The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1917-08-07
Story From Holland Says Uhlans
Were Sent to Shoot Them
Down.
BEG FOOD AT DUTCH BORDER
Weary OF War and Depressed by Hun
ger They No Longer Believe in
German Victory, but Are
Eager for Peace.
BY w. J. L. kIEHL.

The Hague, Holland.-On the south
ern border of Holland assertions from
the German army occur on u large
scale nowadays. At first 1t was only a
single soldier here and there, then they
came by threes and fves, later in
groups of ten and twenty, but now as
many as seventy and eighty come in at
a time. A few days ago a little army
tried TO desert-some 500 to 600 men.
mostly fusileers, marines and land
sturmers.
The Dutch report says that they at
tempted to cross near Cadsand, but the
German military authorities got wind
of 1t, and 200 Uhlans with two machine
guns were dispatched from Bruges to
head them back. A formal battle ragged
between the two forces 1t was viewed
from Holland. The machine guns got
in their deadly work, and almost all :
the would-be deserters were either
killed or captured only eight wounded
men succeeded in reaching Dutch soil
and safety.
Every fresh arrival, deserter or es-
capped prisoner, tells the same story of
famine conditions In Belgium and Ger
many, and depression among the sol
diers, who dread being sent TO the
front. They no longer believe In Ger
man victory, but are eager for peace.
Only one escaped prisoner had a diff
ferent story to tell, and that man was
a Russian general, who arrived in
Mo a cfrYuh4 nooavununfaH hu fvrn Cor
man "fight lieutenants" who had es-
capped with him.
Russian Gets Through Lines.
This general believed the Germans
can never be reduced by hunger. "They
will eat grass or the dust from the
street rather than surrender on the
allies terms" he said. He told how
bad the treatment and the food was In
the German prison camps be had been
In seven, so he could judge. After ev-
cry attempt to escape he had been
transferred to a different camp, but
everywhere the prisoners were treated
brutally, the officers as well as the
men. How he had at last succeeded
In getting away with his two compan-
ions he preferred not to say-because
he feared that would make escape
more difficult for his comrades still In
captivity. He did, however, say that
what made escape very difficult was
that 1t caused great surprise to people
in German towns and villages to see
three ~able-bodied men walking about,
and he and his companions had been
obliged to invent all sorts Of tales
about having been wounded and being
now on leave to account for their alb
sence from "the front"
German soldiers frankly beg for food
ON the Dutch border. The officers don't
go quite as far as that. There Is a sort
of neutral zone along the frontier
where Germans and Hollanders can
meet. There the German officers often
congregate and make overtures Of COM
radeship to their colleagues on the
other side. Friendly relations exist,
and when the luncheon hour comes,
and the Netherlanders see what poor
provisions the Germans have, they In
vite the Germans to lunch. A picnic
is held and the Germans consume in
credible quantities & rolls, sausages
or ham sandwiches, and loudly praise
the coffee the orderlies of their Dutch
comrades serve. They say they never
get good coffee any more.
Although the Dutch officer often
meets his German colleagues, 1t must
not be supposed he always agrees with
their methods of discipline toward
their own men. Both officers and sol
diers in Holland, by far the greater
number of them ct least, strongly dis
approve of the brutal and heartless
way In which most German officers
treat their men. The younger officers
show this by chatting the Germans
about Ii.
Merchant Ranks Over Noble.
How the spirit Of caste still rules In
the German ranks is instanced by a
little anecdote told me by a Dutch
officer. He had come on friendly "cof-
fee' terms with a German officer, Won
s., the personification, to the very
monocle, of those "schneidIge lieuten-
ants often lampooned in Germany.
One day Won s. came to lunch bubbling
over with indignation, for a simple
s~sbourgeois," a former Berlin merchant,
had been given the post of captain In
his regiment, and he himself raj first
lieutenant.
"Denken sic sich, lieber Kamerad!
he exclaimed. "Ichl Won ). inter
einem Kaufman aus Berlin !" He felt
disgraced. But officers are beginning
to get scarce in Germany, so the re-
serve officers who have acquitted them
selves creditably have to be promoted
to positions they would never have at
tanned in peace times.