Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-09-22
INV Herbert Corey.)

came IN lntlmate contact with the
Teuton troops.
They marched toward Paris at
their scheduled rate Of fourteen miles
a day." said one man. "They were
checked now and then, but never stop
ped. Never in my life have ! been so
impressed as by the sight of these
sturdy German legions, thick soled,
thick legged, thick shouldered, red
faced, smiling, dumping along the
roads at route step-miles Of them,
thousands of them, hours Of them
ceited, and we'll fed. I have watched
them for hours at a time until they
became unreal to me I have tried to
make myself understand that a mil
lion and a half Of them were scuffing
on toward Paris, and I cannot"
h thing that seems to have i'm
pressed most observers, next to the
forethought which seems to have pro-
vided for every contingency, Is the
way.
There were thousands Of them,"
said one man. Literally thousands.
I counted five hundred myself, and
then turned my attention to other
things. Always they went out ahead
Of the main army, when that body
pulled on its heavy shoes and digested
its hot German breakfast and had TAX
en- to the road for the days tramp.
They were heavily armored, so that
they were i~mpregnable to rifle fire.
Machine guns. 1 suppose. would de-
stroy them. They were tremendously
powerful; SO much so that when they
came to a fence no one bothered to
hop out of the a and clay down" a
panel. The wagon just brushed
through it as though it were straw. II
the road was not good they took to
the fields. I saw cores Of them
trundling noisily on through a farm
er's wheat while the owner Of the
wheat sat on a wall and looked on.
Somehow the apathy of the owner Of
the wheat always struck me. They
never protested. Sometimes they
seemed quite cheerful and exchanged
smiles with the commonplace men at
the wheel Of the vans"
Breaking Camp Like Circus Day.
Breaking a German camp III the
morning reminded this man of 6
o'clock on circus day, except that the
show was greater than any other the
world has ever seen.
Long before sunrise you could
smell the wood smoke under the
wheeled furnaces" said he, land if
you were awake even through the tiny,
continuous noises Of a sleeping camp
one could hear the cooks at work and
the tinkle of pans and the gruff-voic-
ed a about the kitchens. Then
came breakfast substantial. meal,
for fourteen miles must be done that
day-and each man put in his haver-
sack enough for lunch. He was al
ways provided with an emergency ra-
ton, of course. The first men to get
up and get out we're the crews of the
armored vans . Long before the rest
Of us touched our coffee these wagons
were running heavily through the
gray light Of morning. They made
me think of the elephants J. used to
lie awake to watch march into town
on the morning Of circus day."
These great armored vans held
forty or fifty men each. Some of them
were mounted with a machine gun.
Others hauled a machine gun or per-
haps two after them. On a good road
a van would sometimes carry one gun
and haul three or four-at forty miles
an hour, nj less.
You could not fancy the speed at
which these things travel when it was
desirable" said the speaker. "Of
course, they did not make that all
day. Sometimes roads were bad and
sometimes bridges must be built or
strengthened"
Developed the Enemy.
These vans developed" the enemy.
They were aided in the work of re-
connaissance. by the Zeppelins and
aeroplanes, of which the Germans
have an incredible number.
1T has seemed to me as though
they filled the sky like a cloud" said
the speaker. "They seemed to rise
from their encampment in the heart
Of the army like a brood Of savage
birds. The whirr of the motors could
be heard everywhere. Almost at times
they seemed like the looms of a fac
tory"
Following the vans and the aircraft
came the Uhlans and other mounted
squads and the motorcyclists: They
formed the Screen" Of which 50
much has been heard. They advanced
not by groups or scattered companies
but in regiments. While they were
getting under way-if it were an or
binary, commonplace day-the private
soldier sat about his encampment.
"One thought of nothing so much as
farmhands at harvest time" said the
speaker" An illusion that was height
ened by the grain field which had
been crushed on either side. The
smell Of the broken straw mingled
with the thousand doors of a camp.
Most of them would be smoking
pipes and talking together in the
grave, slow, heavy tones Of the Ger
man adult. Rarely a man would be
found cleaning a gun at this hour.
That work should be done the moment
an engagement was over. The officers
were very strict in such matters. Here
clothes. in h pathetic awkwardness
OF the male to whom such tasks were
unusual n distasteful.- There q
clumsy, red-faced fellow might be
found with his shoes off, carefully ex.
aiming his feet. His feet were the
first care of every veteran. Every man
carried mutton tallow in his KNAPP
sack, together with boracic ointment
made up in stick form"
Screen" Always in; Front. 4,
BY and by-if this were q day for
marching-the troops got under way.
Ahead Of the army the screen" cov-
cred the country like a basket. AL
ways, somewhere in the distance, the
thudding of guns or the crackle of
musketry might be heard. Afar off
the sound OF firing made this man
think Of a giant hand tearing an en-
ormous cloth. Tbs troops took 1t very
were rigid in discipline, but took good
care Of their men. Camp offenses
were punished with a severity which
amounted to brutality. Although ali
water was doubly nltered-six filter
wagons accompanied each regiment
the mel were warned against fouiing
the water supply. The men for, the
In order to leave the roads clear for
the docks Of motor transport wagons
that accompanied the army. Last
offall came the huge siege guns. drawn
BY from twelve to thirty horses each
and sometimes aided by a. motor In