Putnam patriot., 1914-08-14
HORRORS oF WAR
TERRIBLE BATTLEFIELD SCENES DESCRIBED BY A NEWS
 PAPER CORRESPONDENT.
TAKE REFUGE IN CHURCHES
The Terrific Hand-to-Hand Fiuht. ing at Wise and Liege Is Evidenced by the Dead and Dying 6elsians and Germans.


 Rotterdam, Aug 10.-Terrible bat tlefeld scenes are described by tae Rotterdamsche Eourant correspond ent, who visited the country at Wise and Liege following the engage ments:
 Not far beyond the little Dutch
 frontier village of Mesch l passed
 the remains of a big German
 camp. Dead soldiers and civil
 ians, and horses and wagons.
 carts, automobiles, bicycles lie
 everywhere. l was in the middle
 of a terrible modern battlefield.
 Germans and Belgians lie side
 by side evidence that there was
 fighting man to man. Houses
 have been sacked because the
 soldiers wished to revenge them
 selves on civilians who fired from
 windows.
 Civilians who have not fought are allowed to pass, but the German guards refuse to allow to pass wounded Belgian civilians who have fought.
 Poor wretches must wait where they lie, not daring to move. for they declare that they will be shot at.
 Further on l met a party of Ger man officers in an automobile. As approach they take their revolvers in hands and scrutinize me intently. We talk and smoke cigarettes. and the officers show me the way on the map.
 Still further on I pass village where all is quiet and peaceful, a village thrice blessed for the tide Of war has not engulfed 1t yet. Halt a mile away all is devastation.
 Returning to the field, met more German officers They appeared dis pirited and without plan. Of the fact that twice during the last two days there has been panic and German sol diers have fired on their comrades by mistake they ask me not to speak in presence of the wounded.
 After constant fighting the soldiers are exhausted. Some l found asleep lying by their horses. ready to be reused at a moments notice.
 An officer leading a company of infantry calls on me to halt He questions me. I give him what news l have. While we talk shots pass close to us. We speak of civilians being shot He tells me hat all civilians who fire on troops will be shot relentlessly.
 "The neighborhood of the battle field at Wise is strewn with dead and wounded. both civilians and soldiers. Corpses lying in the road bear marks showing that wagons have been driven over them. In a little stream were seen several bodies, including those of an old man and a boy of about seventeen.
 "T-le village at Gernean is filtered with household goods.
 "German soldiers tell me villagers fired on them from cottages. They ransacked every cottage from which anyone fred
 Tn one farm I found thirty people huddled together in fear. Not until I had knocked several times did they open.
 Many people took refuge in churches The Mayor of a little town, putting on his robe, begged permis- sion to bring in wounded and placed a red cross on the town hall in Mou- land a few hours before. In tsat peace ful village every honse now bears sad tokens of the war Devastated will agers fired from windows on German troops.
 ''German officers ask for news. They know nothing of what has taken place outside their immediate neighborhood. Their orders, they tell me. are to get through the Liege lines through thick and thin. A German captain tells me a priest has been ordered shot because found in a church tower with weapons in his hands"