The German Army from Within Author:Thomas Burke Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE OFFICER AT WORK AND PLAY TUTY career as cadet being cut short owing to a lack of the humour sense in my commanders, I carried my sword elsewhere. After... more » many years, some of which were spent in India, in the cavalry, I had a mind to return to the German Army, and I therefore applied in writing to the Emperor himself, asking for a commission in the Prussian cavalry. After due and tedious inquiries had been made my request was granted, and in full measure ; for I found, to my surprise, that my commission was ante-dated by several years. This, no doubt, was a subtle appreciation of my having seen service abroad, although in a different Army. It struck me as very generous in itself, but it also had a useful purpose for the Fatherland, in that it introduced fresh blood and new ideas. The German Army at that time was never wholly averse from admitting novel methods or from learning from other military organisations, especially when experience accompanied the exponent of those methods. There have always been vagrant Britons in th3 Prussian or Austrian services, and, until the Boer War broke out, they were always bien vus. Indeed, many famous generals of foreign armies were Britons. There was, for instance, the gallant Keith, a sturdy Scot, whose name is borne, in his honour, by a regiment of Prussian infantry. Again, in Vienna, amongst a galaxy of military notabilities I found a statue erected to perpetuate the glory of an Englishman bearing the plain name of Brown, who had been Count, Field-Marshal, and Lord High Everything Else in the Austrian Army. On taking up my commission I was most kindly received by my brother officers, a courtesy I was not anticipating, since I had jumped in over the heads of several of them. However, I had come by the Imperial orders, so all was w...« less