Belgian soldier

“ For the Belgian soldiers no longer sang, or made merry in the evening. A young Brussels corporal in our party suddenly broke into sobbing when he heard the chorus of "Tipperary" float over the channel from a transport of untried British lads. The Belgians are a race of children whose feelings have been hurt. The pathos of the Belgian army is like the pathos of an orphan-asylum: it is unconscious.
They are very lonely, the loneliest men I have known. Back of the fighting Frenchman, you sense the gardens and fields of France, the strong, victorious national will. ”

“ Can anyone realise fully the kind of life Belgian soldiers are leading, even now that the essential military works are completed? A division guarding a sector of the front invariably divides its time between duty in the trenches, outpost duty and rest. ”

“ With the British flag flying at the front, we sped away next morning on the road to Termonde. At Melle we came upon the blazing cottages we had seen pictured the night before. Here we encountered a roving band of Belgian soldiers who were in a free and careless mood and evinced a ready willingness to put themselves at our disposal. Under the command of the photographers, they charged across the fields with fixed bayonets, wriggled up through the grass, or, standing behind the trenches, blazed away with their guns at an imaginary enemy. They did some good acting, grim and serious as death. ”

“ In the evening, Belgian soldiers dressed as civilians entered individual houses and forced the inhabitants by threats to receive them and to admit them to the windows in order to shoot from them; previous to that the clergy had gone into the houses and declared to the inhabitants that it was their duty to receive and support the Belgian soldiers because the German troops were making war upon the faith of the Belgians. ”

“ But who asserted that there were no Belgian soldiers left? On the contrary, I pass imposing detachments on their way to the front, in good order, admirably equipped, and of fine bearing, with a convoy of excellent artillery of the very latest pattern. Never can enough be said in praise of the heroism of a people who had every reason for not preparing themselves for war, since they were under the protection of solemn treaties that should have [12] preserved them forever from any such necessity, yet who, nevertheless, sustained and checked the brunt of the attack of the great barbarism. ”

“ The galloping of the frightened horses, spurred on cruelly by their riders, hammered on the pavement. Under the ceaseless rain of projectiles from the Belgian guns, the ten German regiments, magnificent as they had been in the morning, formed now only a disorderly mob trampling on the foot-soldiers, the dead, and the wounded, and abandoning their officers and even their Generals. At the other extremity of the battle-field, could be heard the songs of victory of the Belgian troops, triumphing in their first feat of arms. ”

“ When the forts were destroyed only twelve thousand out of the twenty-six thousand Belgian soldiers were left. Ammunition was so scarce in this region that the Civic Guard had to give up their weapons to the remaining Belgian troops. The French and the British as well suffered a terrible defeat at Charleroi August [364] 22d, and were obliged to retire. Fighting all the way, they made their masterly retreat through Mons into France by way of St. Quentin.
Between the fifth and twentieth of August the poor wounded and dying soldiers were brought into Brussels. ”

“ I had seen their first army wiped out; there came a time when I no longer met the faces I had learned to know at Termonde and Antwerp and Alost. A new army of boys has dug itself in at the Yser, and the same wastage by gun-fire and disease is at work on them. One wonders with the Belgians if the price they pay for honor is not too high. There is a sadness in the eyes of Belgian boy soldiers that is not easy to face. Are we quite worthy of their sacrifice? ”

“ The losses were to be ascribed solely to the attack of the inhabitants. From the circumstance that Belgian military rifles were found with the greater number of the prisoners and Belgian infantry cartridges in their pockets, it may be concluded that Belgian soldiers, after discarding their uniforms, had also taken part in the attack. Hunting-rifles, obsolete and modern pistols were found in the possession of the others. Whether women or children participated in the fighting is beyond my knowledge ”

“ He is doubtless the only man who does not recognize that fact, as, simple as the simplest of his soldiers, he stands in the trenches and puts new courage, by the serenity of his face, into the hearts of those of whom he requires that they shall not doubt of their country. The foremost duty of every Belgian citizen at this hour is gratitude to the army. ”

“ I also heard that Belgian soldiers had been discharged in their native towns, so that they could there fight in plain clothes against the Germans. It is true that a number of Belgian soldiers, who were partly clothed as civilians, were made prisoners. An officer, who was present at the attack in Aerschot, told me that on the belfry tower of a certain place in the neighbourhood of Aerschot he had himself read that Belgians who caught German officers were not allowed to keep them prisoners on parole, but were to shoot them. ”

“ To what an extent skilful troops may arrest the advance of a hostile force enormously greater in numbers has been many times exemplified in warfare. The Germans employed their overwhelming superiority in cavalry and machine guns with the greatest energy. They had to deal, however, with elusive yet bold and persistent enemies. In this part of Belgium, the country is perfectly flat. There are no hillocks to assist observation. Information by airmen was rendered unreliable by the rapid movements of the Belgian forces. ”

“ KING ALBERT AT THE HEAD OF THE HEROIC SOLDIERS OF BELGIUM
It is universally agreed that the Belgian monarch was no figurehead general but a real leader of his troops. These were the men who, facing annihilation, astonished the world by opposing the German military machine successfully enough to allow France to get her armies into shape and prevent the immediate taking of Paris that was planned by Germany.
The heroic defense of the Belgian army at Liége against the Army of the Meuse delayed the operation of Germany’s plans and in all probability saved Paris. ”

“ Suddenly, some soldiers, dragging with them their machine-guns, rushed away, crying, "The Germans are there. Each man for himself!" It was impossible to stop them and there was a veritable helter-skelter. We discovered afterwards that these men were Germans, disguised as Belgian soldiers, in order to create a panic amongst us. There was a slight hesitation and then our officers rushed amongst the sharp-shooters and led them forward, to the positions they were to occupy. A violent musketry fire greeted them, coming chiefly from the St. ”

“ That is the ever-present thought of an army of boys whose parents are living in doomed houses back of German trenches. It is louder than the near guns, the noise of the guns to come that will tear at Bruges and level the Tower of St. Nicholas. That is what the future holds for the Belgian. He is only at the beginning of his loss. The victory of his cause is the death of his people. ”

“ France, the most military, and the most gloriously military, nation of the Napoleonic era, is now the leader in anti-militarism, altogether indifferent to the lure of military glory, though behind no nation in courage or skill. Belgium has not fought for generations, and had only just introduced compulsory military service, yet the Belgians, from their King and their Cardinal-Archbishop downwards, threw themselves into the war with a high spirit scarcely paralleled in the world's history, and Belgian commercial travellers developed a rare military skill and audacity. ”

“ In this rapine, apparently, the German troops were allowed a free hand.
From now the fighting presented many characteristics of a warfare of savagery. On60 the one side, the Belgians were dealt with as “rebels,” to be slain without mercy. On the other side, revenge inspired a resistance still more daring. No doubt the reports brought in to the German headquarters by survivors of the raids asserted that the losses were mostly due to civilians. Very naturally they would be reluctant to admit defeat by Belgian soldiery. Men flying for their lives are not usually exact observers. ”

“ The Belgian force actually under arms consists of only about 40,000 soldiers, but it can be raised to 200,000, if there is a danger of war, by calling out the "reserves," or men who have been trained, but are no longer with their regiments. In order to keep up this force of 40,000 it is necessary to find about 13,000 new men each year. But the Belgians do not like to be soldiers, and it is very difficult to persuade them to join the army. ”

“ We questioned them and found out that the Boches were firing on the houses in the village, under the pretext that the inhabitants had hidden some Belgian soldiers. The brutes! Instinctively, I moved forwards, but the bullets whizzed by, quite close to our ears. This time, they came from every side. On the left, on the right, the Germans were everywhere, the whole place swarmed with them, [Pg 221] like a veritable ant-heap. From thicket to thicket, from ditch to ditch, we struggled along in order to avoid being surrounded. But, alas, we were going backwards and behind us was the frontier! ”

“ And the weeks passed into months, and Liège, and Louvain, and Brussels, and Aerschot, and Namur, and Malines, and Termonde have all fallen, one by one. And high hopes have been blighted, and the enemy in its terrific strength has swept on and on, held back continually by the ardour and valour of the little Belgian Army which is still indomitable at heart, but tired, very tired. Haggard, hollow-eyed, exhausted, craving the rest they may not have, these glorious heroes revive as if by magic under the knowledge that other troops are coming to help theirs in this gargantuan struggle for Antwerp. ”

“ While the Belgians have inflicted the severest kind of repulse, yet I cannot believe that the enemy's casualties reach the figures given. Still, they have been heavy enough to make them ask for an armistice of twenty-four hours.
The Belgian troops engaged are the 3rd Division and 15th Mixed Brigade. The Germans are reported as the 7th, 9th, and 10th Corps under General von Emmich. The detachments of Germans captured which I have seen have all been cavalry. They are mostly boys of from eighteen to twenty-four years old. ”

“ The rapidity of their progress is evidenced by the fact that when I passed round west of Brussels to-day, advance cavalry patrols were already reported in the neighbourhood of Oudenarde (about 35 miles west of Brussels, towards Lille) .
It will be seen that, on paper at least, the Belgian army is in no pleasant position. If the Germans continue to press northward on their left flank, the Belgians will constantly have to be wheeling to their own left front, to face them on the east. They will be forced to retreat until they rest upon Malines and Antwerp. ”

“ The Belgian army peace footing is 3,542 officers and 44,061 men, with a war strength estimated at from 300,000 to 350,000. The infantry is armed with the Mauser rifle, the artillery with a shielded Krupp quick-fire piece of 7.5-centimeter caliber.
In 1913 the Netherlands had in its standing army 1,543 officers and 21,412 men and 152 guns. On a war footing it could probably be raised to 270,000 men. The small arm is the Mannlicher rifle and carbine, the field gun is the same as that of Belgium. ”

“ If it be told how the new Belgian army, reorganised and re-equipped after the terrible ordeal on the Yser, is at the present moment much stronger than at the beginning of the war, how it has been able lately to extend its front in Flanders, and how some of its units have rendered valuable help to the cause of the Allies in East Africa and even in Galicia, the story sounds like a fairy tale. There is, in the history of this unequal struggle, the true ring of legendary heroism ”

“ They can only oppose a stout heart, a loyal spirit, and an ironic smile to the persecutions to which they are subjected. They can do nothing—they must do nothing—only hope and wait. But there are as much heroism and beauty in their black frock-coats and their soiled workmen's smocks as in the gayest and most glittering uniforms.
It is the plain matter-of-fact story of Belgian life under German rule. Many more people will be tempted to praise the glory of our soldiers. But, if the incidents of conquered Belgium's life are not recorded in good time, they might escape notice. ”

“ The behaviour of Belgian officers and their native soldiers was as correct and gentlemanly as that of officers should be, and, to their relief and surprise, those white women found the tables turned, and that their enemy could be as chivalrous to them as German soldiers—their own brothers—had been vile to the wretched people of Belgium. ”

“ The first division of the Belgian army, which had been the last to leave Antwerp, and had been engaged170 in rendering the place useless to the besiegers, retreated fighting with the Germans north of the Scheldt a succession of rearguard actions.
In the face of impossible odds, the 1st British Naval Brigade, now without the support of their heavy guns, were forced, fighting tenaciously, across the Dutch frontier at Huist. A division of the Belgian army were also compelled to cross the boundary into Holland. ”