New Britain herald., 1919-11-01
By FIR MAXWELL.
CCI1nanS) )

Copyright By Frederick MaXwelD. Through the representative of the Belgian government secretly installed m Brussels, 1 received, in the middle Of 1918. a request that 1 should ar range as far as possible for compe- tent officers and men whom I aided to escape from the Germans to re- main hehind the German lines for the purpose of picking Up what informa- ton they could about the dispositions of the Germans to cover their re- treat from Flanders and to report their observations to the British head quarters through the air couriers who were then passing between diff ferent parts of Belgium and the AL lied lines.
 We got to work at once on this proposal, and in few weeks time we mad the country overrun with Brit ish and French officers and men who knew how to make use of their eyes and ears. So thoroughly was the work done by these men in co-opera- tlon with the aerial couriers that be- fore long there was hardly a move l ment of the enemy that was not re- ported within a few hours to the AL lied headquarters.
 For instance, it was a released British officer who was the first to discover the German evacuation of the Blenders coast, and less than an hour after the first German moved out of Ieebrugge the information had been given to an airman who was speeding on his way to headquarters with this news
 It was the intention of the Germans to carry out the evacuation by slow stages extending over three months, and had the original plans been ad- hered to, the Flanders coast would not have been free until the end of December. As it was, the timely dis cOVery of the German plans forced them to expedite the evacuation, and it also compelled them to leave be- hind great quantities of stores that they had intended to take away. It was not merely that the Brit
 ish fleet was mena cling the garrison from the seas, and there was daily
 expectation of a landing. The Allies
 concentrated a powerful aerial force
 along the railways and roads, by
 which the Germans were carrying out
 the evacuation, and these airmen, who
 were in possession of the most ac-
 curate information. were able to
 harass the enemy in such a fashion
 that all idea of orderly and systema-
 tic withdrawal had to be abandoned. I was an eyewitness of one stage of that withdrawal about the time when I was working in the Cambrai region. I had gone to Bruges osten- sibly in connection with the work of feeding the civil population. When I got there I found the whole town in an uproar. Allied airmen were over the railway station, and num- Der of bombs had been dropped, caus- ing fires, and wrecking a number of trains that had been passing through the station on their way towards Germany.
 Panic-Strickcn Troops.
 The roads leading into and out of the town were filtered with wreck age, and long lines of motor lorries were held up, the drivers having
 abandoned their charge in face of the
 persistent attacks of the Allied air
 men. Panic had seized the troops, who had been marching in to entrain for other parts of the front. and all sem blance of order had been aban- doned.
 The soldiers had broken ranks, and
 were in hiding wherever they could
 get the appearance of shelter. Large numbers had been killed by the bombs, and when the Allied airmen came low and used machine guns the panic and slaughter became worse than ever. I saw a battalion of Ger
 man infantry on the march. They had just reached the cross roads be- tween Bruges and Ghent, when the Allied airmen arrived. The men were terror-stricken at the sight of the l airplanes and before they could l scamper for shelter the bombs were l dropping in quick succession, and the ground was thickly carpeted with 1 dead and dying.
 One German officer who sought l safety in the doorway beside me ex- ] claimed in an excess of terror, What
 is the use of going on? Only death 1 awaits us The more British and 1 French we defeat the more there seem l to be of them. Germany ought to
 have given up the struggle long ago. 1 We cannot fight world.''
 1 The men under him were equally 1 depressed, and refused to be rallied when their officer in half-hearted l fashion tried to reform the ranks, I l saw the Germans break away, and scamper across the fields in terror l The airplanes were then flying very l low, and the machine guns were being l used pitilessly. Great gaps were cut i in the ranks of the German infantry. I saw about half a battalion of the l Germans march along the road until l they were attacked by two airmen l with their machine guns One of the l airmen was Major Mannock, who was l killed only 8 few days later. These l airmen flew so low over the Germans ] that they could have reached out 1 their hands, and touched the heads 1 of the Germans. They sprayed the half-column of Huns with bullets un-