The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1914-09-25
BY E. ALEXANDER POWELL.


tended to be the story of the taking
of Weerde. Owing, however, to cir
cumstances over which neither the
Belgians nor had control, Weerde re-
mains untaken.
Yesterday morning four Belgian d.
visions pressed forward along front
extending from Aerschot nearly to
Alost, distance something over thirty /
miles The Belgian center rested on
Sempst, two miles south of Mallnes, its
objective being the town OF Weerde
on the Antwerp-Brussels railway and
a point of considerable strategic I'M
portance.
Germans In Weerde.
II was known the Germans occupied
Weerde In force, so throughout the
day the Belgian artillery, masked by
heavy woods, pounded away inces-
sanity.
BY noon the Germans guns ceased
to reply, which was assumed by the
jubilant Belgians to be sign that
the enemys artillery was silenced.
Thompson, the Kansas photog-
rapher, and arrived at the headquar-
tiers Of the first division at Sempst
early in the afternoon, leaving our
car at the gate OF convent, over
which Red Cross flag was flying
which promised, therefore, to be fairly
immune from shell fire.
Thompson and /, accompanied by
Roos, my military driver, by keeping
close to the trenches which the Bel
gian infantry had evacuated in their
advance, succeeded In reaching farm
house which stood quite by itself in
the middle of a field.
On Belgian Firing Line.
One hundred yards in front Of the
farmhouse stretched a highway which
runs from Brussels to Antwerp.
Lying In a deep ditch bordering our
side of the highway was a brigade of
infantry which formed the Belgian
firing line. Ascending to the garrett
of the house we broke hole through
the tiled roof and found ourselves
looking down upon battle precisely
as one looks down on football game
from an upper row Of seats In the
Harvard stadium.
In the immediate foreground were
two regiments of carabineers and two
regiments of chasseurs. The men
were crouching in the ditch or lying
prone on the ground. Five hundred
yards along the other side of the high
way we could see through trees the
red pottery roofs and whitewashed
walls of Weerde while a short dis
tance beyond in heavily wooded park
stood large stone chateau. The only
sign that the town was occupied was
pale blue gray vapor which hung
over it and the constant crackle OF
musketry issuing from it.
Occasionally through my glasses
could catch glimpse of machine guns
in the upper windows of a chateau.
The American public must bear in
mind that in this war soldiers fire
from trenches for days without once
getting glimpse of the enemy,
Battle of Musketry
Occasionally after the explosion of
a particularly we'll placed Belgian
shell Thompson and l, with our power
full glasses could catch fleeting
glimpses of scurrying figures in gray,
but that was ALL Men below us in
the trenches could see nothing except
hedges, gardens, and red rooted
houses Of the country town.
They knew the enemy was there,
however, from the incessant rattle of
musketry and machine guns and from
screams and EXPLANATIONS from those,
of their fellows who happened to get
in the way of bullets.
In the late afternoon word was
passed down the line that the German
guns were put out of action, and that
the enemy was evacuating the town
In disorder and that at $3.50 sharp the
whole Belgian line would advance.
5elslans Sweep Forward.
Under cover of artillery fire, so
heavy that 1t sounded like thunder in
the mountains, the Belgian infantry
climbed out of the trenches, and,
throwing aside knapsacks, formed up
behind the road preparatory to ma
king grand assault. A moment later
dozen dog batteries came trotting up
and took position on the left of the
infantry.
At $3.50 o'clock to the minute the
whistles of the officers sounded
shrilly, and in mile long line the
chasseurs in blue and the carabineers
In bottle green swept forward cheer
Ing They crossed the roadway. They
scrambled across bitches. They
pushed through hedges until they
were within 100 yards of a line of
buildings in the outskirts of the town.
Then He'll Broke LoGe.
Then hell itself broke loose. The
whole German front, which for an
hour had replied only feebly to the
Belgian fire, spat a continuous stream
of lead and flame. The rolling crash
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