Grand Forks daily herald. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1916, 1914-09-24
GAS PLANT WAS
CARRIED BY Army
Remarkable Completeness of
Equipment Revealed in
Letter.
tcor. of the Associated Press.

Beaumont. Belgium. Sept. "a. =
When the French regiments paraded
through Gembleux, a ripple Of admir-
alton ran through the, almost hyMeri-
a Belgian populace who had waited
so long for the promised support of
france. With their bright blue and
red uniforms, their gaiety glitter and
song began a colorful entry which
quite fulfilled ones conception of war.
But it was noticeable that they did
not march in particularly good order
and the doors Of the wagons in their
baggage train Tapped and banged.
When the Germans appeared on the
outskirts of Brussels they might have
been mistaken for a cloud of low
lying mist, their gray green uniforms
melting against a Neutral back
ground. The entry was not theatric,
but it throbbed with power and eff
cheney.
Wagon Doors Locked.
In place Of the romantic French
god OF war, there was a silent gray
coiored machine which was complete
to the last detail. Wagon doors in
stead of Tapping had patented locks
and bars.
FOR three days the gray-green SOL
diers marched through Brussels, part
OF an army Of more than a million
and a half that pushed their way
through Belgium. In completeness OF
equipment it was like a travelling city,
IT a its postal service, its telegraph
corps, its provision trains miles in
length, which provided for the SOL
diers a menu as satisfactory as that
which they could have obtained in a
nrst-class restaurant.
A Perfectly Working Machine.
Six caissons with ammunition. each
drawn by six horses, followed each
Held gun, and there were process, ms
OF them two miles long. There VIC, e
IN addition many trucks and traction
engines for the heavy siege guns. And
In all this colossal train, not a wheel
~squeaked, not an accident delayed the
forward progress.
The efficiency Of the Red cr,se 70.
partments is best indicated by he fact
mat In following the German army
Tor 100 miles I'VE battlefialds at tin, es
only q few hours behind the fghting.
none OF the small group os c%orrespon-
dents discovered a wounded German
soldier uncared for, or any dead.
Sing at Days End.
AT the end of an exhaustinE march
l spent the evening at a barrack room
with German soldiers. For three
hours they sang and danced, without
q o!eA oI Adll6ue. An ofncer said he
had marched night and day for .hree
days, but seemed fresh ana anxi,ls
to go on. The physical stamina 0. the
men 10 extraordinary.
At Beaumont a gas lighting system
as effective as electricity was estah,
lished twelve hours after the German
entry into the town and not long AFTER
their own trains YER running IN the
tracks to Charleroi.
First Aid to Trousers.
Minor evidences Of their thorough
ness were seen In the equipment Of
each soldier, who carried with him
not only every necessity Of war Tut
food enough to sustain him If he were
separated from the provision trains.
II was interesting to note that even
his suspenders were protected against
emergencies and that his trousers car.
riedd an extra set Of buttons ii case
one set gave way. No detail seems
small enough to have escaped German
study and preparation.
Al Zone-Etat, on the way from
Charleroi La-Chappelle a man Ming
1T full length In the station yard sud-
denly extracted a telephone instru-
,nent from a flower bed and began a
conversation with headquarters.