A curious story of the Kaiser's youngest son, Prince Joachim, wafted away in an aeroplane when in danger of capture is told by a wounded Russian lieutenant.
The officer says at the battle on November 24 the Prince was in command of a German force which occupied a village after driving the Russians from it. The Czar's troops, however, received reinforcements and reoccupied the place after a tough fight.
When the Prince heard of the recapture, he jumped on a horse and galloped off after the retiring troops.
Three aeroplanes were circling above to discover and rescue the Prince. Two of the aviators who attempted to descend came into the Russian fire and were disabled.
By this time the Prince was with a number of German troops completely surrounded by Russians. His position seemed very critical. Justin the nick of time the third machine came down near him and the Prince, taking a seat thereon, was borne away to safety.
A correspondent of the Central News in northwestern France says:
"In attempting to destroy a railroad station, a Taube aeroplane dropped two bombs on Hazebrouck. The first did no harm, but, on returning, the aeroplane dropped a bomb on a curious crowd gathered about a hole made by the first missile, killing ten and wounding five civilians, including women and children."
A quick command from General Bertrand at Haecht turned a retreat of the Belgian forces into an attack in much the same manner as that in which General Sheridan rallied the Union forces at the battle of Winchester in the Civil War. The story is printed in theCurrier des Armes, the official Belgian soldiers' paper.
General Bertrand, who succeeded General Leman in command of the division which withstood the Germans at Liége, suddenly found his troops in retreat.
"Friends," he shouted, "you've mistaken the road! The enemy is in the other direction!"
Electrified by their leader's words, the soldiers wheeled about and charged the German troops with renewed vigor.
On another occasion the general is declared to have stopped an attack of two Belgian companies upon each other by rushing between their lines and singing a popular ditty. Until they heard thegeneral's voice, the soldiers did not realize that they were firing on their own countrymen.
The general is fifty-seven years old. He was a second lieutenant at twenty years, and became a major-general last March.
While previously soldiers of the Jewish faith have never attained any rank in the German army, now promotion is given wholesale.
In the Prussian army alone, twelve Jews have just been promoted to be officers; in the Bavarian army another twelve, and one each in the Saxon and Wurttemberg armies. Seven hundred and ten Jews have received the Iron Cross, which some have refused to wear because it is the emblem of the Christian faith.
A remarkable incident occurred, says the ParisJournal des Débats, at the opening matinée of the Comedie Française, when the old-fashioned Roman tragedy, "Horace," was presented.
Written in 1639, when France was fighting Germany, it contains numerous veiled allusions to the war and prophecies of successes afterward realized by Louis XIII. One such is the Sabine heroine's appeal to Rome to spare her country and seek conquests further afield: "Hurl your battalions against the East; plant your flags on the borders of the Rhine!"
TheJournal des Débatssays:
"At these words a shiver of excitement passed over the whole dense audience, which rose, cheering frantically, and continued the applause for several minutes."
Paul Erco of the ParisJournalsays in a message from Furnes:
"It looks as if the Germans were out of ammunition. Yesterday we spotted several of their batteries along the Yser, and as soon as the French and Belgian guns opened fire they withdrew in a hurry, declining combat.
"I asked one of General Joffre's ablest lieutenants if he thought the enemy meant to give up the Yser and Yperlee lines. His reply was:
"'For obvious reasons I can't tell you what I think on that point; but I will say that even if the Germans resume the struggle on our left wing they cannot break through. From the Lys to the sea they have a solid wall in front of them, which cannot be broken down and before which they will shatter themselves to pieces if they try it.'"
The late King Charles of Rumania left an estate of $10,000,000, of which $750,000 is bequeathed to the army and navy. The will states that the money be set apart for the purchase of quick-firing guns for the Rumanian army.
A Frenchman suggests the value of protective armor against shrapnel. He says that metallic disks attached inside the cap, so as to afford almost complete protection of the neck, back, and shoulders when soldiers are firing prone, would no doubt save seven or eight per cent. of the men. He cites the cases of two infantrymen who thus utilized zinc mess tins which showed numerous scratches where shrapnel had ricochetted and thusprevented wounds despite the feeble defensive qualities of the material.
The British Government stopped the circulation of theIrish Worldof New York in Ireland because of its attitude against recruiting in Ireland.
A Paris newspaper recently printed the following: "Now begins the twilight of the German gods. The Kaiser's expiation commences. It is not Napoleon vanquished by his own conquests; it is not the eagle bowing his crest, but a wretched vulture with the stomach ache. In his sleepless nights, he must see, like Belshazzar's writing on the wall, the words: 'The despicable little army of General French!'"
The tragedy of silence killed many of the women of Europe. Suicides occurred by thousands, especially in Austria. Women did not know whether their husbands and sons were alive or dead. They were given no news. Wherever they turned for light they were confronted by an impenetrable pall of silence. They were not permitted to dress in mourning, nor were the bodies of their dead brought home for burial. Insanity came to the relief of many. Thousands of others went to suicides' graves.
The German army aviators discovered a method of making clouds to hide them when shelled by the French. A French officer was watching some German aeroplanes under fire when they suddenly disappeared into a cloud ofbrown smoke. In a few moments they became perfectly invisible. The French gunners were unable to find them again.
A former Edinburgh newsboy in the British army was awarded the Victoria Cross for capturing a machine gun, an officer, and six men.
A dispatch from Flanders to the LondonDaily Mail, referring to the condition of the Germans on the Yser, said:
"Nine hundred and ninety-one prisoners bagged in the fighting in the neighborhood of Ypres on December 2 came to my notice to-day. If these are a sample of the men left behind, then the German army in western Flanders is in a sorry state. They walked dejectedly and cursed the guards for hurrying them into anything more than a mile an hour. Altogether, they were as sad a crew as ever surrendered.
"I saw some with boots without heels or soles and trousers which were rotten to the knees from the constant wetness of the dikeland. Many of the men had been indifferently fed for days, and many others had been for weeks fully dressed and had not been able to bathe in the filth-sodden trenches. One has to marvel at their endurance."
Copies of a proclamation which was to have been posted throughout Servia by the Austrians were received from Vienna. "By the will of God, Who guides the destinies of peoples and the strength of his Majesty the Emperor Francis Joseph," it reads, "your country had been subduedby force of the arms of the Austro-Hungarian army. You have submitted to a rule just and wise of the Gospodar, who sent us, not to avenge and punish, but to inaugurate a reign of truth and justice. Trust in his clemency, trust in the soldiers, who love justice and are conscious of their duty. They will be a strong guard for your country which will protect you devotedly."
Five motor lorries of the British army Ordnance Corps conveying ammunition were cut off by the Germans, and the men in charge to escape capture made off across country after blowing up the ammunition. One, however, refused to leave, and remained hidden in a wood at the side of the road. The Germans, finding the ammunition destroyed, went off, and as soon as the coast was clear the soldier who had remained hidden came out. Seeing the wheels of the lorries were intact, he managed to get one of the motors going, and, hitching the other four behind, he succeeded in bringing his convoy into camp.
A Frenchman from Normandy writes as follows to his wife:
"I must tell you that I am a prisoner of war. Chance, the great master of all things, willed it that our battalion was to be annihilated and that a few survivors, all uninjured, among them I, fall into the hands of the Germans. We were brought to P—— under guard. Don't worry about my fate, sweetheart. The Germans are treating us with extraordinary kindness; they look upon us as unfortunate enemies. We get our dinner—bread,coffee, apples, etc.—and when we have no tobacco they give us cigarettes."
The official investigations conducted at Vienna with reference to the claim that the Russians at Tomaszow placed civilians in front of their troops during the engagement there disclose the following:
"A battalion of the reserves under the direction of a cavalry regiment was engaged in a rearguard action while seeking to occupy certain positions near Tomaszow. During the encounter the Russians drove the inhabitants of Tomaszow along the highways in front of them and directly in the path of the German fire. Among these were women and children. Similar action was taken by the Russians at Kipanen and Sendrowen, in East Prussia. Since strong masses of Russian troops in this manner approached our positions as close as 400 or 500 yards, we had to open fire. It was unavoidable that many of the innocent civilians thus had to be sacrificed."
An official Russian statement describes as ridiculous the German claims of having captured enormous numbers of prisoners, cannons, and machine guns. It says the armies have been fighting continuously, and it is impossible to estimate the losses.
"On the other hand, the German denial that they have lost a single gun is disproved by the fact that in the Brzeziny district alone (near Lodz) we took twenty-three guns and a largeamount of spoils. As to German prisoners, 10,000 have passed one point alone of our front where prisoners are registered.
"Neither do the Germans mention the supply columns which they burned, nor the cannon and ammunition which they abandoned and which we are gradually finding.
"The Germans also conceal the losses which they sustained in the November fighting, although witnesses state never has a field of battle presented such a sight as on the roads of the German retreat toward Strykow—at some points where we attacked the German flanks the German dead were piled not less than a meter (over a yard) high."
A letter received from a member of one of the foreign Red Cross missions in Servia paints a gloomy picture of conditions in Nish.
The town was crowded with wounded, fresh batches were still pouring in, and here tobacco factories were being utilized for their reception. There was serious shortage of dressings and other appliances. At one hospital visited by the writer, the attendants were merely putting on bandages, the supply of proper dressings being exhausted.
The number of surgeons and other workers, despite the arrival of foreign missions, was too small to deal with the enormous number of wounded. As a consequence, the work was taxing their powers to the utmost.
The Servians were meeting their difficulties with the greatest courage and cheerfulness, but the situation was extremely grave, and further assistance in the shape of personal service, money, and stores was urgently required.
According to a letter received recently by the parents of Lori G. Periard, a French infantryman, when he wrote the letter on November 5, he was resting at Montrol, a village back of Tresne en Oise for two days after a twenty-four-hour shift at "advance work," the driving back of the Germans.
"It is four o'clock in the afternoon," he writes. "We are at rest for two days in Montrol, a small village a little back from Tresne, where has been fought the frightful battle of October 8, of which mayhap you have heard. I was in that battle.
"There I saw my captain killed at my side as he shouted to us, 'Forward, my children! Courage!' The poor one! He was indeed one brave! I saw my best friends killed beside me. Myself, I got but a spent bullet in my pocket.
"Now we are advancing with caution. We take the advanced post every third day. That is to say this: We advance on Tresne, where the Germans are, with short dashes.
"The Prussians are only 400 yards away from us. We sprint and fall flat, and then we work all night to make some trenches to shelter us. The charges are always made at dark. In the morning Ave relieve ourselves by crawling back, while other soldiers who have had sheltered positions crawl to relieve us. I say crawl, because if the Prussians should catch sight of us they would honor us with a fusillade en regle....
"During the day we hide behind mounds of earth which we throw up, and we fight foot for foot any attempt they make to advance. They do not like our cold steel, and many times we must give it to them."
The LondonStandard'sBerlin correspondent says the BerlinTageblattrelates that in the Belgian village of Beveren 150 Bavarian soldiers who had taken part in the siege of Antwerp drank 1,485 liters of beer within two hours.
Each Bavarian soldier thus drank in round figures nearly twenty pints within two hours.
TheTageblatthas no other comment than that it was satisfactory to find that Belgian beer was fit for Bavarian consumption.
Heinz Skrohn, who attends the public school at Prussian Battau, near Neukuhren, sent the following letter of congratulation, which the BerlinTageblattpublishes, to General von Hindenburg on the occasion of his birthday anniversary:
"Dear Gen. von Hindenburg: I read in the paper that October 2 is the anniversary of your birthday. The public school of Battau, Fischhausen county, sends its heartiest congratulations and hopes that you will continue to give the Russians a good thrashing. We very often play soldier, but nobody wants to be the Russ, saying that as such they get beaten up too much. I am also sending you a picture in this letter showing us lined up as soldiers. I am the leader, and have the Iron Cross on my chest. On another picture the girls are seen knitting socks for the soldiers. I would also like to have your picture, but a big one, please. We want to hang it up in our classroom alongside of the Kaiser's picture. When a few days ago the Russians were coming nearerand nearer to Koenigsberg many people here became alarmed and moved away. We, however, stayed at home and went to school every day. Our teacher here tells us every day what happens in the war. We had a big celebration here after the battle of Tannenberg. We got all the flags together and marched through the village. We boys would like to go to war, too, but are too small yet. I am only twelve years old. Please write me that you got the letter. If you have no time yourself, have somebody else write. The boys here are very anxious to know whether I will get a reply.
"Now, good luck once more to you and health from all the boys of the public school of Prussian Battau, especially from the captain.
"Heinz Skrohn."
The following reply was received by Heinz in due time:
"Dear Heinz: His Excellency Major General von Hindenburg wishes me to thank you very much for your letter and the pictures. His Excellency will have a picture sent to you, and hopes that you will always be industrious boys, despite the war.
Caemmerer,"Captain and Adjutant.",
A visit to the French trenches in Flanders, under the auspices of the French General Staff, is here described:
Standing in the shelter of a wonderfully ingenious and deep-dug trench on what undoubtedly is the bloodiest battlefield in European history, the most notable impression is one of utter surpriseat the absence of movement and the lack of noise.
Within one's range of vision, with a strong field glass, there are probably concealed not fewer than 100,000 men, yet except for the few French soldiers with rifles in their hands standing or kneeling in the immediate vicinity and keenly peering over the flat land toward the positions held by the Germans, no human presence was noticeable.
A staff officer said that behind a slight slope 300 yards away many German guns were hidden, but only an occasional burst of flame and a sharp whirring sound coming from an indefinite point told of this artillery.
A little forest to the left bristles with machine guns backed by infantry in rifle pits and covered trenches. The approach to these positions has been made almost impossible by barbed-wire entanglements strewn with brush and branches of trees and having the appearance of a copse of heather.
British, French, and Belgian troops are greeted with cheers by the people as they march from spells of duty in the trenches to the villages in the rear. These men are jaded and worn. They stay in the trenches for days at a time and are constantly under artillery fire as well as being subjected to infantry attacks.
As one group goes back to rest, another moves forward to take its place, and the men going into action cheer those who are retiring.
A British officer writes home from the front remarking on the curious avoidance by the Germans,at first, of shelling the town hall at Ypres.
"Some suspicions were aroused by it," he writes, "and the place was searched. In the vaults underneath it, which are of very great extent, was found an enormous quantity of German stores and ammunition sufficient to last them a month and serve as a depot for their attack on Calais.
"It had been put there with the connivance of the Mayor at the time the Germans were in occupation. This explains their desperate efforts to capture the town again. The traitor Mayor was shot. Immediately afterward the Germans shelled the place and smashed up the building and set it on fire."
A British prisoner of war named Lonsdale, confined in the Doeberitz Camp, has been condemned by a German court-martial to ten years' imprisonment for striking one of his custodians.
The incident is thus described by theLokal Anzeiger: "When the occupants of one of the tents in the camp failed to turn out for work, a group of reservists in charge of the camp were ordered to drive them out. Lonsdale struck one of the German soldiers. A sergeant major drew his sword and hit Lonsdale several blows on the back.
"At the trial the president of the court-martial told witnesses to speak the truth and not to be influenced by hatred of the English."
The way in which the Russian soldiers will risk their lives for comparatively small luxuries is evidenced by the following story:
During the fighting in East Prussia, a corporal asked permission to take a couple of his comrades and try to surprise one of the German scouting patrols. When he returned and reported that his effort had been successful, his officer asked him why he volunteered for such risky work. The corporal replied that the previous night a friend had relieved a German officer of a good supply of chocolate and a flask of brandy, and he wanted to "try his luck," too.
"And what did you get?" asked the officer.
The corporal grinned and showed two cakes of milk chocolate and five cigars.
A letter from Prince Joachim, the Kaiser's youngest son, who was recently wounded in action against the Russians in the East, to a non-commissioned officer who rendered first aid to him, was given out here by the German Information Service last night as follows:
"My Dear Corporal: You surely must have thought me ungrateful for not having thanked you ere this for your kind aid. I would have done so long ago had it not been for my removal to Berlin. To-day the Empress read me your letter, which was a source of great joy to me and her Majesty. At the time when you rushed on with your company I did not find an opportunity to thank you for your faithful aid. I shall always be grateful to you for it. That was true comradeship. I trust you are in good health when this letter reaches you. Did Private Ewe get a new package of bandages? I have reproached myself for having taken his. And now farewell and remember me to all the boys of the 83d, my Casselfriends, and tell them that I shall be back as soon as I am able to get on my feet again. Your thankful comrade,
Joachim,"Prince of Prussia."
An eyewitness, a soldier who took part in that fearful siege, describes his impressions of the slaughter near Przemysl:
"The fury of the Russians' attack was shown by examination of the battlefield. The bodies of fallen Russians in the zone of our obstacles formed great piles many meters high. It was a terrible sight. I was one of a squad accompanying the examining officers. It was too sickening to repeat. Those masses of dead and dying wounded men. The dead were not so terrible—so sad to me!—as those wounded.
"It was the living—the writhing creatures, in that mass of humanity, causing the piles of flesh to quiver, as these helpless ones struggled feebly to escape."
A LONG HANDSHAKE THE FIRST GREETING; THEN THEY DROVE ACROSS THE BELGIAN FRONTIER.
The LondonDaily Mailcorrespondent sends the following dispatch from Dunkirk, the date being omitted:
"There was a historic incident on the roadside in Flanders to-day when King George met King Albert. The King of the Belgians, as the host, was first at the rendezvous. He was dressed in his usual quiet uniform of dark blue.
"As he alighted from his motor and walked toward some old cottages here, he waited, and exchanged kindly words with some Belgian soldiers who came out of a neighboring inn to touch their hats to their monarch.
"Noon struck from an old clock tower near at hand, and a moment later a motor cyclist flying the Union Jack was buzzing along the road toward ——. Behind were three black limousine cars, all flying Union Jacks, and behind them was a second motor cyclist.
"The cars and cyclists stopped, and from the first motor came King George and the Prince of Wales with him. He wore a khaki uniform, with a scarlet band round his hat. He looked fit and well.
"The two kings moved forward with outstretched hands to greet each other there in the muddy road with none but a few officers, a few soldiers, and simple villagers looking on.
"Upon a canal barge on the water alongside the road a woman was hanging out her washing on the mainmast and boom. All she saw was two men shaking hands, but there was quiet earnestness about that greeting. The handshake was long and firm, and the accompanying smiles like those of men who meet on serious occasions.
"Their first talk was not long. After returning the salute of a soldier, who had come up close to look on, they entered King Albert's motor car and passed on over the frontier into the little remnant of Belgium that still remains out of the enemy's clutches.
"The two kings stayed a short time to review the troops, Belgian and others, drawn up in the village square, and then the monarchs drove on together to here. They dined and talked infriendly intimacy of the strange happenings that had befallen the kingdoms of both and of the great fights that have been fought."
Fifteen hundred British men and officers are in the base hospital at Boulogne suffering from frozen feet. Fully one thousand of this number must have one or both feet severed, owing to the deadening of the nerves, which makes futile all attempts at treatment. Chilblains and frostbites have been depleting the ranks worse than bullets and shrapnel, and once a man's foot is frozen he is through, as far as fighting is concerned, for the rest of the war.
Says one British officer now in the hospital: "From the time I arrived at the front, three weeks ago, until I arrived at the hospital last night, I have not been warm for one moment."
While the men are away at the war, the Women's Freedom League of London has formed a corps of policewomen for duty on the streets, at railway stations and in public parks. The women have organized under the name of "Women Police Volunteers."
The throne of Egypt is going begging. Great Britain and the native government are finding it impossible to induce any of the native princes to accept it. It is now proposed to make the country a separate kingdom, independent of Turkey.
One arms and ammunition company in thiscountry is erecting a million-dollar building to supply the demand for its products created by the European war. This company has a contract that calls for the manufacture of fifteen hundred rifles per day.
Many of the Allied soldiers are in the hospitals "wounded without wounds." They have been so dazed by the shock of exploding shells that it was deemed best to invalid them for a while. In some cases the shells destroy a man's memory. One corporal was brought in who remembered his name and the events preceding the war, but has utterly forgotten anything subsequent to the mobilization. He even refused to believe a story of his own heroism.
The spy scare in London forced many innocent men out of the country. Adolph Boehm, who sold newspapers in Piccadilly for more than thirty years, was forced to flee unless he wished to stand trial for being a German spy.
The ParisTempscorrespondent describes a meeting near Soissons with a French infantry soldier who had just escaped from the Germans. They had forced him, he said, with fifty others captured at the same time, to dig trenches after shooting those refusing. The soldier said:
"Under a French cannonade which killed many, we were compelled by blows to dig in the most exposed situation the trenches the Germans now occupy, which are very wide and deep and cemented against damp at frequent intervals. We received only one meal, at 11 P. M. We had nocoverings and slept in the trenches. Finally, when my comrades were most all killed, I crept from one end of the trench and crawled 100 yards to a shell hole, where I spent the following day. Then I crawled 200 yards to the French trenches.
"The Germans received food and munitions regularly, but seemed dispirited, and suffered from rheumatism greatly. The majority are middle-aged.
"During the last fortnight the Germans have withdrawn many guns, which were replaced with trunks of trees as barrels to deceive aviators, and some were even mounted on wheels."
Passing a building in Glasgow where some of the Belgian refugees were housed, two young girls were overheard arguing about the language of the guests, thus:
"A wish we'd been gettin' French this year; we'd been able tae speak tae the wee Belgians."
"They widna understan' French, for A heard they speak Flemish."
"Well, A heard the Belgians speak better French than they dae in France, just the same's we speak better English than they dae in England."
The LondonTimesmilitary correspondent, giving an account of the life led by the Prince of Wales at the front, says:
"He won golden opinions. Personally of slight physique and almost fragile looking, the Prince was but little known to the army until he joined it, and now that he is becoming known it is a revelation.He is among the keenest and hardest soldiers in the army. He walks more than six miles before breakfast every morning, drives his own car and spends every moment of the working day in acquainting himself with the situation of the troops and the service of the army.
"Although nominally attached to Sir John French's staff, he is not chained there. He has been attached in turn to army corps, divisional and brigade headquarters and is undergoing an education which no books can ever give him. Only last week he occupied a house rocking and shaking day and night with the bombardment, and he has visited the trenches, including those of the Indian army. It will be difficult to keep him out of the firing line of his grenadiers.
"A more zealous and indefatigable young officer does not serve with the King's troops. He has a quiet, confident dignity which is most attractive and his character and intelligence arouse the enthusiasm of all who meet him. It was not exactly the expression of a courtier, but it was the expression of a truth, when an old soldier looked wistfully after him and muttered, half to himself: 'That's a d——d good boy!'"
But for the honesty of a British "Tommy," says a Paris despatch, a famous French actress would have lost her satchel containing jewels valued at $25,000. She had dropped the satchel as she was getting into a taxi, and the soldier, who was passing along, picked it up and restored it to her.
So grateful was the actress that she took off avaluable ring from her finger and presented it to the finder, saying:
"This ees for your leetle English amie."
Bone grafting to save shattered limbs is being accomplished at Bordeaux by the Russian surgeon Woronoff, who experimented with Dr. Alexis Carrel at the Rockefeller Institute in this city. Doctor Woronoff is replacing as much as seven and one-half inches of missing bone by transplanting monkey's bone to the wounded limb. He also employs the bones of other men.
The latest charges against the British censor comes from Germany, where it is asserted that the censor deleted entirely the message sent by the Kaiser to the Queen of Spain at the death of her brother. The message, the Germans declare, never reached its destination.
In a raid sixty Cossacks captured three hundred German cavalrymen. The Cossacks were sent out to learn what was going on in Czenstochowa. They divided into sections and dashed into the sleeping town simultaneously. They killed a number of Germans before they had time to crawl out of their blankets. Then they drove three hundred Germans ahead of them to their lines. When the prisoners were examined forty of them were found to be women dressed in soldiers' uniforms.
Japan has transported two hundred big Krupp guns, together with the men and officers for handlingthe guns, over the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Russian front. For this service Japan is said to have been promised that half of the peninsula of Saghalien which at the present belongs to Russia. These guns were purchased by Japan from Germany last year.
The King of Saxony has joined the troops in Belgium. His presence greatly encourages the men. He is said to be taking the Kaiser's place while the latter is in East Prussia exhorting his warriors there.
When a wounded Belgian soldier was examined in the hospital a leather purse was found in his pocket and in it a bent and broken Belgian one-franc piece, part of which was missing. The purse itself was badly gashed by a bullet. The man's wound did not heal readily and the surgeon, probing deeper into the man's thigh, found the missing part of the coin imbedded near the bone. It was removed and the soldier speedily recovered.
"I have the honor to inform you that I have enlisted in the 4th Queen's," wrote a butler resigning his position with a wealthy Kent family by whom he had been employed for fifteen years. "I hope my leaving will not inconvenience you, but I feel that my obvious duty is to do my little share toward the defence of my King and country, especially as my work as an indoor servant is such as can be done—and in times like these I think should be done—by women. No single man with any patriotism can remain if he is able-bodiedand otherwise eligible to serve in the army."
"A Hindu belonging to a Lancer regiment to-day rebuked in my presence a man who spoke slightingly of the German people," cables a correspondent. "With amazing dignity he said:
"'Do not talk like that of the Germans. It is a great country which can make war on five Powers. They are brave men who can fight and die as the Germans do. The pity for them is that they are not so well trained as we.'"
How Rudyard Kipling narrowly escaped arrest on a charge of espionage is told in the following letter written by Cycle Sergeant Callis of the Fifth (Loyal North Lancashire) Territorials, now training at Sevenoaks:
"Our battalion turned out in full marching order and proceeded to our usual practice ground, Knole Park. The cycle section marched in the rear of the column and an ordinary looking man came to me and asked me a lot of particulars about the battalion. He told me he had seen a lot of soldiering in his time and said he must confess our men struck him as being about the smartest on the march he had ever seen outside the regulars.
"He asked me for so many particulars about them, and also about their billets, that I thought I should detain him as a sort of spy.
"I excused myself and rode off to the head of the column and informed one of our majors as to the nature of the conversation, etc., and later took the man to said major.
"The officer stopped me to-day and laughingly asked me if I knew whom I had tried to put under arrest. I answered in the negative and he told me it was no less than Rudyard Kipling."
The BerlinLokalanzeigerpublishes the following description of the Kaiser by Sven Hedin:
"I had the happiness of speaking to the Kaiser in former years, and he has not altered. Latterly I have met him frequently, and I can only say that he has lost nothing of his freshness and elasticity. His appearance has not altered in the least, and yet every day he puts in twenty-four hours of work. Everything must be reported to him and he takes part in everything.
"I am often asked: 'How is the Kaiser able to bear this physical and mental strain?' I think the correct answer is that he is able to bear it because his conscience is clear; that he feels himself innocent before God and man of having caused this war and that he knows he has done everything in his power to prevent it. The Germanic cause cannot wish for any better representative than the Kaiser, and it would almost appear that he had been born for this crisis. For, just as he did all in his power to keep the peace, he feels now that he is responsible for the development of German destiny, and with this in view he devotes to the cause all his feelings, thoughts and acts."
The disadvantage of having a sovereign who insists upon being his own generalissimo must have weighed heavily of late upon the German armies in the west. A French soldier engaged in the districtjust south of the Somme gives particulars, gathered from German prisoners, of the Kaiser's recent visit to his lines in this region. He says:
"To prove their zeal in his presence the German officers increased their daily quota of about 100 shells for firing at the French to 3,000 in twenty-four hours. The next day the imperial traveller was five miles south of Lihous, where the same ceremonial was organized for his reception. There was a regular debauch of shells from cannon, guns and mortars. There, again, the infantry showed little eagerness to attack us, but some blows and threats improved their sense of duty.
"There was a frightful hecatomb. They again tried to capture the villages of Dilrens and Quesnayen Santerre on the following day, but, although encouraged by the presence of Emperor William, they failed ingloriously. One officer says 500 German bodies already have been buried and many still are on the ground."
"Day and night the agony of Antwerp is present with me," said the Bishop of London, preaching at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, "but if there be a God in heaven the wrongs of Belgium—absolutely innocent in this war—will one day be avenged.
"For myself, when I have boys whom I love as my own sons killed every day, and my rooms filled daily with their sisters and their young widows, I feel that I should go mad but for my religion.
"It is hardly to be expected that Great Britain can feel charitably toward Germany, which has perpetrated diabolical acts of cruelty, but, nevertheless,we must fight this war with Christian faith."
A correspondent of theNieuwe Rooterdamsche Couranttells an amazing story of how the German dead are disposed of at Quatricht, a little village in the neighborhood of Ghent. Every day people see huge pits dug, and every night they hear the rumble of wagons, but they must not even peep from their houses.
Each morning, however, shows fresh mounds of earth, and the people have come to the conclusion that bodies must be brought to the place of burial in tip wagons.
The wounded are transported during the day so that they may not see the procession of the dead.
The story of a thrilling airship raid by French officers comes from Arras.
The captain in command of the airship had received orders to try to destroy a railway junction where the Germans were conveying troops. The line was well guarded, and it was necessary to cross the enemy's position for a considerable distance.
The airship started at dusk, without lights, and succeeded in crossing the German lines without being perceived. It soon located the junction and dropped in rapid succession three dynamite charges upon the station, with considerable damage to the tracks.
The airship by that time had been discovered by the Germans' searchlights, and all the fieldguns and mortars in the neighborhood were aimed at it. The sky was ablaze with bursting shells, some coming dangerously near.
By throwing over all the available ballast, the airship's crew was enabled to rise rapidly. As a departing salute it attempted to drop a fourth charge of dynamite.
Just then something went wrong which threatened the airship with instant destruction. The dynamite charge got stuck in the tube.
The automatic detonator already had been set in motion. The captain seized a hatchet and climbed over the rigging. He struck a few desperate blows at the tube, at the risk of his life, and released the charge, saving the airship. The dynamite exploded with a terrific detonation long before it reached the ground, with a burst of flames.
Another tribute to the gallantry of Capt. Von Muller of the German cruiserEmdenis contained in a letter received by a Glasgow woman from her son, a member of the crew of the steamshipKabinga. The letter says:
"TheEmdencaptured theKabingain the Bay of Bengal, but when Capt. Von Muller learned that our skipper's wife and children were aboard he presented the ship to the lady, remarking to the skipper, 'You can inform your owners that as far as they are concerned theKabingahas been seized and sunk.'"
An officer in the pay department of the French army, writing from Ypres, says:
"The town is being sprinkled with shells. In the earlier days of the attack only bombs from aeroplanes fell, but during the last forty-eight hours the town suffered from the attentions of big howitzers.
"Night before last a regular bombardment destroyed a score of houses and killed eight persons, of whom two were women. Up to now the shells have spared the wonderful city hall, but will this delightful Flemish city suffer after the manner of Arras?
"My letter has been interrupted by the bombardment, which is terrible. For two hours yesterday evening nearly all the houses in our neighborhood were struck. Many are smashed. We sought refuge in the cellars of the Hotel de Ville, the only place capable of resisting the great shells.
"Profiting by a lull we went out in search of another shelter and found a vault under the ramparts of the town. There we spent the night, huddled up with a hundred men, women and children."
A mile and a half crawl with five bullets in his body under artillery and rifle fire was the experience of Private Dan Hurst of the Coldstream Guards. Writing to his wife, Hurst says:
"Don't fret over me. I have five wounds, but I am a lucky chap to be here to tell the tale, for if the shell which hit me in the chest had exploded a bit lower I should have been killed outright. Our ambulance men tried to get us away, but the Germans fired upon them, so they had to leave us to take our chances. It rained in torrents all that night and the Germans put sentries with bayonets over us. They took all our food and water away,and on Tuesday afternoon some of them tried to make out that we had been firing upon them. We asked how that was possible when they had taken everything from us, but they were going to shoot us when an officer came up and stopped them.
"On Wednesday they removed us to the far side of a haystack out of their line of fire so we could not get hit, but one of the British shells exploded near us, and of course I got hit. We thought it best to make a dash for it. I could not walk and had to crawl on my hands and knees with my wounds bleeding, and while I was crawling away they started to fire on us. There were six of us who started but only two of us finished. Our trenches were only a mile and a half away, but it took us four hours and a half to crawl there."
A French doctor, who has just returned from Flanders, describing the effect of the "Fleche d'aero," as the steel darts with which the French airmen are supplied are generally called, said:
"Among the 2,000 wounded whom we treated in forty-eight hours was a German who had been struck by an aeroplane dart. He was evidently bending over when hit, for the dart had entered the right thigh and traversed the whole leg, so that the point emerged just above the boot. The man was conscious when he was brought in, and said he felt no pain, only a heavy blow. He died soon afterward from shock and loss of blood."
The darts resemble steel pencils. They are about five inches long with the unpointed end half-fluted to insure their falling head first. It is calculated that they strike with a hundred pounds force if thrown from an elevation of 1,000 metres.
As threats and entreaties have proved equally vain against censorship the ParisTempsattacks it with ridicule. Pierre Mille, one of the best known contributors, writes a column article, beginning:
"Regarding the origin of the convulsion which is shaking Europe, together with the least known diplomatic secrets and the most concealed strategic projects, I am going to make some most important revelations."
Before he can reveal anything here, however, the censor intervenes with a four-line cut. He continues:
"It will be remembered that Napoleon once cried before the Pyramids——" (Here is another slash.)
The writer goes on:
"But we do not need the support of history or the remembrance of the victories won by Jeanne d'Arc at (name excised) or at Valmy by (another obliteration). One fact I will add——" (Here follows a ten-line cut.)
He continues:
"His undaunted attitude at——" (This time ten lines more disappear.)
The article proceeds:
"She cried in a trembling voice, 'Oh daughter, cruel——' (the woman's speech is all excised save the words 'the devourers fight among themselves,' although the passage appears to be taken from nothing more modern or harmful than a famous tragedy).
The writer makes a last effort:
"The adversary's position was now very serious. Throwing himself upon his knees, he cried,'Our Father, which art——' (Even of the Lord's Prayer the censor allows only this beginning and the final 'Amen.')"
During a fortnight's sojourn with his armies in the field the Czar spoke to thousands of wounded, according to a Petrograd correspondent. His Majesty visited the Germans and Austrians in field hospitals, addressing kindly words to them. In one ward, entirely occupied by wounded Germans, the men, who were unable to rise, spontaneously greeted the Czar with a three-fold Hoch!
The Czar inquired about the identity and direction of a column passing the imperial train. He was told they were officers and men recovered from wounds returning to their respective regiments. His Majesty alighted and asked where and how they had been wounded. It appeared they all had participated in the early battles of the war. They were anxious again to go to the firing line.
A wounded English officer describes the following incident of the German attack between Dixmude and Ypres:
"A German regiment with the flag flying approached our trenches to about 300 yards. It was met by a heavy discharge of our machine guns and rifle fire, and fell back in disorder. Immediately it reassembled some distance away. Once more we saw it advance, with the ranks already thinner. It came to within 100 yards of us, when it was received as before and again beaten back.
"This time the order was sent through ourtrenches to let them come on to twenty yards. We did so; then the order to fire at will was given. Two-thirds of the regiment had already fallen in the first two attacks, and now the remainder was wiped out. Not one of the assailants got to our trenches."
Soldiers who have been fighting near Roye say that the hostile trenches there are only fifteen yards apart at some points, so that the enemies can hear each other talking. Last week a company of sappers were misled by the darkness right into a German trench, where a squad of Teuton sappers were at work. The men fought in the dark with picks and shovels until rifles also began to crack, whereupon each side drew back.
French cemeteries, with their strong stone tombs, sometimes play an important part in the hostilities. Thus the Germans have intrenched themselves on a cemetery height near Roye and have made it a strong position. The vaults offer a safe shelter against rain and shrapnel, while metallic coffins have been placed along the edge of the trenches as a protection against rifle fire.
A thrilling incident in the wonderful retreat of the British from Mons is described by Sapper Wells of the Royal Engineers, who passes lightly over his own part in an extraordinary act of heroism.
"One of our officers asked for a man to go with him to blow up a bridge, so that the Germans could not follow us, and I went with him," says Wells.
"Well, to blow a bridge up we use guncotton and a wire fuse. It is safe enough if you take your wire well away, but this time it would not work. Our men in running back had stepped on the wire, so we had to go nearer to the bridge and try again. Even then it would not act, so the officer said to me, 'Get out of the way, Wells.' I said, 'No, I'll go with you.' We were the only two on the bridge and the Germans were shooting at us, but our luck was in. Well, we both lay down and I fired ten rounds at the guncotton with my rifle, and he did the same with a pistol, but it wouldn't work. If it had we should have gone with it, so you see what a shave we had. We made a dive back and got some more guncotton, and were making to have another go when an officer ordered us back, saying it was no use trying."
A photographer in Southampton row showed outside his studio an apt comment on the war. Last September the Duke of Westminster and other British sportsmen sent round a circular letter asking for subscriptions to the Olympic games to be held in Berlin, and in the request were the following words: "In honor bound, Great Britain must send a team to Berlin, and ... this object can only be accomplished by efficient organization and adequate financial support."
The photographer has written below by way of comment: "The response to the above appeal has been most successful. The money has been found and the team, most thoroughly equipped, is now on its way to Berlin. Very little doubt exists that all the prizes will fall into its arms."
Correspondents of Finnish newspapers report the heroic sacrifice of the crew of a picket boat in order to save a Russian cruiser, which was unwittingly approaching a mine in the Gulf of Finland.
Realizing that it was too late to signal the danger, the boat deliberately rushed at the mine at full speed. A terrific explosion followed. Six of the crew of seven perished. To the survivor, who was severely wounded, was awarded the decoration of St. George.
A dispatch to the LondonTimesfrom Dunkirk, France, said:
"It may be admitted that the position at Ypres two days ago was serious. The town itself was bombarded by the Germans with great violence and under the fierce cannonading the Allies had to withdraw from the town, which became a 'No Man's Land,' shells from both sides bursting across it.
"The Germans made a final effort under cover of a fierce bombardment of the British positions. They had prepared a determined onslaught. Masses of men were launched in succession at chosen points on the allied front. The assault was met in a supreme way.
"Two regiments, one Scottish and one of the Guards, went down with bayonets to stem the advance. It was the most terrible bayonet charge of the whole war. It succeeded, the break in the line was repaired and the German attack was once more driven back.
"That was their last effort. The Germans are now assailing the allied line at Arras, forty milesfurther to the south, but not with the same fury as they exhibited in the onslaught of the past week.
"So fierce has been the fighting around Ypres that the casualties of the Germans are believed to have reached 100,000, though these figures may prove to have been exaggerated."