Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-09-12
VIVID ACCOUNT
OF THE FIGHTING
BEFORE L|ECE
Wounded German Officer
Tells of the First Battles
of the War on Belgian
Soil.

New York Sept. ia vidid escrip-
ton of the fighting before Liege, at
tributed t6 German officer seriously
wounded in the battle is published by
the Wesef Zeitung of Bremen, copies
of which reached here today Under
the caption From the Border to
Liege," the officer describes his ex-
| periences and feelings in a letter which
reads in part as follows.
Our trip to the Belgian border was
triumphal procession. 1t was pour
ing rain rs we marched through the
| Ardennes. The towns seemed deserted
We had no rest and during the night
We're fired upon.
AT 5 . m. (Aug. 81. we marched
through the Ourthe valley. meeting OBJ
| stacles everywhere 1t was an awful
march; the roads were blocked by
felled tree and boulders; of bridges
there werh only remnants. In the aft
ernoon WI took up quarters in a viii
lage south of Liege
Seven o'clock, an alarm Is sounded
the captain shouts Storm Llege 1t is
! impossible. We cannot go farther; the
| forts are 35 kilometres away, but we
pres son. Thirty minutes pass and
we are fired upon from the heights
Now shot are fired directly at us from
nearer points. We draw our revolvers
and rush forward.
"The field is alive with troopers
of all arms. 1t is raining in torrents;
a thunderstorm is roaring and the
night is pitch dark. We pres son. We
see soldi ers fall Now they fall ir
masses and do not rise. The sky clears
the moon shines; we hear cannonading
"Suddehly we hear that our baggage
all sheen attacked. One company turns
back. The village has been burned
down. all the people shot. Such arc
the atrocities of the Franco Tireurs
Meanwh e we keep on. close to Liege
and turn off behind the wood. Foul
regiments lay down their knopsacks
and iron rations' are taken out. The
last exhd rtation is given; we form II
ranks for the charge
shells whiz past, but without aim
We gallop by on rartillery, stuck help
lessly in the mud up to the stomach.
wild hail of bullets bursts on us from
a point directly opposite. Our owl
men are firing upon US, but just in tim,
men are recognized. Now we are di
rectly in front of the firing line of tn,
forts. There is wild clamoring. Thu
parole 'Woerth is given. Friend am
enemy look alike.
81 am lyin gbefore barricade o
trees and barbed wire with my com
rade, Ii eutenant G. on my left ant
the captain on my right. Shells ex
plode al laround; everywhere is tn,
Internal noise of musketry fire. Tit
air is hot A few yards ahead we may
get better cover. nudge Lieutenan
G. and ask, Shall We go forward NJ
answer. He is dead. The captain
jumps tp his feet and falls back; h,
is shot Jpn the breast. | raise my arm
the company responds to my wore
of command.
IT rush forward. A terrible blow
throws me back three feet. l have re
ceived shell in the left thigh TIL
pain is terrible. Before me an office
calls ou1 his name, holds out his han,
to me and then falls back-dead. II
front of me there is flag and I tr.
to crawl up to 1t. The bearer is dead
a secoud shot strikes me in the lief
arm; third in the right arm; I bit
the earth with pain. A few step
in front are the Belgian rifle pits. Gu
men advance lie in one place nearl
12 hours, yet despite the hail of bul
let's nothing happens to me. A docto
comes with bandages At noon / an
carried away shivering with fever.
meet our regiment. Its losses are ter
rlble.
Il am taken to a field hospital. Dur
ing the first few days l suffer ter
ribly but now am much better. Their
are others who have to suffer create
pain than l. that makes one kee
quiet. have lost everything TIL
clothes wore We're so soaked wit
blood that they We're burned. A Rus
sian brought me some underwear an
sympathetic little woman Is wash
ing and mending a uniform for me-"
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