Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-03
Special Gable to Evening Public Ledger

CofUf10ht, 1918, OU Neti fOrh ItncS Co.
Verviers, Nov. 30 (delayed)
= Last night British cavalry patrols
reached the German frontier beyond
Spa and tomorrow, morning troops of
the Second Army will begin their ad.
vance through German territory to
Cologne and the Rhine. Coming from
Liege I went through Spa today, and
as far as the advance cavalry out
posts along the Malmedy road to the
frontier line between Belgium and Ger
many.
The scenery had become German al
ready. 1t Is hill country, with roads
winding through fir forests above deep
ravines, where the red underground
glowed like fire through the rich green
fir trees and where on hillsides and
in valleys there were wooden chalets
and villas with pointed turrets like
those in the Black Forest
The road to Malmedy dips to the
edge of Belgium, and it was there.
few yards beyond the Belgian custom
house, that we halted on this side
of the little stone bridge over the
stream which divides the two colfn-
tries A picket OF Royal Dragons was
holding the bridge with double sen.
tries and with orders to let no man
cross.
Over there, a few yards away. was
Germany, a fringe of what was un-
til those few weeks ago the mighty
German Empire. Not a human being
appeared on this side of the stone
bridge. There was no German sentry
facing ours The gate into Germany
was open and uGguarded. There was
deep silence over there by the pine
woods where the underground was
red. I wonder what will happen when
we ride through that silence and that
loneliness into the first German town,
and afterward through many German
towns and villages, on the way to
Cologne
There were German soldiers on our
side of the frontier, Sn the town OF
Spa, where the German armies had
their general headquarters until the
armistice and where the Kaiser and
Hindenburg discussed their plans on
the western front
For the first time since the war
began I saw them walking about
freely, and not as prisoners, among
British officers and nen. There were
$50 of them in Spa, working under
the white flag with British missions
the material of war, according to the
conditions of the armistice. 1t is al
astonishing thing to find them there
and it is impossible to get over ones
sense OF surprise at meeting them face
to face in the streets andSseeing them
go into shops and restaurants filled
with British soldiers, and moving
about freely without a guard. Time
was, not so long ago, when, one be
came excited If, from slit in the
earth, one saw through a pair of field
glasses the gray ants moving stealth
lily behind the white line Of the
trenches and some voice by ones side
said, Germans, by jove!"
~ Germans Act Like Humans
But in Spa German is not shot al
= sight. He takes the pavement as though
it belongs to him. gets between English
officers to buy bun at a counter OF
3 a pastry shop or salutes formally as n,
: passes in the roadway.
Today I saw a group of German Of
q ficers In front of garden of a chateau
preparing to set out in a Totorcau L
ID true there was a white flag in from
of the car. but otherwise they seemed
to be starting out on a JOY ride, as fre'
= as the wind. To me 1t was one of thu
most sensational things I have seen sine
Z the entry into Lille. But 1 suppose
we shall get used to it. The German
themselves seem to take it all as a mat
ter of course, and hide their feeling
under an impassive mask But yester
day they Showed some obvious interes
when the first squadron of Britisl
cavalry passed through on the way t
the frontier and they leaned out of tn
windows to watch the lancers go past
= l think they must have been surprised a