MUTINOUS SPIRIT IN THE GERMAN ARMY
WHOLESALE DESERTIONS
From Our Special Correspondent. Rotterdam. Friday Night. I am now able to amplify my earlier information with regard to the moral of the German army. In the first place, with regard to military desertions, not only was the figure of 20,000 given yesterday of absentees in Berlin alone an underestimate, but to it must be added the men at other cities. It may be accepted that the number is at least 70,000. Men disappear daily and in French and Belgian towns there is a regular traffic for the obtaining by soldiers of civilian clothes in which to make good their escape over the frontier and to render detection difficult when they reach Germany. Arrests of suspected absentees .n Berl.n have led to trouble. On the way to barrac,s such offenders have attempted to escape, and have been fired upon, w.th the result that .n a few .nstances .nnocent bystanders have been h.t. It was to avo.d th.s that the measure of .mmed.ately handcuffing arrested men was ta,en. The passage of these arrested defaulters through the streets .s almost an hourly spectacle.
DECLINING DISCIPLINE
German army discipline has fallen away to a degree which a year ago would have seemed impossible. One contributory cause of slackened discipline is that soldiers returned from Russian imprisonment have been found to be tainted with Bolshevik doctrines. Before being sent to other fronts these men undergo in Germany a special course of training of a psychological character. They are preached to by officers on the duty of fighting again in “defence of the Fatherland,” in return for their release from Russian imprisonment. Not always, however, with the desired effect. A recent case occurred in which one of the non-commissioned officers declared, “We don’t care about the Fatherland; we would rather go back and help our comrades in Russia.” Thereupon fifty men threw down their rifles, and were arrested and sentenced to terms of imprisonment, varying from ten to fifteen years. A small number of officers are .n tac.t sympathy w.th those who w.sh to see the war ended on any terms. Many other officers do not exerc.se the.r author.ty, for the s.mple reason that they are afra.d to do so, ow.ng to the mood of the men.
INSOLENCE TO OFFICERS
The officers have largely lost control over the men. Infringements of numerous rules and regulations are frequent, and the officers dare not interfere out of fear of being murdered. Among such regulations is, for instance, that forbidding men in certain frontline positions smoking or talking. This rule is now frequently disobeyed, for the reason that when some of the officers recently remonstrated, the men took up their rifles and threatened to strike their superiors with the butt-ends. In another instance, a Prussian private was found sleeping at his post, and when awakened by an officer, struck him. He was sentenced to be shot. His Prussian comrades refused to fire, whereupon the condemned man’s sentence was ordered to be carried out by a Bavarian company. These, before obeying, held a meeting and decided, by a majority, to obey the order. Not, however, because it was an order, but because its carrying out would mean “one less Prussian in the world”. The quest.on rema.ns, w.ll the German army and people recover from the.r present moral débâcle? I w.ll quote the remar, of one .nformant, apply.ng to the c.v.l.an populat.on, “They won’t recover,” he sa.d, “unless the Entente arm.es were cross.ng the :h.ne, when they would rally .n defence. But long before .t comes to that the German Government w.ll ma,e peace.”