The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-08-28
GERMANS SWEEP
THROUGH BRUSSELS
Like a Mighty River Rather
than Men.
Graphic Pen Picture of Wonderful War
Machine by Richard Harding Davis.

b6IIldI army
INTO Brussels has lost the human quail
lty. 1t was lost as soon as three SOL
dlers, who led the army, bicycled in
to the Boulevard du Regent and asked
the way to the Care du Nord. When
they passed the human note passed
with them. What came after them
and which "A hours later is still COM
ing is not men marching, but a force
OF nature like tidal wave, avalanche,
or river flooding its banks. At this
minute it is rolling through Brussels
as the swollen water of the Cone
maugh Valley swept through Johns
town.
"At the sight of the first few regi-
ments of the enemy we were thrilled
with interest. After they had passed
III one unbroken steel grey column for
three hours we were bored. But when
hour after hour passed and there was
nalt, no breathing time, no open
spaces in the ranks, the thing became
uncanny and inhuman. You returned
to watch it fascinated. 1t held the
mystery and menace of fog rolling
toward you across a sea.
GhOStly Grey Uniforms.
"The grey of the uniforms worn by
both officers and men helped this air
of mystery. Only the sharpest eye
could detect among the thousands that
passed the slightest difference. All
moved under cloak of invisibility.
Only after the most numerous and Sc
we're tests at all distances with all ma
terials and combinations of colors that
give forth no color could this grey
have been discovered That it was
selected to clothe and disguise the
German when he fights is typical OF
the German staff in striving for eff
cheney to leave nothing to chance and
to neglect no detail.
after you have seen this service
Uniform under conditions entirely OPP
oosite you are convinced that for the
German soldier it is his strongest
weapon. Even the most expert
narksman cannot hit target he car
lot see. 1t is a grey green, not the
blue grey of our confederates. 1t is
he grey of the hour just before day
)reak, the grey of unpublished steel
md of mist among green trees.
81 saw it first in the grand place in
ront of the Hotel De Vile. 1t was
impossible to tell if in that noble
quare there was regiment or brig
Ide. You saw only fog that melted
nto the stones and blended with an
ient house fronts; fog that shifted /!
md drifted but left you nothing at
which you would point. Later as the
ho1 or
he trees of the Botanical Park, it 9
merged and was lost against the green |
caves.
at is no xeaggeration to say that at
90 yards distance you can see the
orses on which the Uhlans ride, but O
annot see the men who ride them. a
+ | appear to over emphasize this +
isguising uniform it is because Of G
Il the details of the German outfit it a
ppealed as one of the most remarka- h
ie The other day when | was with a
he rear guard of French dragons t
nd cuirassiers they threw out pickets +
,e could distinguish them against the h
elbow wheat or green forest at half a
lille, while these men passing in the S
treet when they have reached the P
ext CEOSSlllS DSColllC liiSl ecu hlVO oiiS
rey of the paving stones and the j
arth swallows them. In comparison b
ne yellow khaki of our own Amerl- t
an army is about as invisible as the c
ag of Spain.
yesterday Maj. Gen. Won Jarotzky,
he military governor, assured Burgo-
laster Max that the army would not h
ccupy the city but would pass y
trough it. 1t is still passing. }
81 have followed in the campaigns f
{ six armies and excepting not even +,
ur own men nor the Japanese nor "
ritish, never have | seen one so h
loroughly equipped. am not speak P
lg of the fighting qualities of any g
rmy, only of its equipment and Or 2
German Army Marvellous Machine. lis