The Lamar register., 1918-10-09
CHAPTER VIII.

Inc NalseTS commence OF Victory.
About twelve years ago | attended
the German military maneuvers at
Liegnitz, in Sllesla, having been In
Vited by some journalistic friends of
mine tn accompany them In the motor
allowed the press. The military repre-
Sentatives OF England, France, Amer
len and other countries were there
with the kaiSer's staff to witness the
display of Germany's military power.
Apparently they were very much i'm
pressed, for / heard afterwards that
one of the French officers who had
been present had written book In
which he said: with such AN army.
Germany could annex France in six
months :"
| happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
significant comment was:
six monthsi | should hope so. 1t
wouldn't take that longw
The confident belief that when Der
Tag"-'the dny''-finally arrived. Ger
many would crush her enemies and ac-
compllsh her object within a few
months ut the outside was held not
generally and their conduct when the
war broke out clearly disclosed 1t.
When Germany's man power was
modified. no one In Germany believed
1t would be very long before they
would all be back and every effort was
made to make their few weeks OF ac-
tive service ms little irksome as pos
sible. "Liebesgaben." gifts of love.
consisting OF clothing and food OF
every description, were forwarded to
them by their relatives and friends In
the most lavish manner. although, Of
course. at that time the German COM
mlssary was able to satisfy all the sol
dicrs' requirements.
one of my patients told me that she
Ind sent seventeen hundred pounds OF
sausages to one regiment within n
week. and when | asked her why she
had been so generous she replied that
her chauffeur was member OF the
regiment
The extent to which the country's
resources We're squandered in those
early months is evidenced by the fact
that the soldiers had such an excess
of nl-ftting wooden wearing APPAREL
that they used many Of the knitted ar
tlcles as earpieces and covers for their
horses. No one had the slightest idea
that the time might come when tie
whole nation would be clothed in pa
perl
At this late day II can hardly be
necessary to establish how thoroughly
prepared the Germans were for the
war, but an incident which occurred In
the early days Of the conflict may not
be out of plnce to show the self-satls-
fled and confident attitude which all
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at table In an
out-of-doOr cafe shortly after the war
began overheard one of several ladies'
who were passing remark: Look at
those officers sitting there drinking.
Why are they not at the front fight
ingY' one Of the officers got up and,
approaching the ladies', said: "Our
work was completed months ago. We
worked from early morning till late at
night on plans which our armies are
now carrying out. 1t is our time TO
rest"
The resistance that France would be
able TO put up was always very lightly
estimated, and If the Intervention OF
England was at all taken into cOnsid-
Grafton, the comparatively small army
she could place in the field was re-
garded as but drop in the bucket com
pared with the well-trained German
horde that was ready to sweep across
the border. How could England's 10000
-.
the hastily modified French armies re-
sist the thoroughly prepared, equipped
and well-disciplined German warriorsi
1t is really not to be wondered at
that the Germans firmly believed that
they would bring the allies to their
knees within a comparatively few
weeks and that the conquering Ger
man armies would celebrate Sedan
day. September 2, in Paris. What ac-
tually happened is, Of course. too well
known here to require recital. but !