America's War for Humanity Part 37

"'Why did you fight the Germans?' I asked a high government official.

"'Because civilization can't exist without treaties, and it is the duty that a nation owes to civilization to fight to the death when written treaties are broken,' was the reply.

"'It must be a rule among nations that to break a treaty means to fight.

The Germans broke the neutrality treaty with Belgium and we had to fight.'

"'But did you expect to whip the Germans?'

"'How could we? We knew that hordes of Germans would follow the first comers, but we had no right to worry about who would be whipped; all we had to do was to fight, and we've done it the best we could.'

"It has been a cool-headed logical matter with the Belgians from the start. Treaties are made with ink; they're broken with blood, and just as naturally and coolly as the Belgian diplomats used ink in signing the treaties with Germany so the Belgian soldiers have used their blood in trying to maintain the agreements."

RIFLES USED BY NATIONS OF WAR

In the present war Germany uses a Mauser rifle, with a bullet of millimeters caliber, steel and copper coated. Great Britain's missile is the Lee-Enfield, caliber 7.7 mm., the coating being cupro-nickel.

The French weapon is the Lebel rifle, of 8 mm. caliber, with bullets coated with nickel. Russia uses Mossin-Nagant rifles, 7.62 mm., with bullets cupro-nickel coated. Austria's chief small arm is the Mannlicher, caliber 8 mm., with a steel sheet over the tip.

Hitting a man beyond 350 yards, the wounds inflicted by all these bullets are clean cut. They frequently pa.s.s through bone tissue without splintering.

When meeting an artery the bullet seems to push it to one side and goes around without cutting the blood channel.

Amputations are very rare compared with wars of more than fifty years ago. A bullet wound through a joint, such as the knee or the elbow, then necessitated the amputation of the limb. Now such a wound is easily opened and dressed.

Even Russia, which made a sad sanitary showing in the war with j.a.pan, now has learned her lesson and has efficient surgical arrangements.

All the nations use vaccine to combat typhoid, the scourge which once decimated camps, and killed 1,600 in the Spanish-American war.

GERMAN UHLANS AS SCOUTS

Concerning the German Uhlans, of whom so much has been heard in the European war, Luigi Barzini, a widely known Italian war correspondent, said:

"The swarms of cavalry which the Germans send out ahead of their advance are to be found everywhere--on any highway, on any path. It is their business to see as much as possible. They show themselves everywhere and they ride until they are fired upon, keeping this up until they have located the enemy.

"Theirs is the task of riding into death. The entire front of the enemy is established by them, and many of them are killed--that is a certainty they face. Now and then, however, one of them manages to escape to bring the information himself, which otherwise is obtained by officers in their rear making observation.

"At every bush, every heap of earth, the Uhlan must say to himself: 'Here I will meet an enemy in hiding.' He knows that he cannot defend himself against a fire that may open on him from all sides. Everywhere there is danger for the Uhlan--hidden danger. "Nevertheless he keeps on riding, calmly and undisturbed, in keeping with German discipline."

FOUGHT WITHOUT SHOES

The Paris Matin relates that on the arrival of a train bringing wounded Senegalese riflemen nearly all were found smoking furiously from long porcelain pipes taken from the enemy and seemingly indifferent to their wounds. One gayly told of the daring capture of a machine gun by eighteen of his comrades. The gun, he said, was brought up by a detachment of German dragoons and the Senegalese bravely charged and captured everything.

Though their arms and bodies were hacked by sabers, the Senegalese complained of nothing but the obligation to fight with shoes on. Before going into battle at Charleroi they slyly rid themselves of these impediments and came back shod in German footwear to avoid punishment for losing equipment.

KILLED A GENERAL

The shot which resulted in the death of Prince von Buelow, one of the German generals, was fired by a Belgian private named Rosseau, who was decorated by King Albert for his conduct in the battle of Haelen.

Rosseau was lying badly wounded among his dead comrades when he saw a German officer standing beside his horse and studying a map. Picking up a rifle beside a dead German, Rosseau fired at this officer and wounded him. The officer proved to be Prince von Buelow. Exchanging his hat for the German general's helmet and taking the general's horse, Rosseau made his way to the Belgian lines and was placed in a hospital at Ghent.

HOW A GERMAN PRINCE DIED

The Hanover Courier gave the following account by an eyewitness of the death of Prince Frederick William of Lippe at Liege:

"On all sides our detachment was surrounded by Belgian troops, who were gradually closing in for purposes of exterminating us. At the prince's command we formed a circle eight deep, maintaining a stubborn defense.

At length a strong division arrived to support us. The prince raised himself from a kneeling position and turned to the standard bearer, who lay p.r.o.ne beside him, covering the standard with his body.

"'Raise the standard,' commanded the prince, 'so that we may be recognized by our friends.'

"The standard bearer raised the flag, waving it to and fro. This action immediately brought upon the standard bearer and the prince a violent fusillade. The standard was shot away and at the same moment the prince was struck in the chest and expired instantly."

RAILWAY STATION A SHAMBLES

Mrs. Herman H. Harjes, wife of the Paris banker, who, with other American women, was deeply interested in relief work, visited the North railroad station at Paris on September 1 and was shocked by the sights she saw among the Belgian refugees.

"The station," said Mrs. Harjes, "presented the aspect of a shambles.

It was the saddest sight I ever saw. It is impossible to believe the tortures and cruelties the poor unfortunates had undergone.

"I saw many boys with both their hands cut off so that it was impossible for them to carry guns. Everywhere was filth and utter desolation. The helpless little babies, lying on the cold, wet cement floor and crying for proper nourishment, were enough to bring hot tears to any mother's eyes.

"Mothers were vainly besieging the authorities, begging for milk or soup. A mother with twelve children said:

"What is to become of us? It seems impossible to suffer more. I saw my husband bound to a lamppost. He was gagged and being tortured by bayonets. When I tried to intercede in his behalf, I was knocked senseless with a rifle. I never saw him again.'"

BURIED ON THE FIELD

The bodies of the dead in this war were not, with occasional exceptions, returned to their relatives, but were buried on the field and where numbers required it, in common graves. Valuables, papers and mementoes were taken from the bodies and made up in little packets to be sent to the relatives, and the dead soldiers, each wrapped in his canvas shelter tent, as shroud, were laid, friend and foe, side by side in long trenches in the ground for which they had contested.

GERMAN LISTS OF THE DEAD

In the German official Gazette daily lists of the dead, wounded and missing were published. The names marched by in long columns of the Gazette, arrayed with military precision by regiments and companies, batteries or squadrons--first the infantry and then cavalry, artillery and train.

The company lists were headed usually by the names of the officers, killed or wounded; then came the casualties from the enlisted strength--first the dead, then the wounded and the missing. A feature of the early lists was the large proportion of this last cla.s.s, reports from some units running monotonously, name after name, "missing" or "wounded and missing"--in mute testimony of scouting patrols which did not return, or of regiments compelled to retire and leave behind them dead, wounded and prisoners, or sometimes of men wandering so far from their comrades in the confusion of battle that they could not find and rejoin their companies for days.

THE LANCE AS A WEAPON

An attempt was made in lists of the German wounded to give the nature and location of the wound. These were princ.i.p.ally from rifle or shrapnel fire. A scanty few in the cavalry were labeled "lance thrust,"

indicating that the favorite weapon of the European cavalry has not done the damage expected of it, although the lance came more into play in the later engagements between the Russian and German cavalry divisions.

"FATHERLAND OR DEATH!"

Writing from Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, on August 29th, Karl H. von Wiegand, who is considered by the Allies a German mouthpiece, said:

"America has not the faintest realization of the terrible carnage going on in Europe. She cannot realize the determination of Germany, all Germany--men, women and children--in this war. The German Empire is like one man. And that man's motto is 'Vaterland oder Tod!' (Fatherland or Death!)

"English news sources are reported here as telling of the masterly retreat of the allies. Here in the German field headquarters, where every move on the great chess-board of Belgium and France is a.n.a.lyzed, the war to date is referred to as the greatest offensive movement in the history of modern warfare."

GERMAN PLANS WELL LAID