The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-05-19

I there are not many soldiers left in
this part of Belgium, but those who
are left are as businesslke as the
men in the trenches.
Only two or three of them are In
| sight here at Smeermaes-the sentl
I! mel, and one or two others little dis
lance away, pacing along a high
barbed wire fen e. This fence is the
! Belgian frontier-the first fence built
along the border when the Germans
began their policy Of keeping the Bel
gians at home. When they found that
despite constant patroiling this bar
rier was insufficient they built a sec
ong barbed wire fence all along the
$50 miles of frontier. 500 yards be-
hind the first one-clO3e!y woven wire
this time, high enough to make it diff.
cult even to throw letters over, and
charged with electricity. That fence
is studded from Maastricht to the sea
With carcasses Of dogs, rabbits. chick
ems and cows
| And latterly the Germans have be
| gun the construction of still another
fence exactly like this one, but 500
yards farther back. The fences are
constantly patrolled, and at night
there are searchlights. 1t is getting
! pretty hard to get into or out Of Bel.
| GUM
The taxi turns back through the
town and out again toward the south
After passing another double barrier
of earthen embankments and an in.
| quisitive sentry just outside the city
| limits you run along a road that fol
lows the river perhaps 200 yards on
the right, down through the cleft be-
tween the double weld, little village
where the Dutch troops acting as the
frontier guards against smuggling on
the much-traveled route are CHARTERED
and then on down the road toward
Wise.
Ruins Of Wise in Distance.
The ruins of Wise are down yonder
beyond the mist-clad woods; and II
is hardly more than quarter of an
hours run to Liege. But it is the
frontier; the driver shrugs his Shout
ders: "Weiter kann man NIGHT" And
as you turn back you pass line OF
high covered carts filled with loaves
of bread-bread made from American
flour sent across the frontier by the
Belgian Relief commission.
Until quite recently it was almost
as hard to get to Maastricht as to get
into Belgium. The Dutch garrison
was a strong one. and the traveller in
South Limburg had to undergo hourly
inspection Of passports and special
permits. But repeated protests by
Dutch business men had its effect, and
the reduction of the garrison removed
much of the military need for restric.
tons; so that today travel in the
southern tip of the Netherlands is as
easy as it is in Westchester.
Only a single regiment is left in
Maastricht. The old bridge across the
Meuse is guarded day and night, and
beside its parapets lie chevaux-de.
frise, tangled with barbed wire, and
heaps of steel rails, ready to be
thrown into place and block the bridge
on five minutes notice. But the plant
of the Dutch general staff do not con.
template any attempt to defend South
Limburg In the event-which is every
day regarded as less likely-of an at.
tack from Germany. The Zuyder Zee
bikes would be blown up and great
stretch flooded clear across the coun-
try. Behind the area to be flooded, al
most to the center Of Holland, is Ut
recht, fortified almost as strongly as
the cities of the Vosges. Here the
Dutch would make their first stand.
Behind that still another area can be
flooded, and then a third, extending
the submerged district up to the forti-
flcations Of Amsterdam, which would
be the last refuge of the Dutch army,
as Antwerp WAS of the Belgian. Any
thing east OF Utrecht would be only
outpost fighting; but the barbed wire
entanglements that are almost con-
slant feature OF the landscape, and the
marching soldiers that can be seen at
almost any glance from the car win.
dow, indicate how sharp that fighting
might be.
One Of these outposts is Roermond,
the city Just above the neck Of the
bottle that is 8outh Limburg. To the
north of Roermond the railroad
crosses the Mouse on bridge which
is strongly guarded and mined, so that
it can be blown up without an in.
stant's delay whenever the word is
given. But the extent to which the
Germans are prepared for even unlike
~ possibilities is indicated by the fact
that in Aachen. few miles over the
border, there is an exact duplicate Of
that bridge, part by part, reaoy to be
assembled and set up as soon a. the
ruins are cleared away.
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