The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-08-28

the great wheels OF the wagons
trimmed with caterpillar tracks; OF
derlies and messengers, on foot
horseback and motorcycles speedin.
on errands.
, Bordering the roads are huts ant
barracks and tents, hidden in th'
woods when possible, camoufaget
when in the open. Here's a compan.
at mess. Other men are lounging un
der trees and behind embankments
Some of the villages are intact, Others
seriously damaged. A few miles be
hind the immediate front, often with
in the shelled area, peasants are har
vesting their hay crop. Here chill
dren play about the streets of thu
villages as if nothing unusual wal
liable to happen. i saw dozen O
them investigating a hole in thu
ground six feet deep made by shell
from long distance gun. The shell
had struck an hour before.
\ Air Adventures g..
We were crawling along the edge
of wood in a Ford car when sud
denly we heard the purr of an air
plane directly overhead. 1t came fut
tering over the tops Of the trees like
a wounded bird. The driver wa:
making strenuous efforts to keep the
nose of the machine in the air ant
to send it on and up. but finding thl:
impossible he undertook to land ii
the field just beyond, where he hal
fell, the nose of his machine striking
into soft bank. The propeller wa:
demolished. When within a few fee
of the ground the driver jumped
struck the ground unharmed ant
scudded for the timber. We saw i
was French machine, driven by ar
American. We called to him in Eng
lish. He turned and came back, his
face radiant. Il thought l was land
ing across the German lines," he ex
planned, "and didn't want to be cap
tured." He was out of gasoline. He
belonged to the sector north of us ano
had lost his way.
Just after arriving at the rest camI
that afternoon squad Of boys came
in from the front trench, a thousand
yards away, carrying dead German
on a stretcher and bringing along an
other one who had saved himself ey
throwing up his hands and crying
"kamerad." The United States chap
lain was sent for and the remains Of
the German, after attention by 9
couple of young doctors, was carried
to the cemetery nearby. A group OF
our soldier boys stood about while the
chaplain read passage from the
scriptures and pronounced simple
burial service. Then turning to foul
old German men, ais many women ano
a number of children who had fol
lowed from the village 1--WE were or
German soil) the chaplain, speaking
in German told them we had bur1ec
this man with the same ceremony Wt
buried our own sd iefs that aftel
death there was mo- such things as
German, a Frenchman, or an Ameri
can; that we would mark the grave
and after the war was over and this
dead mans folks came looking fol
the grave they should point it out and
tell them we gave him a christian
burial. There were tears in the ole
women's eyes as the chaplain fin
ished. Then we raised across made
of white boards over the grave ano
inscribed on it the wordsgfound on the
Germans identification tag. They
were:
karl BAER
Frankfort-on-the-Ma
Schwanheimer Street 81
19-7-1SS9. l.. l. R., 81
The figures showed the date of the
mans birth-July 10, 1889. The cap
ital letters indicated his command
Landwehr Infantry, Regiment 81.
On German Territory.
We we're on German territory, 8
strip captured by the French in theil
onrush Immediately war was declared
Later | talked with one of the old Ger
mans who had stood at the grave. He
was 70 years old-23 when the Ger
mans took this land from France, ant
was then in the French army. He
had lived in this village all his life
Up to the war of 1870 he and his
relatives were citizens of France ano
had spoken the French language. Now
they speak the German language. He
is type OF the thousands of Euro
peans who are handed about from
one sovereignty to another without
their consent. | tried to determine
whether he Is pro-French or pro-Ger
man, but failed, concluding that he
was diplomat enough not to commit
himself. He declared he was glad the
Americans had come, "for," he said
now our homes are safe!" What 8
tribute to our country!
Three times during his life this man
has lived under a different sover
egnty-frst French, then German
and now France again. And evidently
now he is so uncertain as to what the
morrow will bring forth that he is
afraid to prefer one over the other.
Prefer the French.
Other natives, however, are not sc
timid and unhesitatingly many ol
them express loyalty to France. They
declare the French will treat them as
equals, whereas the Germans drive
them, police their villages and towns
appoint officers to tax and govern
them, and give them no representa-
ton in the reichstag. They say thai
France would permit them to gov
ern themselves and permit them tc
participate in the government.
Not every one, however, is pro
French, as evidenced by a nasty trick
played on company of our boys. Re
turning from the trenches to theil
barracks one morning they found
their building smeared with fresh COW
dung. Their much needed rest time