New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-15


Rumania was the fifth victim of
+ German invasion in this war-bccause
she was unprepared and because there
were trnitors in her army. travelled
for three weeks with the attacking
forces of General Won Falkenhayn,
from the Transylvanian Alps 60 the
Areusu River, where the decisive battle
for Bucharest was fought. In the
mountain passes the famous Rcd
Tower pass. for example the Ru-
manian defences were so simple and so
well exposed TO the enemy that Ger
man officers remarked 20 the CORE
srondcnts: This is child's play. These
people have learned nothing during
two years Of fighting"
II was "child's play" for the invader
too. because, as ono general boasted;
1--WE have an army Of spies back Of
the Rumanan lines. Any non-ccmm's-
stoned officer" he added, "will give Us
all the information we ask and then
for few francs he will 20 back to his
army and bring US anything we want!
Although / had been at the various
German fronts nine times before, ! had
never heard such Dragging. And were
/. not for the incident observed be-
/ fore Rumania's capital fell | would
/ have hesitated to take the generals re-
marks seriously.
Plans Were Delivered
On the evening Of December /. Mr..
phi6p NJ. Powers, Of Boston. two cor
RESPONDENTS from Stockholm and
Madrid and myself were invited to dine
/ a. tho beadouarters Of the former chief
: If the Bavarian General stan, hranI
Won Delminesingen. There were about
/ forty German, Austrian and Hur garlan
/ officers there. Mr. Powers sat next 10
/ the place reserved for the chiei OF
staff. sat opposite "ENcellenz.' About
I Q o'clock the colonel entered. saluted
the general, called him from the table
and read a tvpewritten document. len
minutes later Won Delmingsingen re-
/ turned TO the table. handed the docu-
mont 10 an Austrian captain and eN-
nIained that the chief Of staff had Just
/ RECEIVED a copy of the orders OF the
: Rumanian general staff for the battle
which was to begin December 10
decide the fate of Bucharest. ne
document was dated December l at the
Headquarters of the King OF kumahia'
north of the capital. II was Tour type
written pages and gave the compete
and detailed plans for the humAnl nan
I forces
which were then wlthln slNteeh h'''
metres Of the city. IL.
Tho cantain. who was a former police
lieutenant in Hermannstadt, Hungary,
/ translated the orders into German ana
/ tho officers sat there with quiet smlleS
or delight on their faces. They mad IN
tbeir hands the enemy's most important
/ orders. That night the fate OF bucna-
rest was sealed. The contents oil TINS
document were telegraphed immedis.e
/ " 10 the headquarters OF every Ger
man army corps. Field Marshall Won
/ Nockensen and Won Falkenhayn pre-
nared Immediately for the attack o!
making three pockets" around bueha-
rest 10 "bottle up" the Rumanlan
+ forces. The Germans knew the eAae'
/ strength of the enemy's forces the
number of cannon and amount OF
+ tillerv. The Rumanian general s,an
had urged every soldier 10 ore io
the sake Of his country's chlef el'y anu
the poor soldiers charged IN Ieon,e .,
files i'm an attempt to save buoHaies,,
But they died N vain, because sun
traitor had given The Germans tle
most valuable information III posse'-
sion Of the country.
Rumanian Morale Shattered
Bucharest fell on December 6. The
morale Of the Rumanian forces was
completely shattered. Won Mackensen
entered the capital in triumph. One
disloyal Rumanian at the Kings mead
quarters was responsible:
This incident was only the begin
ming of many thrilling hours J spent
there. One day ! watched the German
batteries shell Slatina, and twenty-Iour
hours later ! was entering the burning
citv with the invaders. That night we
slept in an abandoned hospital when
had been hit by three sheils' ne
rooms we're filled with broken peas
torn and bloody linen. old clothes' heu-
icine and empty champagne potIles.
In one room sixteen such TASKS were
found on bare table surrounded oy
overturned chairs-grim evidence OF
CAV marty on the eve of the evacuation.
when we awoke the next morning az
A.. 2O o'clock the flames which the night
before were at the outskirts of the city
wore scarcely seventy-five feet from
the hospital. From the balcony there
had been two, but "a she'll had destroyed
ono of them we watched the remain
= mo citizens drag household goods from
Attaining buildings. The flames could
not be distinguished. because the re,
treating Rumanian army had destroyed
tho water system. There was no water
in the city except what the Rumanlans
carried by bucket from the AL RIVER
Boy "Found" valualhes
We had little food and were hungry.
3 The cantain who was our escort hunted
about The city until he found a woman
who could speak German, and then or
/ dored her. ain the name OF the Inn
nerisl German General staff" to get
breakfast. We went TO the kitchen, stood
a,ound the brick stove and drank
: ber black coffee under protest. because
10 kitchen was in much the same condi-
,;on as the hospital. A shell had eX-
nIoded i'm the courtyard, killing or
wounding some one. because there was
shattered blood everywhere.
While we were standing beside the
kitchen stove a small boy, aged about
"oven came running in with "a gold
neckIace, set with fine stones. Il was
his booty. lie found" it, he said, in
;c%clrv shop. His mother jerked Il
-, and threw il into the cupboard
@wc;iedly' and told him to get out
,Sicb he did. Evidently he under
TODD what she meant for few min
utes later he returned wearing new new,
nair Of shoes and stockings. He found
| hose in a drygoods store.
: Turks ChoLed Woman