MAKING A SOLDIER WE I THE EFFECT OF DISCIPLINE E begin this course of lectures by reciting a few horrible examples of the low efficiency of militia and afterwards let you into the ground and reason of these failures. A few contrasts between disciplined and untrained masses illustrate what every soldier ought to know. Fritz Reuter describes a rising of the Mecklenburg peasants in 1813 against the French in "Ut de Franzosentid": "The Landsturm (levée en masse) was called out; the Herr Amtshauptmann commanded in chief, and, under him, Captain Grischow. "A single French regiment would have driven the whole pack like chaff before the wind, say the would-be-wise. It may be so. On one and the same day the cry went through the whole of lower Germany from the Vistula to the Elbe, from the Baltic to Berlin, 'The French are com ing!' "The Stemhagen folk marched on Ankershagen; the French were said to be in Ankershagen. The Malchin folk marched on Stemhagen; the French were said to be in Stemhagen. Yes, it was a queer medley. In the market-place at Stemhagen the pike-men were divided into companies; Droz and the miller were to manage them because they were the only ones who understood anything about war; but the burghers would not obey their commands, because the one was a Frenchman and the other a miller. Nobody would stand in the rear rank. Deichert, the shoemaker, objected because Bank stood in the front; Groth, the tax-gatherer, because Stahl the weaver, who was in the front, always sent the reverse end of the pike into his ribs in leveling bayonets, and he could not put up with it. "At last they were all beautifully in rank and file, and when Captain Grischow commanded, 'Left wheel,' out they came into the Brandenburg road, and marched on in a splendid heap of confusion; and when they were outside the town gates, everyone looked for a dry path for himself, and they marched one behind the other, like geese among the barley. A halt was made at the Owl Hill to wait for their commander, the Herr Amtshauptmann. The Herr Amtshauptmann was too old to walk, and he could not ride, so he drove to battle; stately he sat in his long basketcarriage with his sword lying by his side. When he arrived he received a 'Vivat' from his troops; and then he made them a speech, and said: 'My children! We are not soldiers, and we shall make plenty of blunders, but that will do no harm. Whoever likes to laugh, may do so. But we will do our duty, and our duty is to show the French that we are at our post. It's a pity that I know nothing about the art of war, but I will look out in good time for a man who does-Herr Droz, come up here by my side, and when the enemy comes, tell me what I am to do. I will not forsake you, my children. And now forward, for the Fatherland! "'Hurrah!' cried his people, and away they went against the enemy. The cavalry was sent out to reconnoiter, and rode in front, and Inspector Brasig and the Ivenack town clerk had pistols; these they fired off every now and then, probably to frighten the French, and in this way they reached Ankershagen, but they did not meet the French. When this was reported to the Herr Amtshauptmann, he said: 'Children, it seems to me that we have done enough for to-day, and if we go back at once, we shall be home again by daylight. What say you, eh?' "The idea was good. Captain Grischow commanded, 'Right about face,' and they all went |