The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-07
ORDERED TO SURPRISE LIEGE


 | Early on August travelled, with my horses, via Cologne, to Aix-ld- -Chapelle, which I reached on the same evening. l Under mobilization orders [ was ap- l pointed quartermaster general of the Second army, then commanded by Gen eral Von Buloy, with General Von Lauenstein as his chief of staff. I val I ued this position because of Liege, but otherwise it was not particularly at- l tractive.
 | Next I had to join General Von Elm mich, who had been given the task of l taking the fortress of Liege by sur I prise, the troops for this purpose be- l ing composed of some quickly mobiliz- ed mixed infantry brigades which had not been brought up to full strength l By this move it was intended to clear a way through Belgium for the army. | I took up my quarters in Aix-ia- 1 Chapelle at the Hotel Union.
 Early on August 3. General Won Elm mich arrived I had not previously
 met this distinguished soldier, but l from that time onward I cherished a 1, lasted until the day of his death. His chief of staff was Col, Count Won Lambdorff, brilliant officer, who won | great distinction at Liege and else ! where.
 Early on August thA advance over | the Belgian frontier began. while in Berlin the Reichstag, in a patriotic demonstration, voted it's support to the government, and the party leaders after the speech from the throne had | been read, vociferously proclaimed their l unconditional allegiance to the Kaiser, i come what might The same day had my first experience of fighting in an engagement near Wise, close to the | Dutch frontier.
 | hot pnlc ho6 l long been prepared for our advance ! The roads had been systematically de- stroyed and Darricaded, showing that a i great deal of work had been done be- l forehand. No such obstacles could be found on the southwest frontier of Bel gium. Why had Belgium not taken | similar precautions against France? l Gn the pears preceding the war Ger many had built a series of strategic 1 railways, with elaborate "railheads' or unloading stations to Aix-la- -Chapelle l and other points facing the Belgian frontier, and so thus had greatly alarmed the people and military au' thorities of Belgium.)
 The question as to whether we coule secure the bridges at Wise intact was one of special importance. I went or to visit won der Marwitz's cavalry which was then on it's way to the town but was able to advance only slowly | because one barricade after anothel l barred the way. At my request i! !cyclist company was sent to reconnoi- Itre After short while a cyclist re turned with the news that the com pany had entered Wise and had beer completely annhilated.
 went with two more men to see fol myself, and to my joy found the com pany intact with the exception of tho
 leader, who had been badly wounded by a shot fired from the opposite bank of the Mouse. This little episode was useful to me later on, for it fought me to be more skeptical of such canards or, as they were subsequently, called Etappen rumors.
 The beautiful Mouse brides had bear destroyed; Belgium was ready for war
 was in Nerve the same evening, my first headquarters on enemy soil. We ! spent the night at an inn opposite the station The whole town was intact and we went to bed with quiet mind During the night I was awakened bS brisk firing, some of which was di' rected on our house. The franctireul warfare in Belgium had begun. II broke out everywhere the next day
 and it was this sort of thing whicf l aroused that intense bitterness tha during those first years characterized the war on the western front in con trast to the feeling prevailing in th' east.
 The Belgian government took ls | grave responsibility upon itself. l had systematically organized civilian warfare The Garde Civiaue, which I the days of peace had it's own arm
 and special uniforms, were able to ap
 pear sometimes in one sarb and some
 times in another. The Belgian soldier
 must also have had special civila'
 suit in their knapsacks at the com
 mencement of the war. In the trenche
 near Fort Barchon. to the northeast o
 I.iege, l myself saw uniforms waicl
 had been left behind by soldiers wh'
 had fought there.
 Such action was not in keeping witl
 the usaEes of war; our troops canno
 be blamed if. they took the sternes
 measures to suppress it. It k true tha
 innocent persons may have had to suf fer, but the story of "BelGian Atrocities
 are nothing but clever. elaborate am
 widely advertised legends. and the Bel
 gian government can alone be bcld re spOnsfble.
 For my part, I had taken the fiel'
 with chiyalrous and humane concep tions of warfare. This frane-tireu warfare was bound to disgust any sol dier: it caused me personally bitter dis lillusionment. J GERMAN TROOPS NERVOUS The ad lance brigades had. indeed. ;