There is not the slightest divergence of opinion in the British ranks as to the German infantry fire.  “Their shooting is laughable,” “they couldn’t hit a haystack in an entry,” and “asses with the rifle,” are how our men dispose of it.  The Germans fire recklessly with their rifles planted against their hips, while Tommy Atkins takes cool and steady aim, and lets them have it from the shoulder.  “We just knocked them over like nine-pins,” a Highlander explained.  As to the German cavalry, one Tommy expressed the prevailing opinion to nicety.  “I don’t want to be nasty,” he said, “but what we all pray for is just half-an-hour each way with three times our number of Uhlans.”

When it comes to artillery, however, Atkins has nothing but praise for the enemy.  Their aeroplanes flutter over the British positions and give the gunners the exact range, and then they let go.  “I can only figure it out as being something worse than the mouth of hell,” declares Private John Stiles, 1st Gloucesters, and it may be here left at that, as the devastating effects of artillery have already been dealt with in a previous chapter.  One thing which has puzzled and sometimes baffled our men is the way the Germans conceal their guns.  They display extraordinary ingenuity in this direction, hiding them inside haystacks, in leaf-covered trenches, and sometimes, unhappily, in Red Cross wagons.

Stories of German treachery are abundant, and official reports have dealt with such shameful practises as driving prisoners and refugees in front of them when attacking, abusing the protection of the White Flag, and wearing Red Cross brassards in action.  The men have their own stories to tell.  An Irish Guardsman records a white flag incident during the fighting on the Aisne:  “Coldstreamers, Connaughts, Grenadiers, and Irish Guards were all in this affair, and the fight was going on well.  Suddenly the Germans in front of us raised the white flag, and we ceased firing and went up to take our prisoners.  The moment we got into the open, fierce fire from concealed artillery was turned on us, and the surrendered Germans picked up their rifles and pelted us with their fire.  It was horrible.  They trapped us completely, and very few escaped.”  The German defense of these white flag incidents was given to Trooper G. Douglas by a prisoner who declared that the men were quite innocent of intention to deceive, but that whenever their officers saw the white flag they hauled it down, and compelled them to fight.

Many British soldiers suffered from the treachery of the Germans in wearing English and French uniforms, and their letters home are full of indignation at the practises of the enemy.  It was in the fighting following such a ruse at Landrecies that the Honorable Archer-Windsor-Clive, of the Coldstream Guards, met his death.  “Another time,” an artillery officer relates, “they ran into one of our regiments with some of their officers dressed in French uniforms.