Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-12-17
OFFICER TELLS THRILLING
TALE Of A SOLDIERS EXPERIENCES.
Describes Sharp Engagement in Streets Suburb of Lille When
the Germans Marched Suddenly Into the Midst of French
Detachment-DiscipIine Triumphs in Moment of Panic
Spirit of Men Under Fire Calm, Determined

neutrality-suspicious. in the daily
life Of d soldier with the German
army of occupation in Belgium, and
later in fighting in France, are given
in the following letter by Reinhard
Weer, a lieutenant, from a recent
number Of the Frankfurter Zeitung:
We have been at it four weeks
now. Dejectedly we used to ride forth
day after day in the cold, rein-damp
morning, the garrison of the fortress
of Namur, for field service drill. We
heard distant thunder Of cannon, no
one knew whence. In the afternoons
there was inside service, firing exer-
cises. instruction Of subordinate Of
ficers, instruction of volunteers. They
were from the highest forms in the
schools, students, doctors, merchants,
artists-it was a question of making
all these into soldiers and good field
artillerymen. Rain, rain, rain, and
autumn cold. Occasional alarms.
Military demonstrations in the streets
Of Namur and its suburbs-the popu-
lation, carrying on talk of an uprising,
must be put down. Calmer days; in
side service. Visits to the forts and
castles in the neighbOrhood. Plans
for hunting and conviviality. And the
hours seem far away, when we might
be called to warlike deeds.
we began to resign ourselves to
the thought that we must spend the
yr-T,oTo o7,+74ror oDd y.-fp+or &c 1orri son
of the fortress in Namur.
"But-thank Godl-it came out
otherwise. One day came an alarm,
command to march, as part of mixed
brigade. An excursion on horseback
is being made for the safety of the
railroad line westward and southwest
ward from Brussels, and to drive
away the hostile wheeImen, horsemen,
and sharpshooters who have ap-
peared there. For this expedition
three battalions of infantry, one
squadron of uhlans, two batteries of
field artillery, two pioneer companies.
Leader Major General X.
Keeping the Country in Order.
Two weeks on the Belgian high
ways, back and forth between Braine-
le-Comte, Soignies, Enghien, Welle,
Ath, Journal. On the railroad there
accompanied US an armored train,
manned by pioneers, that brought US
ammunition and provisions. We passed
all the battlefields: Quatre-Bras, Belle
Alliance, Bouvines. We were in touch
with the enemy, but as yet there was
no fighting. One night we were close
by Alost, ready to hurry to the aid OF
the troops fighting there, but attack
remained forbidden.
AT Enghien we were CHARTERED in
the castle Of the Duke of Arenberg;
at Ath in the town house of the prin-
cess of Looz and Corswaren; then
again, day and night, in the open
field, beside ones horse, or near the
roar of a howitzer battery, the she'll
ing Of a windmill from which signals
were being given, or of a hostile air
man. Our uhlans began to have their
first little skirmishes with sharpshoot-
ers and Wheelmen. There were at
tacks by the enemy upon our armored
train, with the aid of locomotives
running wild, and injuries to the line
At Leuze two guns Of our battery of
howitzeTs we're within a hairs breadth
of being destroyed at the crossing of
street and a railway line, by ex-
press engines which came rushing in
without a driver
But still no battles for US field ar
tillerymen. Detachment X our corps
called itself, after our general, a lead
er of very praiseworthy qualities.
There was not a man whom he did
not greet in friendly fashion when in
the morning, in the earliest twilight,
his auto drove along the marching
column. The call of greeting: Good
morning, comrades!' and Good morn
ing, general!' was for US no empty
formaIity. Our military assignment
was altered daily. Yesterday an ex-
petition on horseback against wheel
men and horsemen; today part of di-
vision of cavalry; tomorrow placed
under an army corps; the next day
the rear support of a fighting brigade.
And only one thing remained always