Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-09-22
Entrance into Belgium Marked
by Order and Efficiency, Cor
respondent Says.
COMTRASTED WITH FRENCH
ROMANTIC SPIRIT OF WAR
Kaiser's Gray-Green Soldiers Equip
ped With Postal, Telegraph and
Telephone Facilities.

Correspondence of the Associate ted Press.
BEAUMONT. Belgium, August IS
When the French regiments paraded
through GembleuX a ripple of admlra-
ton ran through the almost historical
Belgian populace, who had waited SO
long for the promised support OF
France. With their bright blue and
red uniforms, their gayety, glitter and
song. they made a colorful entry
which quite fulfilled ones conception
of the romantic spirit of war. But it
was noticeable that they did not march
in particularly good order. and the
doors of the wagons in their baggage
train tapped and banged.
When the Germans appeared on the
! outskirts of Brussels they might have
been mistaken for cloud of low-lying
mist, their gray-green uniforms melt
ing against a neutral background. The
entry was not theatric, but 1t throoped
with power and efficiency.
In place of the romantic French god
of war, there was a silent, gray-coi-
ored machine, which was complete TO
the last detail. Wagon doors. instead
of Tapping, had patented locks and
bars.
of an army of over million and
half that pushed it's way through Bel
GUM. In completeness OF equipEeu.
it was like a travelling city. 1t had us
postal service, it's telegraph corps; US
provision trains miles in length, Whlch
provided for the soldiers menu as
satisfactory as that which they could
have obtained in a first-class res
taurant.
Ammun;t;on Train Two Miles Long.
Six caissons with ammunition. each
drawn by six horses, followed each
field gun, and there were professions
of them two miles long. There were IN
addition many trucks and traction en-
gines for the heavy siege guns. And
in all this colossal train not wheel
soueaked, not an accident delayed the
forward progress. The efficiency of the
Red Cross departments is best lndl-
Gated by the fact that in following the
German army for hundred miles over
battlefields, at times only rev hours
behind the fighting, none of the small
group of correspondents discovered a
wounded German soldier uncared Tor,
or any dead.
The speed of the army is attested
by the fact that correspondents with
BICYCLES and carriages found 1t dlmcult
to keep up with the German advance.
Daily marches of so kilometers were
the usual thing. and at times they
greatly exceeded that distance.
At the end of one of these exhausting
marches I spent the evening in bar
rack room with German soldiers. For
three hours they sang and danced.
without a sign of fatigue. An officer
said he had marched night and day for
three days, but seemed fresh and anx-
ious to go on. The physical stamina
of the men is extraordinary.
At Beaumont a gas lighting system
as effective as electricity was estab-
lished twelve hours after the German
entry into the town, and not long after
their own trains were running on the
tracks to Charleroi.
Minor evidences of their thorough
ness were seen in the equipment of
each soldier, who carried with him not
only every necessary of war, but food
enough to sustain him If he were sep
arated from the provision trains. 1t
was interesting to note that even his
suspenders were protected against
emergencies and that his trousers car
ried an extra set of buttons in case
one set gave way. No detail seems