Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-25
JAGGED BY NUMBER,
IDENTITY IS SURE
OF GERMAN DEAD
rClean-up'' Squads Bury
Slain So That Battlehelds
Shall Tell No Tales to the
Enemy.
No. KARL H. Won w1EaAND

4 L1EGE. Sept. 25.
,.o r,bere the tide of German advance
time dashed on the rock and stee
I, po,gian forts, saw something which
.S.cted me far more than any of the
ARROWS of war I have yet encountered
!, ,,as good sized basketful of metal
| under careful guard at military
headquarters
eTbev are all that is left of 'unsere
| ,,,ven iunge' (our brave boys) who fell
/ d and around Liege-their identification
mark" said the officer.
asked permission TO examine one. 1t
/ xss a small tin tag with two holes for
a.. string or ribbon. a large number
rss stamped on it, and, below, the num-
ber Of the regiment.
This little metal tag then that l held
a. my hand represented a human life.
:, was the "remans''-all that was left
a. that life-of that husband, father or
brother. It was the monument and at
,be same time the metallic tag and mum
her of human life in the indexed cata-
osue of an army of human lives. Just
a metal tag WIN u nuUlDST!
This afternoon l saw the rest" OF
that tag and many others like it-rather
,hs place where that rest or remainder
of that tag was. Between the forts Bar
chou and Evegnes it was in the trenches
where the Belgians received the Germans
with a murderous fire when they storrned
those two forts-the first that fell-there
by getting an entrance into the city. 1t
was here that these men went down
Ike grass before the scythe.
Here Is where the metal tags wers
fathered. Each man and officer wears one
around his neck. That of the private is
usually a tag with a number correspond
Ing with the number opposite his name
on his company and regimental rolls
Many also have the numbeI of the regi-
nent on the tag. The tags of the officers
usually are of aluminium and besides the
number have the name and rank, some-
times also the home address.
After the battle, when the Germans find
their dead, the collar on each shirt Is
opened, the string cut and the tag taken
and sent to headquarters for identifica-
ton. At Liege, probably for the first
time In German wars, death obliterated
distinction in rank. For the first time,
10 far as | can learn, German officers
and common soldiers were buried in the
same trench.
A noncommissioned officer who COM
manded burial at Liege told me there
vas not time to take much pains in
hurying. The fallen of the enemy are
not buried in the same trenches, but are
placed together in separate trench. |
Even in death there shall be no brother |
hood between those who fought and took |
zach others lives.
One of the features of the German side |
u battlefield in this war is the thor |
ugh manner In which the Germans
Clean up the field after a battle. II
not only the natural sense of "orderll-
Tess which is so characteristic of the
ierman character, but there Is method
nd purpose, That is, the battlefield shall
tVeal no tales. 1t shall give nothing
rom which a conclusion can he drawn
5 to losses or any other information,
here Is little trace of graves from the
lze Of which conclusion might be drawn
to the number buried. In sharp con-
'ast to this are the sections of the bat
ehelds over which the French fought.
AZ the last analysis it is the metal tag
ith number, the symbol of a human
ie-ot a soul sent out In carnage. It rep
SCENTS the ashes" of the battlefield. It
The reverse side Of the glory medal OF
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