The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-01-13
but $4,000 OF
B[LG|ANS LEFT
THE REST OF KING ALsERT's
ARMY HAS BEEN KILLED OR
CAPTURED.

| II III utcs w II Jan. lOs
Sixty thousand worn soldiers strung
along the User, where they checked
| the rush of the German invaders to
ward Pas de Calais, are all that are
left of the Belgian army of two hun
dred and thirty thousand men under
arms when Germany invaded Belgium
but one of King Alberts staff officers
who has been with the army since the
, siege of Liege, asserts that the small
Belgian force today is a far more e.
fcient machine than that which met
the first German attack.
He said to The Associated Press
correspondent:
when we reached the User we
were beaten and demoralized army
almost to the point OF absolute dis
organization. Fighting for weeks
without adequate support from our al
lies, and with most of our men believ
ing that We had been left to our fate
the chances of ever again making q
sighting force of our army seemed re-.
mote. That we did no was due to the
highest ana lowest factors in our eivt
iisation, the inspiration and activity
Of eur king and the Aghting spirit 81
our psAsantry. D..
'Yhs Kings aristoeratis regiment d
guards 70 Q thing Of the past. They
have been disbanded and their places
taken BY tive regiments made up Of
Flemish peasants and commanded BY
active young sfAeers in Belgium.
when the critical situation along
the User was realized the local peas
antry seemed To remember the glory
Of their past when their people were
the terror Of the invading spapiards
and It needed only the actual leader
ship of the king to weld them into the
fighting force you see here today
The king 10 commander OF this army
and during those nine terrible days in
the trenches while the Germans hurl
ed their hosts at us, and we waited
In vain for the expected support. the
king was not only 81 inspiration t.
his officers and men as he fought be
side them, but he proved himself a
capable military leader. Today the
army 10 efficient fighting force, toe
small OF course, for we are unable to
give our men leave from the trenches
such as the French and English now
ural complaint, but in spite Of this,
as you can see for yourself, the spirits
of the soldiers could not be better
These men are all veterans now and
most Of them are young in years. The
officers are picked for their work
without regard to their. former rank
and many of the highest officers OF
the army have been relegated to posts
where they are doing useful work, but
where they cannot repeat any of the
blunders which marked the first par
of the war.
I'VE have no apologies to make fo'
our artillery. This service was tn
really professional branch OF the arm,
into which officers went for pure love
of their profession. and from Iieg'
to the User they have proven them
selves worthy Of the cause for which
they are fighting. Some idea of thu
value placed on our artillery IL in
dicated by the fact that Belgian cap
tain of artillery was. placed in con,
mand Of two hundred French guns an
| directed their fire continuously 70
thirty-six hours in one of the fierces
artillery duels Of the campaign.
| "Only second to our artillery ar
the regular cyclist corps and the vo
| puforv motor corns The cvclfsfc wer