Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-09-29
BY z. ALEXANDER POWELL.

near Renaix, Belgium. Three weeks
1 ago the government of Belgium re-
| quested me to place before the Aineri-
can people list of specific anc au-
thenticated atrocities committed by
the German armies upon Belgian nom
| combatants.
| Today General Won Boehn, com
handing the Ninth Imperial field
army, acting mouthpiece of the Ger
man general staff. has asked me to
| place before the American people the
German version of the incidents in
| question.
| So far as / am aware am the only
correspondent in the present war who
| has motored for an entire day through
the ranks of the advancing German
army, who has dined as a guest OF the
| German army commander and his
| staff, and who has had the progress
of the army on the march arrested in
order to obtain photographs of the
| German troops.
This unusual experience came about
In curious and roundabout way.
Invited by General Won Boehrl.
After an encounter in the streets of
Client last Tuesday between Ger
man military automobile and a Bel
gian armored car in which two Ger
man soldiers were wounded. American
Vice Consul Van Hee persuaded the
burgomaster to accompany him i'm
mediately to the headquarters of Gen
eral Won Boehn to explain the circum-
| stances and ask that the city should
not be held responsible for the unfor-
tunate affair.
In the course of the conversation
with Mr. Van Hee General Won Boehn
remarked that copies of papers con-
| tanning articles written by Alexander
Powell criticizing the German treat
ment of the Belgian civil population
had come to his attention and said he
regretted he could not have an oppor-
tunity to talk with Powell and give
| him the German version.
Mr.. Van Hee said by fortunate
coincidence l happened to be in Client,
whereupon the general asked him to
bring me out to dinner the following
day, and issued a safe conduct through
the German lines.
Though nothing was said about a
| photographer, l took with me Pho
tographer Donald Thompson. AS there
| was some doubt regarding the pro-
| priety of taking a Belgian driver into
| the German lines, l drove the Car
myself.
In Midst of kaiser's Men.
Half a mile out of Sottehem our
road debouched into the great high
way which leads through Lille to
Paris. We suddenly found ourselves
in the midst of the German army. 1t
was a sight never to be forgotten.
Far as the eye could see stretched
solid columns of marching men, press
| ing westward, ever westward.
The army was advancing in three
mighty columns along three parallel
roads. These dense masses of NOV
ing men in their elusive blue gray
uniforms looked for all the world like
three monstrous serpents crawling
across the countryside.
American flags which tiuttered from
our windshield proved passport in
4 themselves and as we approached the
close locked ranks they parted to let
us through.
For five solid hours, travelling al
ways at express train speed, we mo-
| tored between the walls of the march
| ing men, In time the constant shuttle
| of boots and the rhythmic swing of
gray-clad arms and shoulders grew
maddening and I became obsessed
| with the fear that l would send the
car blowing into the human wedge
| on either side.
Miles of German Soldiers.
| 1t seemed that the ranks never
would end, and as far as we were con-
cerned they never did, for we never
| saw or heard the end of that mighty
+! column.
We passed regiment after regiment,
| brigade after brigade of infantry, and
after them hussars, uhlans, cuiras-
siers, field batteries, more infantry,
more field guns, ambulances then
! siege guns, each drawn by 80 horses,
engineers, telephone corps. pontoon
wagons, armored motor cars, more
uhlans, the sunlight cleaning on their
forest of lances, more infantry in
spiked helmets, all sweeping by as
| irresistible as a mighty river, with
! their faces turned toward France.
This was the Ninth field army and
composed the very flower of the en-
pire, including the magnificent troops
| of the Imperial guard. 1t was first
and last fighting army. Tie men
were all young. They struck me as
being keen as razors and as hard as
nails. The horses were magnificent
| They could not have been better. The
field guns of the Imperial guard were
almost twice the size of any used by
our army.
Thirtytwo Horses Draw Howitzer.
But the most interesting of all, of
| course, were the five gigantic howit-
gers. each drawn by 16 pairs of horses.
J These howitzers can tear a city to
I pieces at a distance of dozen miles.
Every contingency seems to have
| been foreseen. Nothing was left 20
chance or overlooked. Maps of Bel
| GUM, with which every soldier is pro-
vided, are the finest examples of
topography have ever seen. Every
path, every farm building, every clump
| of trees. and every twig is shown.
At one place a huge army wagon
containing a complete printing press
was drawn up beside the road and a
/ nrnaaAAI nrTOEAT Ac