New Britain herald., 1919-10-25
By FREDERICK MAXWELIA lCopyrlght, by Frederick Maxwell

INepreSSlVe Tn the extreme were the measures taken by the Germans dur Ing the period extending from Feb ruary Of last year down to the sign ing of the armistice
 The enemy realized then that the years of suffering borne patiently by the Belglans were bearing fruit, and that those people were quietly pre- parlng for the day when their re- Vense would come as the German 3hold on Belgium relaxed It was in the hope of counterng this move &ment by establishing ;t greater reign Hof terror throughout the occupied ter rltory that the Gelmans took the #courso they did.
 When it was decided to evacuate Occupied towns or villages, the order (& was given that the residents were not to appear in the streets, until they got special permission from the German authorities, and as no food was pro- vided for them this meant that the &people were left to starve.
 In the same way, when German troops were being massed in Belgium before the great attack of March 21, the civilians were ordered on Febru- ary 2 to remain indoors during cer- tain periods of the day-periOds Se- iGCl6Q LOT Llc pdSSaS6 Ol tue troops. All of the soldiers sent through Brus- se1s were new men, who had been in garrison in different parts of Ger many, with the exception of a few units made up of men who had been called back to the army after being discharged in consequence of wounds sustained earlier Ill the war.
 I mixed very freely with the Ger man soldiers at that time, for, though T had many close slaves when help ing Allied prisoners to escape, my Belgian nationality was never Ques- tioned, and no one identified me with the man whose association with es- caping prisoners had led to the offer of a reward for his capture. I found that the Germans were very despond- ent about the outlook.
 One man said to me, "It is folly. We are being sent to death. The All lies are too strong for us. We can not hope to prevail
 German officers at that time were hardly less pessimistic, but some of them counted on catching the British mapping. One officer of the German army with whom I talked when he came to see me in Brussels in March of last year about the billeting of fresh troops was a Major --, an AL satian, and q relative of d French office.
 The major was typically German and had the fixed idea that his rela- tive had brought disgrace on the name by siding against Germany. When I suggested to him that the world was sick of the war the major replied:
 "Yes, but it will soon end. The British are going to be surprised and beaten badly. Then we can deaI with the degenerate French. As for the Americans, they don't count. The British are certain that the talk of an offensive from our side is bluff, and they will be bluffed badly, for they are not taking precautions "
 That was typical of the thought oi the German officers at that time, anC fancy that the Germans must have tried at one time to make the British really believe that their talk of ar offensive was bluff in order to Hull the British and French into false security
 German Nerves.
 German nervousness lest the Al lies should learn of what was goine on behind the lines became more in tense every day, and by the summc of last year the German authoritie suffered very badly from nerves l was known or suspected that air craft were landing trained intelli gence officers, and it was knOWV als that escaping prisoners were takin back valuable information. There fore, the guards got instruction that they were to fire at once on an prisoners attempting to escape in tn streets of Brussels, even though was we'll known that crowds of inno cent people were in the street to SC these prisoners pass through. Tn German reply to this point was tha people had no right to be in tn streets, and that if they appeare there they must tako the conse quenCes.
 Regulations relating to aircraft be came more stringent and Germa acropIancs were required to ansWe sienals from the anti-aircraft gu stations around Brussels. Aeroplane passing over the city were fired o unless they observed the instruction Issued to them, and it was a cOmmo occurrence to find the guns suddenl open fire on apparently innocent aero planes overhead. Showers of shrap nel fell in the streets on such occa sions, and many innocent passcrs-b were badly injured. The German gave them scant sympathy sayin that if they wished to escape sue dangers they should either remain in doors or appeal to the British an French to stop sending spies by aero plane.
 Outside Brussels, as I have alread stated, the practice was not only | fire on prisoners attempting to es cape, but where rescue was suspecte