The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1918-12-13
The |
Confessions of a
German DeSerter
TT
Written by . Prusslan Officer
Who Participated In the
Ravaging and Pillaging
of Belgium
CHAP FER xvI-continued.
Copyright By Detroit Free Press

Home again for few hours; then
AWAY, n prisoner! At least he would
be able to get word to his wife by
letter through the field posts.
Finally he said good-by. His wife
had nothing to give him. no laundry,
no food.
Everything had been lost and she
lived on the soldiers bounty. She gave
him her last money and he refused to
take 1t. She accepted the money back.
1t consisted of few and 10 pfen-
mig pieces and some coppers. all she
had.
Unable to endure this we took col
lection among OURSELVES. We made up
more than 10 marks, which we gave
to the young woman. She refused 1t ut
nrst, then looking ut her husband. she
took II and tried to kiss our hands.
When we refused to let her do this
sne ran to a store nearby and returned
with cigars, tobacco. matches and sau-
sage, which she gave to her husband.
She smiled perhaps for the first time
In long while.
The children were with their father
aud they kissed him as he left. He had
| one child on each arm and his wife
carried the third.
With the greatest happiness the
family walked along between the two
armed soldiers. When the moment Of
| parting came all began to cry.
This was the fate Of thousands Of
tvor French and Belgian men and
| women, quartered near their homes
yet unable to know who was dead or
alive.
While we stood ut the depot ten Ger
man soldiers arrived with fixed bayO-
nets. Between them were three French
citizens In civilian clothing, whom they
escorted. All were elderly men, We
asked an old Frenchman what this was
about and he said:
"We receive our food from the Ger
man military officials but ii Is not suf-
dricnt to live on. The people have
notTing left. All stock and food had
been seized. These three men refused
to work any longer for the German
military officials because they could
not live on what they received.
"They were arrested and are being
sent to Germany. No one knows what
their fate would be there. The men
were being taken away by the Ger
mans and interned in Germany"
| We received orders, to march to
vnrennes and left the next morning.
As we reached the heights OF Varennes
about noon we saw the wide country
before us and the city nesting In the
valley. Farther up on the heights was
| Vauquois. Nothing could be seen of
any houses but through our field glasses
we could make out an enormous ash
heap. Shells fell there continuously
and we were frightened ut the pros
| pect of having to 20 to that spot.
| Scarcely had we crossed the heights
when some shells burst behind us. The
French artillery even singled out indi-
vidunls. While Vauquois was In their
| possession they could coordinate the
| entire nelghborhood. We understood
now why this ash heap had been con-
| tested for so bitterly.
We ran down hill till we came to
varennes. The southern section Of the
| town had been wrecked by shells and
fire. Many chimneys were all that was
left standing of whole rows OF
houses. Soldiers everywhere collected
scraps of metal which were transport
| ed to Germany. The church bells were
loaded on wagons and sent away. All
the copper, tin, brass and nickel which
could he fOund wns gathered
The next morning we went into the
trenches. We had to reach our posi-
ton before daybreak. for with daylight
the French kept all the approaches I'M
der fire. There was not much OF a
trench In vauquOls. All that could be
seen was a single stone pile. Literally,
there was not, In this town, one stone
left upon another. The ruins Of this
village had changed hands more
than fifteen times. When we arrived
one half of vauquois was In German
hands. The French were In possession
of the highest points from which they
sould overlook the country for many
miles.
In default of n trench we sought
cover behind the stones, for II was Inn
possible to dig trenches here, as the ar
tillery leveled everything. The soldiers
concealed themselves behind stone
walls and fred. Artillery Of all cali
Der covered these ruins. Amid all this
destruction lay an army of corpses.
mostly German.