XXI

FIVE NATIONS' SOLDIERS, AS SEEN IN CHINA

NOW that the condition of the German Army is becoming a matter of increasing interest to English people, it may be worth while to consider how the armies of the different nations appeared in the close juxtaposition into which they were being brought in China of late, where officers of various nationalities have had ample opportunities of studying each other's methods and their results. Not being myself in any sense an expert, I shall, as far as possible, transmit these opinions in the very language in which they were given to me, as rarely as possible interrupting their continuity by any comment of my own.

All the English Army seemed to have arrived in China with the idea that they were to see wonders "from the Germans, and at first our officers were much struck by the smart way in which they handled their arms, and their size, comparing them only with the French, Russians, and Japanese. In Shanghai the discipline of the first regiment sent out appeared to be beyond all praise, and the men's conduct exemplary.

250

FIVE NATIONS' SOLDIERS IN CHINA 251

At Tientsin they seemed to be by far the most seriously occupied, so much so that I commented upon this to a German officer. " How is it that your men seem always busy, either going swiftly, evidently carrying letters, or always returning from or going to drill?" He said, "We give our men exactly the same amount of drills and parades that they would have in Berlin. We consider it necessary to keep them always occupied, lest evil thoughts should get into them. You do not take your army seriously. The men are capital fellows, but the officers are too ignorant for anything. They never think of occupying or improving their men. As to the French oh, they are idle, all over the place. That is the reason they are always getting into mischief and having rows with your officers."

第二十一章 五個國家的士兵，在中國的見聞

隨著德國軍隊的狀況越來越受到英國人的關注，或許值得考慮不同國家的軍隊在最近被集中派往中國後的表現，尤其是各國軍官有充分機會觀察彼此的作戰方法及其效果。由於我並非專家，因此在可能的範圍內，我將盡量以他們給予我的原話來傳達這些意見，儘量少插入我自己的評論。

所有的英國軍隊似乎都帶著一種期待，認為他們會在德國人身上見到奇跡。最初，我們的軍官對德國士兵靈活操控武器的方式及其身形感到驚訝，並與法國、俄羅斯和日本的士兵進行了比較。在上海，首批派遣的德國部隊紀律嚴明，士兵們的行為表現堪稱典範。

在天津，德國軍隊似乎是最為認真工作的，以至於我向一位德國軍官提到這點：「為什麼你們的士兵總是那麼忙碌，不是迅速移動著顯然是在送信，就是往返於操練場？」他回答說：「我們給士兵安排的操練和訓練課程與他們在柏林時完全一樣。我們認為必須讓他們保持忙碌，免得有邪惡的念頭滋生。你們的軍隊並不嚴肅對待訓練。你們的士兵很不錯，但軍官們實在是太無知了，從不考慮如何讓士兵忙碌起來或提升他們的技能。至於法國人哦，他們總是閒散無事，處處閒逛。這就是他們總是惹麻煩，並且與你們的軍官發生爭執的原因。」

Some American officers said to me, on the other hand, "Your English officers are capital fellows. The English and ourselves are just like brothers out here. As to the Germans, they are very ill-conditioned and don't salute us. When we came here, it was with the idea of being very polite to every one, and we saluted every one of every nationality. Then we saw no one saluted us first, but waited and saluted us back again, and we thought, why should Americans always have to salute first ? So then we waited, and now only the English and ourselves salute each other." But whilst I found the American Army ready to do everything for me, from giving up their beds or providing an ambulance for a carriage to singing "The Flower of Europe's Army is As-tro-nomi-cal," in derision of the German Army's carrying off the ancient

astronomical instruments from their old site upon the walls ; yet from the lady's point of view I must say that it was the French and Italian soldiers who seemed to me the best mannered of all the troops in North China, and this though, whilst I was there, a very bad affray occurred, in which a French soldier tried to stab an English officer in the dark. I will now, however, leave my own superficial view and try rather to transmit the opinions of experts.

一些美國軍官則告訴我：「你們的英國軍官是非常棒的。在這裡，英國人和我們就像兄弟一樣。至於德國人，他們態度非常惡劣，從不向我們行禮。我們來這裡時，本來打算對每個人都很禮貌，向各個國籍的人行禮。後來我們發現，沒有人主動向我們行禮，只是在我們行禮後才回禮。於是我們想，為什麼總是美國人要先行禮呢？所以我們也開始等著，現在只有英國人和我們彼此行禮。」

雖然我發現美國軍隊對我非常友好，無論是讓出他們的床位，還是提供救護車用作馬車，甚至在戲謔德國軍隊搬走古老的天文儀器時唱起「歐洲軍隊的精華是天文學」，但從女士的角度來看，我必須說，在北中國的所有軍隊中，法國和意大利士兵是舉止最得體的，儘管我在那裡時發生了一件不好的事件，一名法國士兵曾在黑暗中試圖刺傷一名英國軍官。然而，我現在將暫時放下自己的表面觀察，轉而嘗試傳達專家的意見。

252 ROUND ABOUT PEKING

"At the beginning it became self-evident that the Germans had a very inefficient commissariat and transport, i.e., of the latter practically nothing. Their food had to be procured in each place they came to. So good is the food procurable in the northern plains of China, that they did not realise at first their want of transport, and, fortunately for them, the only time they went into the hills they were accompanied by a British Cavalry Regiment, which, when the Germans were without food, took it up to them on the regimental mules. On the same occasion, had it not been for the same mules which carried ammunition to a German company, they would have been wiped out. This was in the hills near Paoting-fu, October, 1900. They carried very few rounds themselves, and the reserve in huge waggons drawn by four horses. British soldiers carried 100 rounds always and could carry 250. Then, too, they had no method of providing themselves with water. They smiled at our Native Infantry Regiments having 108 mules, but when they found that we could move for ten days on this in a land as barren as a billiard-table and carry second reserve ammunition as well, and at a pinch help

them, they changed their tone. Everything they got from Germany came in cases so heavy that they could with difficulty be landed British stores are made up of packages weighing 60 Ibs. and then, too, the clothing they needed in the winter was just arriving in the spring. Their field-days, too, were laughable, masses of men marching on to a position in close order, and only extending to about a yard at 500 yards objective. Why, they made a mass visible and hittable 2,000 yards away ! That their discipline was bad became apparent when we were on strained relations with the French in Tientsin. The German soldiers then distinctly favoured the French and became excessively rude and aggressive, their officers taking no notice whatever of their behaviour although it was pointed out to them. German officers are not at all the well-read, polished men we fancied them, and are even for the most part not such good linguists as our officers in China. These last shone out wonderfully on the whole, most of us getting along in German or French, or Russian, some in two of these languages or even in all three. There is no doubt that the Germans are fearfully jealous of the Indian Army, and hated to think that they were doing for us what Germany's picked volunteers were doing for her. Also they disliked finding that when confronted with an up-country Sepoy they always took the knock. Their pioneers built the Hanku bridge, and got deadly drunk over the opening ceremony. Then our sappers and Chinese railway people had to strengthen and support it to prevent its sliding against the ice coming. Later on the railway stock on the line was crammed with small military light railway engines, lines, portable barracks, hat-racks, rifle-racks, horse-troughs, and every conceivable thing which had been sent from Germany and was all going up to Pei-tai-ho. It seemed an awful waste, and must have been a nuisance, I should say ; any way it was to us, as all our trains were choked with it. At one time the German soldiers' behaviour at Tongshan became so insolent it was reported to Count Waldersee, but after that it was quite changed and 1 they were most polite.

“一開始就顯而易見，德國人的後勤供應和運輸非常低效，實際上幾乎不存在。他們的食物必須在每個到達的地方自行採購。由於中國北方平原的食物非常優質，德國人最初並未意識到他們缺乏運輸工具。幸運的是，當他們唯一一次進入山區時，有一支英國騎兵團隨行，當德國人缺乏食物時，英國人用團隊的騾子將食物送給他們。同樣地，如果不是這些騾子將彈藥運送給德國的一個連隊，他們可能已經全軍覆沒。這發生在1900年10月保定府附近的山區。他們自己攜帶的彈藥非常少，而儲備彈藥則放在由四匹馬拉動的大型馬車上。英國士兵通常攜帶100發子彈，最多可以攜帶250發。此外，他們也沒有為自己提供水源的方法。他們曾經嘲笑我們的本地步兵團擁有108頭騾子，但當他們發現我們可以靠這些騾子在像台球桌一樣荒蕪的土地上行軍十天，並且還能攜帶二級儲備彈藥，甚至在緊急情況下幫助他們時，他們的態度就改變了。

他們從德國運來的物資裝在非常沉重的箱子裡，以至於很難卸貨。相比之下，英國的物資包裝重量為60磅。此外，他們冬天需要的衣物到春天才到達。他們的實地演習也讓人發笑，大批士兵密集隊形進攻，直到距離目標500碼時才稍微擴展隊形，僅僅擴展到一碼的間隔。這使得他們在2000碼外就已經是一個顯眼且易於命中的目標！