One of the pleasantest recent developments has been the enthusiasm for sport that had taken hold of the army. The authorities encouraged it in every way, for it was in keeping with the new tactics of training the individual to be efficient and independent. The author had the pleasure of attending the first great military athletic meet that has ever taken place. It was held in June, 1914, in the great stadium that has been erected near Berlin for the Olympic games of 1916, and that army which is now fighting so strenuously for the very existence of its country was represented in all its pomp and glory. On an elevated terrace was the emperor with his court. Next came the logen or boxes which were blue with the uniforms of the officers. A large majority of the spectators were soldiers, for whom whole sections had been reserved; they marched in in seemingly unending lines, looking very neat in their summer undress uniforms. The exercises began with gymnastics or turnen, to which, all over Germany, the greatest importance is attached. There was the usual running, jumping and throwing of weights—with us it is a shot, with them it is a discus. There was a cross-country run of four miles which started and ended in the stadium, and in which some fifty or sixty officers took part. It was won by a splendid young prince of the royal house, Prince Frederick Leopold. The best comment that I heard on him was that he looked like a first-class American.
A Howitzer Battery Crossing a Pontoon Bridge
But most interesting of all was the obstacle race for the common soldiers. A part of their regular training consists in climbing walls and trees; and on their parade grounds you will find special tracks with ditches, walls and palisades; while occasionally the obstacles are of the most serious kind—iron railings with twisted spikes through which they must make their way. In the stadium games the soldiers lined up on the farther side of a great swimming-pool that runs along one end of the field below the spectators. At a given signal they plunged into the water, swam for dear life to the other side, climbed the low protecting wall and were off helter-skelter for the hurdles and other obstacles. Behind one of the hurdles, concealed by green boughs, was a slimy watery hole, but it detained them but for a moment. Across the track a high straight impromptu wall was held in place by soldiers and up it all the contestants had to clamber. One almost stuck at the top; you watched him breathlessly to see if he could achieve it, but there was no jeering, as I fear there would have been at home. The whole race, in which were some fifty or more participants, was run with a wonderful freshness, joyousness and what the Germans call schneidigkeit, which corresponds to our American slang expression “toniness.”
Rough Riding
Even in the ordinary practise on the parade-ground an adjutant keeps a record of the time that the soldiers need to overcome the different obstacles. Whole companies have to pass the required tests. The whole thing is already reduced to such a system that in war an officer will know to the smallest detail what he can expect of his men. Great importance is attached to swimming, for occasions are sure to arise in a campaign when streams are to be forded or where the pontoon divisions have to be assisted.
Effect of Two Shells on a Six-Foot Reinforced Concrete Wall
On the whole the rise of sport has had a great leveling influence in the army. Soldiers and officers do not, indeed, compete with each other as a rule; but they take part in the same meets, and I have observed that the soldier seems to rise in importance while the tendency of the officer is to forget himself in the excitement of the moment. I have a vision of non-participants flying across the field with the tails of their long coats flapping behind them to carry tidings or encouragement to some tired runner—which denotes a very great change from the unswervingly dignified bearing of other days. Soldiers and officers now are encouraged to join athletic associations, which makes for less exclusiveness.