New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-25


guard of some 5000 Zouaves as food
for our cannon.
meeting with no opposition worthy
of the name, Won Kluck and Bdlow
committed the most unnatural error OF
judgment Of assuming that there would
not be any, and hurried ahead too fast:
But Joffre had been very shrewd and
had punched about ten army corps
across their road to Paris. When Won
Kluck and Bulow 10 their surprise
came in contact with this overwhel I'm
ingly superior force there was nothing
for them to do but to withdraw to a
safe position and hold it until rein
forced. The French, however, though
outnumbering them, allowed them to
Withdraw without danger of attack"
Captain Praises French Artillery.
A traveller from Hanover 10 Berlin
aboard a train of German wounded
coming from the base hospitals at
Cologne and Dusseldorf CLEANED some
interesting news from captain OF IN
fantry who had been wounded by
piece Of she'll in a battle TO the west
of st. Quentin.
"Tho French artillery is good, but
their infantry is bad" he said. Their
rife fire is very poor Their best troops
are the TurcOs, who are always placed
in the van and are just so much 1000
for our cannon. The English, they
fight well, but there are not many OF
them.
1--WE have not seen any of their
Indian troops, but we are not afraid or
them. No, we have not seen single
Russian soldier in France or Belgium.
81 tell you we Germans can thank
II ; e hof
within our own borders. In Belgium
there is devastation everywhere. On
the other hand, in France the houses
are standing in most of the villages.
That is because the French inhabitants
are wiser and do not attack our sol
diers as the treacherous Belgian peas
ants have done.
"Of the many pictures that are
burned IN my mind will tell you about
only one. We came upon a dead French
artillery officer. He lay on his back,
his right hand still clutching his re-
vover, his left letter addressed to
his wife, beginning: Il think Of the
dear days of our love together IL
brought tears to our eyes. We sent 1t
to headquarters TO be forwarded
through the good Offices of the Ameri
can Ambassador and | hope it reached
her safely"
After reading the stories of German
atrocities in the London press one ex-
pected 20 find parallel phenomenon
here, and was not disappointed. II is
interesting, however, that not a single
case of alleged brutality or atrocity
charged to a British soldier is heard,
nor, for that matter, are the French
soldiers believed to be guilty of these
crimes, with the exception of the
Turcos, Of whom some grewsome stories
are told--captured Turcos with strings
of noses, ears and fingers in their pos
session cut from wounded Germans.
Most of the atrocity charges. how
ever, are made against the Belgian
civilian population and particularly
the peasants, though there are also
many ALLEGED cases of atrocities COM
mitted by French francs-tireurs.
Stories of Atrocities Told.
In the lounge Of the Kaiserhof the
other day half a dozen German
civilians were talking among them
selve. about the alleged brutalities,
and it would be impossible to ex-
aggerate their feeling of bitterness
toward the Belgians. One of them
had just returned from Dusseldorf,
and told the others that he had seen
"many of our poor fellows there in
the military hospital with their ears
and noses slit up and otherwise
mutilated." These atrocity stories,
quite apart from the question of their
truth or falsehood, are important as
throwing light on the present state
of mind Of the Germans toward Bel
GUM.
The following atrocity story, with
strong psychological interest, even if
viewed as fiction, was told by DR..
Karl Vollmoeller, the poet and play
wright, best known in America as
the author of "The Miracle"
"A young German officer was struck
in the back of the head by a piece of
shell and severely wounded. While
he was lying unconscious some Bel
gan peasant women found him and
gouged out his eyes. A party of our
soldiers caught them redhanded and
shot them on the spot. They carried
the officer, still unconscious, to the
field hospital where his head and eye
less sockets were dressed. lie was
then taken to the base hospital, where
he regained consciousness. He has
not been told yet about the mutilation
of his eyes.
ne bHlUhS Oul. lHG DduNdRe ABOUT
his head prevents. him from seeing.
The pain he believes to be due only
to the wound at the back of his head.
AS he grows stronger he talks all the
time of seeing his young wife and
children soon"
Affidavits of alleged cases of atroci-
ties are being collected by the authori-
ties and duly translated into English
for American readers. One of these
reads as follows:
"As our troops advanced in the bat
tie Of st. CroiX at 1880 p. m. on
August 20 a French civilian with
scythe cut off the ears of wounded
infantryman of our company who had
remained behind near the village.
When we saw this we shot the civilian.
| swear this 10 be true.
"FRANZ FISHER,
"(A Bavarian soldier of reserve.)"
Such stories as the above add to the
feeling of bitterness which the Ger
mans have toward Belgium.