Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-09-26
(cor Of The Ae.ociated Press. !

(Cor. of The Associated Press.)
Berlin, Sept. 12.-The following de-
scriptions OF the devastation at Ldese
and Namur are translated from ac-
counts IN the Tageblatt.
of stormy stormy: day. we travelled
through streets where the smoke OF
burned houses was still curling up
ward, streets that showed no signs or
life. Patrols marched through the
city. The beautiful shops across from
the university were q field of ruins.
! was told that two nights before, on
August 81, shots came from these
shops as if by prearrangement. The
inhabitants Of the houses were drag
the men, and whoever had a weapon
In his hands was shot. In a few
minutes the streets was sown with
corpses. The houses were set on fire.
Devastation Terrible.
"Eye-witnesses described for me
the details Of the conquest Of Liege.
Loucn, the strongest fort. was bonn
barded by the newest Krupp guns.
which were stationed in the market
place, in the middle Of the city. Every
window pane in the vicinity was brok-
roof fell from some of the houses.
The fort soon surrendered. A divi-
sion Of Jaeger were the first men to
enter the fort. The destruction was
terrible. About 400 corpses lay piled
inside the stone walls. The stencil
was unbearable. About 200 wounded
We're counted. The only man unin-
jured was the commandant. A
wounded man. who evidently was
lazarett. He had been killed by a
shell. Liege had altogether thirteen
forts. Nine were taken by infantry
storm the others were reduced by ar
tillery. The forts are being repaired
for German use by the inhabitants OF
the city. who get six francs a day for
their work.
Prisoners In Cellar.
"A German, who had lain in a Bel.
gian fort as prisoner and witnessed
the whole bombardment, described
the course Of the battle. The bonn
bardment, he said. began at midnight
on August 6. One shell after another
exploded, and Lege was soon aflre in
many places. From every roof and
window in the houses came rain OF
bullets. Under this FIRE the Geremana
stormed through the village Of Rom
court and deployed in a wheat field.
Two hundred Germans opened rapid
fire on 1000 Belgians Of whom 500
confined in a cellar when the Ger
mans heavy artillery began firing.
They could hear the shells coming
through the air, and every time they
exploded, gas, powder, earth and CO.
ment dust few into the cellar until
the men were nearly suffocated. Fin
ally an explosion blew in tho iron
door Of the cellar, and shortly there.
after the Belgians surrendered, fres.
Ing the prisoners.
Famine Near.
"On the following morning I went
to Nan1ur In Lege certain streets
had been burned out, but In Namur
whole blocks were destroyed. The
Grand Palace. with its beautiful
Rathhaus. had been blotted out Of ex-
istence.. In it's place were heaps Of
ruins, from which smoke was still
coming. The destructive effect Of
grenades could be noted on many
houses. The city was without bread,
German patrols were guarding the
bakeries, which were being stormed
by the people. By 4 o'clock in the af-
ternoon even the largest hotels, had
no provisions Of any kind left. Our
troops were fed from the vast ouanti-
ties of food stored In the forts. In the
city there was a shortage OF every
thing, especially potatoes and SALT
In the afternoon we went on to
Gembloux The famine was still
worse there. The soldiers declared
that they had been unable to get
bread or beer from the people for
fourteen days.