Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1915-01-15

hCtlOnS ln6 present war contains no
more surprising episode than that
which has just been brought to light.
The facts are as follows:
For more than four months, ever
since August 20, an organized COM
pany of $50 French soldiers have been
living in the Belgian provinces of
Luxembourg and Namur, and although
surrounded entirely by the German
forces occupying Belgium. they have
constantly escaped capture. For al
most four months they have conducted
guerrilla warfare against their foes,
infiicting heavier losses and more dam
age than could be done by an entire
regiment in the open, and every at
tempt of the Germans to dislodge
them from the mountain forests where
they have found refuge has failed.
The story is vouched for by an un-
Improbable authority who has per-
sonally seen and interviewed the
commander of this fugitive force and
several of his men.
These $50 men are all that is left of
the French troops who vainly attempt
ed in two-day battle to resist the
German advance between the Rivers
Liesse and Semois on August 22-23.
The order for general retreat sent out
by the allied forces on Sunday, August
%, reached them too late. Their only
way of retreat, through Mezieres, hav-
ing been cut off. and realizing that
they were surrounded, they decided to
seek refuge in the thick forests with
which this region is covered and to
await there the return of the French
forces, which in their minds then was
a matter only of days.
The informant who brings this story
TO Paris makes no secret of the hiding
place of these soldiers, which, he says,
is between the towns of Saint-Hubert
and Givet, in the Belgian section of
the Ardennes mountains. Their pres
ence there is known to all the inhab-
itants of the surrounding villages and
to the Germans as well.
Villagers Help Frenchmen.
Having decided to remain within the
enemy's lines, the men we're organized
by the few officers who had survived
the battle and after careful survey
of the country place of concealment
was selected from which it would be
possible to do the most harm to the
enemy with the least danger of detec-
tion. Scouting parties were sent to
the nearby villages, who enlisted the
aid of the inhabitants, all of whom
have long ago fed the country and are
now beyond the reach of German re-
prisals. A good supply of ammunition
was the most urgent need of the sol
diers and women and children volun-
teered to make search of the Liesse-
Semois battlefield and to empty the
cartridge belts Of the dead French
troops still unburied. A supply of IT,
900 Lebel cartridges was gathered in
this manner and carefully concealed in
the forest.
In exchange for the food and cloth
ing which were furnished by the viii
layers the commanding officer gave
regular army requisition papers which
Will be redeemed when the war is over
and the Belgian peasants we're only
too glad to save their property from
the Germans in this manner, knowing
that they will obtain payment for it
from the French government at later
date
But this was not the soldiers only
means of obtaining supplies. Believ-
ing the surrounding country cleared of
hostile troops the Germans continued
to send provision trains through with
only small guard to protect them
and one by one these trains were held
up and their escorts killed by the
Frenchmen. These attacks occurred
at points so far apart that the Ger
mans were unable to discover the ex-
act location of the hostile force. and
although strong bodies of troops have
been sent against it every search has
failed. Cavalry and infantry troops
have ventured as far into the forests
as they have dared, but so thorough a
knowledge of the ground have the
fugitives acquired that they have been
able to conceal themselves success1ui-
ly every time.
During the first few weeks of their
forest life the soldiers might have sue
ceeded in getting over the border had
they accepted the offers of the inhab-
itants to furnish clothing with which
they could disguise themselves as
peasants and pass through the Ger
man lines as refugees. These offers,
however, were refused.
German Commander Killed.
On one occasion in the village Of
Houyet, on the Liesse, 20 kilometers
from Dinant, the fugitive soldiers had
narrow escape. A German force,
which the French believed to be small,
had occupied the royal chateau Far.