The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-11-24
Correspondence Of The Assoc
preSS,)

which a correspondent Of The AS
ISOLATED Press has translated the most
interesting portions. 1t has not vet
appeared in the German press. After
describing his movements from Ant
werp till the army reached Aershot |
some ten miles to the northeast of
Louvaln, where the main BODY |
bivouacked on the night of "eptem-
Der 70, the diary continues, VIII some |
unimportant omissions, as follows: /
Our horses were stabbed in the
bar-room of a tavern, some of them
tied to beer-taps-how idyllic. The
town had been frightfully shot I'd: |
there was hardly a house undamaged.
september 27--On the march ut
o'clock, reaching the railway crossing
north of Aershot, where the main
body remained, while the advance
further on. We sent u two patroll-
ing parties. each of twenty horse
men, one including k, (the first
iieutenant) and me. We joined the
brigade staff and rode on ~nconcern-
eddy. Suddenly a terrific infantry fire
began on our front. Nobody could
explain the matter, as our advanced
battery was silent, while only our in
fantry in the rear was firing. The
enemy can't drop from the sky; and
where does that machine-gun firing
come from" we asked. Then every
ahlIS was JulcI again. what ndQ
happened? A Belgian armored auto
mobile, the terror of our troops, had
come roaring right through our ad-
vanced battalion at a mad pace; BE-
fore our men knew what was hap
pening. Then the automobile reached
our main body and could no more
turn back; so it began to let it's mur-
derOuS machine play upon us. We
could all have been lost but for a
fortunate shot striking the chauffeur
in the head, whereupon the autOr1o-
bile dashed into two ammunition
wagons and then toppled over into
the ditch at the side of the road. The
officer commanding it and two OF is
men were killed, and two others bad
ly wounded.
Conquered Only BY Artillery.
Il examined the automobile i'm
mediately. 1t vas double-armored,
with a layer OF asbestos between the
two plates. 1t had been struck by
showers of our infantry bullets, but
none of these had penetrated the
second plate. The inmate would
have been perfectly safe but for the
fact that one of our rifemen, firing
from an elevation, hit the chauffeur
in the horehead. Thank God! we
a captured one of these dangerous
things. They are n frightful terror
TO all our patrolling parties and have
j most demoralizing effect upon them
because these automobiles can only
be knocked out by artillery, which
can never Pet in its work in time. W.
had only two killed and severa
severely wounded in this encounter
but we were saved from greater lOsse:
only by accident. After a long dis
cussion Of the matter we returned tt
Aershot for bivouac.
September 2S-RendevOuS again
this morning at the railway crossing
We had scarcely arrived when a new
trick was staged. The Be!gians sen
out two unnamed trains to collld'
with our ammunition trains in Acr
shot. They came on at a tearing
speed, one close behind the other
Fortunately, the switch was set for
sidetrack, so the trains were dashe'
to pieces without doing any harn
The brigade moved on to He. st O
den Berg (about nine miles northWes
of Aershot, in the direction Of Ant
werp), upon which our infantry ha
been holly firing the previous even
ing. In that action we had consld
cradle losses, including my goo
friend Captain u. But TN
enemy at night evacuated this place
which was of great Importance 10
our artillery. as forts Lierre an
Kessel could b. shelled from it. w
marched into the place at noon, an
soon after this our heavy guns pesa
to speak. 1t was the first day OF III
siege and bombardment of Antwerl
"Who would have thought that "
were to march into the city in lively
days? must add that we were we
provisioned from now on, notWltl
standing the fact that our bagsae
trains with the field kitchens new
arrived on time. for there was NV
stock in plenty. l usually sent y
three patrolling parties, one for egg
one for and one for WIN
The last two always brought in Il
biggest booty. At night every man
camp had his chicken in the pot, al
all next day he had cold chicken WI
his army-bread. Everywhere t3eI
was wine in abundance. especial
good red wine. The only thing tn
we missed was our morning coHee.
"At Heyst we found a neat III
cottage, in which k and l MA