The Washington times., 1919-01-19
How France Was Looted IGpss Treasures
By the Countess de Gaza- Pascal
Copyright, 1913, BY Star Co.
(Continued from last Sunday.)
CHAPTER TX

AM everyone in America has read or heard from
soldiers who have come back from the fighting front
of that General Schonmann, of the Uhlans who
has been called the "Wild Beast of Ardenne''
1t is said of Won Schonmann that he told his Uhlan
regiment when he was its colonel in the days before
the war:
t is part of the soldiers duty prepare himself to
withstand the dictates of humanity in case of war; He
must never know pity; he must feel gentle. The
war that is coming will require of STEEL not flesh"
1t is this precept that Schonmann obeyed when,
brigadier- general, he ordered the women in the
Ardenne mutiated lesson respect for the soldiers
of Prussia"
Late in 1916 Schonmann, now general of corps,
replaced Won Beseler commanding general in the Cam
brai theatre of activities. In his Fourth Army Corps
which once was commanded by Bulow, was division
OF his faithful UhlaRs, These cavalrymen down
from Belgium. Behind them they left trail of atrocities
and rapine unequaed in the history of the war;
And Won Schonmann, who became an unwelcome
guest IN my chateau just outside Epnoy, proud of
his Uhlans because of this record
One of his first orders that l. his hostess should
inform my servants that they to leave the
premises OF the chateau without the permission of his
active aide. When protested that this restriction had
never been placed upon and my household, he said:
There are many laxities which have become customs
which must be erased This part of France must be
taught what is and what it means to defy the mill
tary might of Germany
From that time forward until General Won Schonmann
transferred who had been looked upon as one of
the representatives of old France in district because
OF my husbands ancestry, was not allowed to leave my
front gate without first asking whatever aide of the gen
erals happened to be duty that day for permission
60 abroad
except that the inhabitants were allowed to go abroad
during the daylight hours. But they not allowed
to more than two miles from their homes If any were
caught violating these orders they arrested and
into penal servitude-which meant either deportation
into Germany labor in the fields under private soldiers
taskmasters
During the Fall of 1916, everyone will remember
there attempt upon the part of the Germans to
break through the British lines beyond Cambria There
was not the same preparation that made in 1917 for
the big drive Paris but General Won Schonmann
convinced Crown Prince Rupprecht then in command of
the Third Army, which operated in that sector that
effort to get through toward the Channel ports might be
successful The effort failed the history of the war
tells US, but the Germans did take large number of
prisoners. Opposed to the division which occupied the
line directly behind Cambria the Scottish division
These killed soldiers fought valantly and held their
ground, but thousands of them captured
There time when the facilities for herding
these prisoners at the Cambria base taxed to the
utmost. report made to General Won Schonmann
that prisoners taken that sector must be distributed
elsewhere transportation of troops bound to the front
would be interfered with.
The exact nature of this report or if it embodied any
suggestion the disposal of these prisoners
say from personal knowledge My first intimaton of its
being received by Schonmann's staff a
ton regarding it that overheard night when the
general and his officers fingered the dinner table over
their coffee. At such times these many important
phases OF the war in neghbOrhOOd frankly dis
cussed.
General Won Schonmann mentioned the complaint that
had of the congestion of prisoners at Cambria.
Major Forstner, who Captain Forstner, already is
known for his bayoneng of girls and young in
Belgium and who was General Won Schonnann s chief
of the commssary staff spoke of the order issued by
General Stenger early in 1915 the Eighty Brigade
of the Ninth Army Corps, of which he then CON-
mander regarding the disposition of prisoners taken in
battle.
SIT seems to me- general heard Major Forstner
say, "this is time when might very well adopt this