The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-08
SAW GERMAN ARMY
I ROLL ON LIKE FOG

Richard Harding Davis Cables Vivid
Picture of the kaiser's Great Gray
Force.
Richard Harding Davis. in New York
Tribune.
The entrance of the German army
into Brussels has lost the human quail
ity. 1t was lost as soon as the three
soldiers 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 "a
hours later is still coming, it not
men marching. but a force of nature
like a tidal wave, an avalanche or a
river flooding it's banks. AT this mir
ute it is rolling through Brussels as
the swollen waters of the Conemaugh
Valley swept throug Johnstown.
At the sight of the first few regi-
ments Of the enem we were thrilled
with interest. After three hours they
had passed in one unbroken gray
column We were bored. But when
hour after hour passed INC there
was not halt, no breathing time, no
open space in h ranks. the thing
became inhuman. You re-
turned to watch it, fascinated. It held
the mystery n n of fog rolling
toward you across the sea.
The gray 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 a cloak of invisibi-
lily. Only after the most numerous
and severe tests at all distances, with
all materials and combinations of
cOlors that give forth no color could
this gray have been discovered. That
, If uro0 co1ac{o4 fn O1afhn n~I -,s
! the German when he fights is typical
7 of the German staff in striving for
efficiency to leave nothing to chance
z to neglect no detail.
After you have seen this service
: uniform under conditions entirely OPP
Z pOSite you are convinced thai for the
: German soldier it is his strongest
weapon. Even the most exper,
marksman cannot hit a target he
cannot see. 1t is a gray green, no.
the blue gray Of u COnfederates
1t is the gray Of the hour just before
= daybreak, the gray of unpublished
steel, of mist among green trees.
= saw it first in the Grand Palace
in front Of the Hotel de Willie. 1
was impossible to tell if in tina nobl
square there was a regiment or
q brigade. You saw only a fog tina
melted into the stones, blended will
:. the ancient house fronts, that shifte,
and drifted, but left you nothing a
- which you could point.
y Later as the army passed below m,
~ window, under the trees Of the Bot
"a anical Park, it merged and was los
"a against the green leaves It is n.
= exaggeration to say that at a hun
- dred yards you can see the horse
e on which the Chlans ride, but canno
III see he men who ride them.
d If l appear to overestimate TIL
~ Disgusting uniform it is because O
all tho "details 0f tho ~-x1
Us it appealed to me as one of the mos
VI remarkable. The other day. when
p was with h rear guard of III Frenc
20 Dragons and Cuirassiers and the
o. threw out pickets, we could distir
ne guish them against the yellow whee
or green corSe at half a mile. uhil
these men passing in the street, whe
ne they have cached tn next crossin,
boone merged INTO the gray Of n
C. paving stones and the earth swa
eS. lows them. In comparison the We
lew khaki of our own American arm
he is about as invisible as the flag
w Spain.
to Yesterday Major-General Jarotsz
lst h German military governor
rs Brussels, assured Burgomaster Ms
ow that h German Army would not o.
he cupy the city but would pass throur
he it. 1t is Stfff passing. I have follow
ed in campaigns six armies. but. e,
ng, Cepting not even our own. the Ia
he anese or the British. l have not Sc.
one so thoroughly equipped. I a
IN not speaking of the fighting quaIiti
per Of any army. only of the equipme
ard and organization. The German arm
it'll moved into this city as smoothly a,
the as compactly as an Empire State .
be press There were no halts. no on,
places. no stragglerS-
ing This army h-s been on active cor
lall ice three weeks. and so far the-s
in not apparently a chinStrau or -.
md shoe missing. It came In - -
smoke mourning from na