of the lace -makers of to country. The home life of the King and Queen of Belgium has always been of the happiest description. Their favorite hobby ls the study of the violin:, of which they are both ex- tremely fond, and one of the most popular pictures in Belgium is that which depicts King Albert reading while bis wife helps Prince Leopold to master the violin. 9 SHELLING AIRCRAFT BRITAIN'S INFLUENCE ON EGYPT'S IIISTORY 1517—Turkey conquered and occu- pied Egypt, which became a Turkish Pashalik. 1798—Napoleon Bonaparte invhded Egypt and, afterwards Syria, with the object of gaining a stepping stone to- wards India. Nelson defeated the French fleet in the Battle 0:: the Nile, and General Abercrombie's Expe- cliqn landed. 1801—French evacuation of Egypt and the Sultan's authority was re- stored. 1805—Mohatumed Ali became Pasha of Egypt, after defeating the Marne - lakes, the owners of the soil. 1807—The Second British Expe- dition to Egypt 1841 — Mohammed Ali secured; through Lord Palmerston, the heredi- tary possession of Egypt, paying a tribute to the Sultan. 1854-1863—Reign of the Khedive Said and the grant to Ferdinand de Lesseps of the right to cut the Suez Canal. 1863-aaReign of Khedive Ismail. 18691—Opening of the Suez Canal. 1875—British Government buys Is- raelis, shares for $4,000,000. 1876—Egypt bankrupt and Comm's- sion of Inquiry set up to inquire into her financial condition. 1876—Nov. Establishment of the Dual Control, but a British official superintended the revenue and a French official the expenditure of Egypt. 1878—Ismail accepts a Constitution- al Ministry. 1879—Ismail deposed by the Sultan in June. In November Dual Control was re-established and governed Egypt for two years. 1881—Revolt of Arabi. 1882—May. Bombardment of Alex- andria by British and French fleets. In July Great Britain invited France to help quell the rebellion. France refused. Garnet Wolseley's expe- dition landed in August. In Septem- ber Arabi was beaten at Tel-el-Kebir. 1883—Dual Control abolished, though France objected, and Single Control by Great Britain established. Major Baring (Lord Cromer) nominated Soldiers In Trenches Hardly Think Aeroplanes Worth Watching An officer in the Royal Engineers describing the use of aircraft in the war, wrote: We see aeroplanes nearly every day, and generally they are being shelled. The aeroplane is surrounded with little puffs of white smoke, usually at a slightly lower level than the aero- plane itself. Bach puff represents the burst of a shrapnel shell. Although I have seen at least a dozen of these performances I have never seen an aeroplane brought down, Apparently it is awfully difficult for the gunners to get the range of an object in the air, and in any case that object.ais moving very rapidly. There is an anti-aircraft section of the artillery, armed, I believe, with a sort of porn- Pom which fites little one -inch shells in rapid succession. The French and Belgian aeroplanes throw out little pencil -shaped 'rods, which "will kill a man if they strike him on the head, provided they are thrown from 200 feet or over. Of course, the aeroplane is Always much higher than that when flying over the enemy. The chief use of aeroplanes is to direct the fire of the artillery. Some- times they "circle and dive" just over the position of the place which they want ehelled. The observers with the artillery then inform the battery commanders, and a few seconds 2 -.ter shells come hurtling on to, dr jolly near to, the spot indicated. They also observe for the gunners and signal back to them to tell them where their shots aro going to, whether over or short, or to right or left. The men—in fact, every one of us —have got so used to seeing aero- planes shelled fruitlessly that the sight of one surrounded with half a dozen little fat white puffs of smoke scarcely attracts a look, At first they all used to stop work, and often even exposed themselves in their anxiety to watch the show; now they look upward when they hear the shells bursting high up in the air, murmur something about "auother blooming aeroplane," and take no further notice. British Resident. Sudan abandoned by British Government in November. 1884—Sudan. Expedition sanctioned. General Gordon arrived at Khartum in February. Conventioa of London de- fining Great Britain's position in Egypt signed in June. 1085—Fall o Khartum and death of General Gordon in January. An Egyptian loan of $9,000,000 was gaur- anteod by the Powers in March. On October Sir Henry Wolff signed the First Convention of London, fixing conditions for the withdrawal of the British troops. 1886—The Sudan evacuated. 1887—Sir Henry 'Wolff signed the Second Convention of Constantinople in May, but the Sultan refused, under French and Russian pressure, to rati- fy it. a 1818—Reorganizaticin of Egypt ac- tively commencrd. 1889—Rising of the Dervishes. 1892—Death of the Khedive —awflk. Accession of Abbas II. in Apr. Sir Herbert Kitchener succeeded Sir Panels Grenfell in command of the Egyptian army. 1896—Conquest of the Sudan begun. 1898—Battles of Atbara and °radii', man, and the crushing of the Der- vishes (Sept.). French arrived at Fashoda July 10, and evacuated it on Dec. 11. 1899—Agreement signed by France and Great Britain limiting their re- spective spheres of influence in Cen- tral Africa. 1904—On April 8 Anglo-French de- claration signed giving Great Britain a free hand. in Egypt and France a. free hand in Morocco. Similar de- clarations ware made by Germany. Austria, and Italy. • 1907—Lori Cromer resigned in April his post as British Agent and Consul- Fsneral; succeeded by Sir Eldon Corsa 1908—"Nationalist" ferment excited by the Yount.. Turk movement in Turkey. 1911—Earl Kitchener became Bra. 'ish Agent and Consul -General. 1914—The Khedive aebelled againat British control and was deposed, Brit- ain taking over the country as a PM- tectorate. German' Schools Taught Hatred of Other Nations England Was Only to be Despised But France Was to be Hated and Crushed. • It is common knowledge that Ger- many has for years been preparing for war. We preached peace whi'e our German kinsmen have been In- creasing their armaments, laying their diplomatic traps and instilling the lust of war into the national mine, wrote a man who taught school in Germany up to within a month of the outbreak of the war. As English teacher at a Prussian Oberrealschule I daily beheld the havoc wrought upon boys by misguided teaching. When I read of the fiendish deeds committed by the Germans in Belgium I see in my mind's eye a class of innocent lads and seem to hear the master haranguing them. There he stands, with face flushed, with eyes astaro, teaching Itis pupils the doctrine of rampant Kaiserdom, a devil's gospel that sears the heart. I well recall going for a *walk with one of the staff, a handsome Dussel- dorfer, on ordinary occasions an ex- cellent fellow. The conversation somehow turned upon France and the French, and forthwith he burst into insults, threatening France with a day of awful reckoning, the great day to Which the Germans refer in the phrase "When it comes oft." ("Wenn's les- geht"). This man's views on England were those of many other Germans. Eng- land was to him merely negligible among the nations. With no con- script army to meet the German mil- lions, with a navy soon to be out- classed and outnumbered by a rival at Kiel, England was presently to see the wisdom of, bowing to .the Kaiser, thanking him that the Prussian hordes were not overrunning her. Our school was richly bedecked' with pictures of Bismarck and of scenes from the 7ranco-German war. On the top floor, along the corridor, were frescoes illustrative of certain lines in the poet Korner's "Anima" The lines "Thou 'shalt drive the steel into the foeman's heart" were illus- trated by a bloody picture of French soldiers being skewered on Prussian swords. In Harms' "Earth -lore of the Father- land," one of the best German text- books of school geography, the fol- lowing ie to be read in the chapter on Heligoland: "There is a biting charm about it to ,tbink that England should have thrust her own weapon into her rival's hand. There was enough laughing when in 1890 Kaiser Wilhelm exchang- ed Zanzibar and Witu for Heligoland. The English newspapers swam in glee. But then came another eau." PEEVISH GERMAN EDITORS 1 One factor is the general humbug and hypocrisy of American public opinion. Religion, virtue, abstemious- ness, candor and honor are the stock phrases with which Americans are stuffed on every possible and impos- sible occasion, and the supposed violence done to the neutrality of Bel- gium was grist to the mills of these hypocrites. . . In any case, peo- ple in Germany need not bother them- selves in the least about what the Americans think or say, as long as the German arms win. That is all thatmat- ters, for the American is P. thorough opportunist, and never has any aym- aathy with the side that is beaten.— Hamburger Fremdenblatt. It is, of ourse, not to be expected that the wonderful resourcefulness of our "cousins" is exhausted by the latest addition of the Fijji Islanders to the Belgian war theatre, The backwoods of the world still harbor thousands of savages 'andasemi- savages, man -monkeys and apish men, who are no doubt only too willing to stand by their British brothers in the common struggle for right and civilian- tion.—Madgeburg Zeitung. The Hull of a "Dreadnought" An amazing amount of materiel goes to the making of a 22,000 -ton battleship. Into the hull alone enter some 9,809 tons of steel and iron, an amount more than equal' to the whole of the material from keel to fighting tops in many of the pre -Dreadnought war vessels. Of this amount of ma- terial, over 6,000 tons is steel plat- ing, 2,856 tons is for hapes, channel- ling, and angle pieces; the weight or the rivets used exceeds 530 tons, these rivets ranging in diameter from % inch to :aa Mattes and there are over 400 tons of specially shaped steel castings, ranging in weight from two to eighteen tons each. Them ligeres include nothing for gun mount- ing or special armoring, but are for the mere construction of the bo hull alone. Modernizing Warfare In Napoleon's wars a bullet seloom hit an enemy more than 200 yards distant. A marksman with the Lee - Enfield or :Abel rifle can bring down man after man at 1,000 or even 2,000 yards under favorable conditions—but the conditions seldom are favorable. Napoleon's Old Guard considered tren- ty-five cartridges a reasonable equip- ment for a whole campaign. In 1870- 71 the German average consumption was sixty-five per man for the entire war. Many German soldiers fired 4,000 cartridges apiece the first Mee& of this war. e (7) S