What Germany Thinks Part 20

"The troops under the leaders.h.i.+p of the Bavarian Crown Prince have also been victorious and crossed the line Luneville-Blamont-Tirey. To-day the 21st army corps occupied Luneville.

"The pursuit has brought rich booty. Besides numerous prisoners and standards the left wing of the Vosges army has already captured 150 cannon.

"To-day the German Crown Prince's army has continued the pursuit beyond Longwy.

"The army under Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg has advanced on both sides of Neufchateau and completely defeated the French army which had crossed the Semois. Numerous cannon, standards and prisoners--among the latter several generals--were captured.

"West of the Meuse our troops are advancing on Maubeuge. An English cavalry brigade which appeared on their front was defeated.

"August 27th. Nine days after the conclusion of our concentration the armies in the West have gained victory after victory and penetrated the enemy's territory from Cambrai to the Southern Vosges. At all points the enemy has been driven out of his positions and is now in full retreat.

"It is not yet possible to estimate, even approximately, his losses in killed, prisoners and booty; the explanation for this is the enormous extent of the battlefields, broken by thick forests and mountainous country.

"General von Kluck's army defeated the English at Maubeuge and to-day has attacked them in an encircling move south-west of that place.

"After several days' fighting about eight army corps of French and Belgian troops between the Sambre, Namur and the Meuse were completely defeated by the German armies under Generals von Bulow and von Hausen.

"Namur has fallen after two days' cannonade. The attack on Maubeuge has commenced. Duke Albrecht's army pursued the defeated enemy over the Semois and has now crossed the Meuse.

"On the other side of Longwy the German Crown Prince has captured a fortified enemy position, and thrown back a heavy attack from the direction of Verdun. His army is advancing towards the Meuse. Longwy has fallen.

"New hostile forces from Nancy attacked the Bavarian Crown Prince's army during its pursuit of the French army before it. The attack failed.

"General von Heeringen's army is pursuing the enemy in the Vosges, and driving him southwards. Alsace has been cleared of enemy forces.

"Up till the present the lines of communication have been guarded by the various armies; now the troops left behind for that purpose are urgently required for our further advance. Hence His Majesty has ordered the mobilization of the Landsturm.

"The Landsturm will be employed in protecting the lines of communication and for the occupation of Belgium. This land which now comes under German administration will be utilized for supplying all kinds of necessities for our armies, in order that Germany may be spared as much as possible."

During the first month of hostilities on the Western front, the Germans claimed that their captures amounted to 233 pieces of heavy artillery, 116 field guns, 79 machine guns, 166 wagons and 12,934 prisoners. On September 8th General Quartermaster von Stein announced: "Maubeuge capitulated yesterday; 40,000 prisoners of war, including four generals, 400 cannon and immense quant.i.ties of war materials fell into our hands."

A German war correspondent, who was present at the fall of Maubeuge, wrote:[166] "The march out of the prisoners began on the same day at 2.30 p.m. and lasted over six hours. They were conducted to trains and despatched to Germany. Some of the infantry made a good impression, while the pioneers and artillery can only be cla.s.sed as pa.s.sable.

[Footnote 166: Heinrich Binder: "Mit dem Hauptquartier nach Westen," p.

96.]

"To the great disappointment of our troops there were only a hundred and twenty English among the prisoners who had been cut off from the main army; young fellows about eighteen to twenty years of age. When marching out these English youths were so stupid as to offer the hand to their German victors in token of the gentlemanlike manner in which they accepted defeat. In accordance with Albion's ancient boxing custom, they desired to show the absence of any bitter feeling by a handshake; just as one does after a football match.

"Our men returned a few cuffs for this warlike behaviour, whereupon the English--richer in experience--drew back astonished at German unfriendliness."

Germany's rush for Paris reached as far as the Marne; they claim that patrols penetrated to within seven kilometres of the French capital. The report announcing the turn of the tide is worthy of quotation.

"Chief Headquarters, September 10th. Our army in their pursuit of the enemy in the direction east of Paris had pa.s.sed beyond the Marne. There they were attacked by superior forces between Meaux and Montmirail. In two days' heavy fighting they have kept the enemy back and even made progress.

"When the approach of new, stronger hostile forces was announced our wing was withdrawn; the enemy made no attempt at pursuit. Up till now the booty captured in this battle includes fifty cannon and some thousands of prisoners.

"West of Verdun the army is engaged in an advancing battle. In Lorraine and the Vosges district the situation is unchanged."

This seems to be all that the German nation has heard from official sources of the German defeat on the Marne and the hurried retreat to the Aisne. Almost every report issued by the German headquarters during the succeeding three weeks informed the world that a "decision had not yet fallen."

Evidently the nation awaited and hoped for a decision which would leave Paris at the mercy of the invading army. They are still awaiting that decision, but whether the waiting is seasoned by hope cannot easily be determined.

A soldier present at the battle of the Marne has chronicled his experiences.[167] "We pa.s.sed over long, undulating hills and valleys, and towards 1 p.m. obtained our first glimpse down the beautiful vale of the Marne. Standing on the heights of Chateau Thierry, we beheld the town nestling on both sides of the river in the valley below.

[Footnote 167: H. Knutz: "Mit den Konigin-Fusilieren durch Belgien und Frankreich,", p. 49 _et seq_.]

"Then we entered the town and saw on all sides the tokens of street fighting. All the windows were smashed by sh.e.l.l fire; some houses had been entirely gutted. Dead Frenchmen lay around in heaps, some corpses so mutilated by shrapnel as to appear hardly human. With a shudder we turned our eyes from this horrible scene.

"Crossing the Marne by a sand-stone bridge, we climbed the opposing heights under a burning sun. At the top we deployed, but for that day our artillery sufficed to drive the enemy in headlong flight to the south; the night we spent under the open sky.

"Sunday, September 6th. Before breakfast we intended to bathe in a stream, when our dreams of a rest-day were dispelled by an order to hold ourselves ready for the march. 'The 17th division is under heavy rifle fire and the 18th must advance to their support.' Meanwhile, the chicken soup was almost ready, but the order 'form ranks' resounded, and with empty stomachs we marched through Neuvy up a hill and dug ourselves in behind a wood.

"The thunder of the enemies' artillery is terrible; shrapnel is bursting on our left. Captain von Liliencron discusses the situation with the major and then turns to us. 'Our regiment attacks! go for the dogs, children!' he exclaims with gleaming eyes.

"Next we advance round the wood and lie down behind a hedge; axes are held in readiness to hack a way through the latter. Five steps from me a machine gun hammers away at full speed; it is now impossible to hear commands, so they are roared from man to man--it could not be termed shouting. 'Ambulance to the right!' somebody is severely wounded, but the ambulance men have more than they can do on the left.

"The h.e.l.l-music is at its loudest; shrapnel is bursting in the wood behind us; suddenly there is an awful explosion half a dozen yards away; I hear the screams of my comrades, then we rush forwards. The rush across the field was awful--flank fire from the right. Here and there a comrade bites the gra.s.s.

"At last I throw myself down, but there is no cover; the wounded crouch there too. None of my company are there; it seems that the two last sh.e.l.ls have played havoc with them. The enemies' (French) main position is nearly a mile away in a forest.

"Up the next slope our dead lie thick around, and here too a deadly bullet had found the breast of our heroic captain. But in the strip of forest French and Turko bodies are still thicker. The cat-like Turkos have climbed into the trees and are shot down like crows. A maddening infantry and artillery fire greets us as we reach the top. Every ten to twenty yards sh.e.l.ls strike, and shrapnel bursts, filling the air with earth, dust, smoke and smell.

"Forward! till almost exhausted I throw myself down again; a hundred to a hundred and fifty Fusiliers form a firing-line. Columns of infantry pour a murderous fire on to us from the forest. It cannot go on thus; one after the other is wounded or killed. We have advanced nearly eight hundred yards over open ground. On the right there is a small thicket of reeds. Some of the company have already sought shelter there, and I make a rush there with the same hope.

"'For heaven's sake, lie down, corporal,' screamed a man as I came up.

In fact, the reeds afford no cover whatever. Wounded and dead lie there and bullets keep hitting them. In front of me lay a man from the fourth company; a bullet had entered his chest and pa.s.sed out of his back; the blood was oozing out of a wound about the size of a s.h.i.+lling. The horror was too much for me, and I crept to the other end of the strip.

"There I found everything far worse, but I cannot describe the terrors which I saw. One poor fellow begs for a drop of water; there is just another draught in my bottle. With grateful eyes he hands it back to me, and in the same moment I feel a stinging pain in the shoulder. My arm is numbed and helpless; hardly one of us who is not wounded.

"We can offer no resistance to the enemy; but the awful way back! At last the run back over eight hundred yards of open field begins. Now and again a comrade sinks to the ground, never to rise again. My breath is nearly gone; one last effort, and in truth I have escaped from the hail of bullets."

It is remarkable and noteworthy that German writers charge the French armies with looting and destruction in their own country. Probably this is merely a device to get rid of unpleasant accusations raised against the German army. Furthermore, the most reckless charges of uncleanliness are made. In commenting on the lot of the Landsturm troops quartered in the villages of Northern France, one author[168] writes: "The Landsturm men pa.s.s their time as best they can in these holes, whose most conspicuous quality is their filth."

[Footnote 168: Erich Kohrer: "Zwischen Aisne und Argonnen" ("Between the Aisne and the Argonnes"), p. 25.]

The same author gives his impressions of a visit to Sedan. "Only one house has been completely and another partly destroyed, otherwise appearances are peaceful, and as far as possible, life goes on as usual.

Here, too, many of the inhabitants have left their homes and fled. The stupidity of this flight becomes evident at every step. In numerous small hotels whose proprietors have remained, one sees German soldiers buying bottles of splendid Burgundy wine at a s.h.i.+lling a bottle.

"But in another hotel whose proprietor had fled, is it a matter for surprise that the men caroused on discovering a cellar containing three thousand bottles of wine? On the route I have myself purchased some of the oldest and best wines from our men at a price of three cigars a bottle, and the recollection of them belongs to the pleasantest memories of my sojourn at the front.

"Certainly the owner of Chateau Frenois, situated a few minutes' walk from the town, will be more unpleasantly surprised on his return than the hotel proprietor. In his home, French marauders and plunderers have destroyed and devastated the entire contents. It is impossible to comprehend the senselessness of this conduct, for which no reasons of military necessity can be advanced.

"Ancient family pictures which could not be taken out of their frames have been ruined by bayonet stabs, and from the shape of the cuts they were certainly the work of French bayonets. Even the library, which contained a valuable collection of old prints, had been robbed.

"Not far from this scene of desolation stands Chateau Bellevue, where King William met Napoleon in 1870. There, too, the traces of French plunderers are painfully evident; it was left to the 'Hun-Kaiser' to save this historic spot from complete annihilation. In September Wilhelm II. visited the chateau and seeing the signs of rapacity, ordered the place to be strictly guarded to prevent further desecration."[169]

[Footnote 169: Ibid., pp. 22-3.]