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THE ALLIANCE HERALD, MAY 30, 1918
The Confessions of a
German Deserter
Written by a Private Officer
Who Participated in the
Ravaging and Pillaging of
Belgium.
(Continued from last week)
In the bnrn. Mttd served ns n Min
ts to the civil Inns, were thrown to
gether men and women, youths, ebll
Yen and old men. Many were wound
ed hy shell splinters nnd cartridges
ad others hnd suffered burns. Kvery
where was the most terrible misery ;
Sick mothers and hnlf-sturved Infants
fmt whom there wns no milk were
hilled to perish here ; old people died
from the excitement and fright of th
previous few days and Inst of nil men
And women In the prime of life slowly
died from wounds because there was
nobody to rnre for them.
A company ff Hessian reserve
Tory one n veteran, passed wlfb
bowed heads and tired feet. They must
tare had a very long march. Their of
floors tried to make them move more
lively Ttiey ordered that a song b
one hut the TIesslnns were not 1n the
saoed.
"Will you, sing, you pies?" cried no
Acer and the pitiful looking "pigs"
tried to obey this order. Faintly sound
Ad from the rank of the overtired
men "Deutschland, Deutschlnnd
Ueber Alles, Ueber Alles In Per Welt."
Dosplte their broken strength, their
ttrnl feet, disgusted and resentful,
these men sang their symphony of rra
-Germanism.
Several comrades who like mywlf
had watched this troop pass enme to 1 cleaned out. The
and train columns
if
17 - L
1 "
8ltting, Bitterly Crying, by the Debris
of Her L.-.te Home.
mo :ml an Id, "Let us go to the enmp
nd try la 1 i so that we might for
get nil this."
We were hungry and "ii the way
home caught several chickens. We
to them half-saw nnd then laid down
In the open and elept until four o'clock
In the morning when we hud t be
ready to march.
Our destination on this day n'M
Bnlppes. Before the march started the
following army order was read :
"Soldiers, his majesty the emperor,
our supreme war lord, thanks the sol
diers of ih" I'ourth army nnd sends to
them his full appreciation. You have
saved oar beloved Oermuny from the
Invasion of hostile hordes. We will not
rest until the last enemy lies on the
ground and before the leaves fall from
the trees ue slial1 return home vl--
torious. The enemy is in full retreat
and the Almighty Will bless our arms
further."
After this talk we save three cheers
assail, Ihlllg which had become routine
for us. And then we resumed our
mar. Ii We now had plenty of time
and opportunity to lltscuss the grati
tude ssprseeed by the snprsuui war
lord. We could not make out Just whnt
fatherland we had to defend so far in
France. One of the soldiers expressed
the opinion that the Lord had blessed
our arms, to which another replied :
"A religious man repenting such silly
sentiments is guilty of sacrilege, if he
epeaks seriously."
Everywhere, on the march to Sulp
pes. In the fields and in the ditches,
lay dead soldiers, most of them with
hideous-looking open wounds. Thou
sands of huge tiles swarmed on the
Corpses, partly decomposed, and civ
lng off s fearful stench. Among thSSM
corpses, unsheltered under a Ma ling
sun. were encamped watched fugl
tives because they arere forbidden the
nse of the roads while the armies need
ed them, which was. practically all the
time.
In the evening, after a ong march
we reached the town of Sulppes. Here
our captain told us we would find nu
merous frank-tlreuis. We were or
to bivouac. Instead of being aa-
signed quarters, and mi going imo tne
village were obliged to take nuns mid
cartridges with them, After a brief
rvst we entered the village in search of
food. Dead civilians lay in the middle
of the streets. They were Cltlsem of
the village. We could not learn the
reason for their having been shot. The
only answer to our Questions wns a
shrug of (he shoulder,
The village liself had not suffered
to any noticeable decree ns far us
destruction of buildings wns concerned,
hut never In the course of the war had
I seen a more complete Job of plunder
ing than had been done In BulppSS.
That we had to live and eat. Is true,
and as the Inhabitants and merchants
had flown there wit no opportunity to
pay for our BCCOBSltlOS, Therefore we
simply entered ir store, put on stock
ings, laundry, nnd left the old things,
then wont to another place, took what
ever food looked good to us, and then
proceeded to a wine oellnr, there to
seize ns much as our hearts desired.
The men of the ammunition column,
located In the village as well as the
sanitary soldiers and cavalry by the
hundreds, searched the houses and took
whatever they liked best. The finest
and largest business places In Sulppes
served a very large rural district sur
rnnndlng and therefore were stocked
up on almost everything. Within a
short time those places had been
munition drivers
carried nwuy old
pieces of silk, ladles' dresses, linens,
shoes, dress goods and every other ar
ticle Imaginable, and stored them nway
In their ammunition cases. They took
children's and women's shoes, nnd
everything else they could lay theh
1 hands Upon, although many of thes
' articles had to he thrown away shor
1 ly afterward. Later, when the Beta
post Wai developed and gave rcgulgt.
service, many of tbeso things were sent
home.
A large chocolate factory was robbed
Completely, and chocolate and candj
hi heaps were trampled in the ground.
Empty houses wore broken into nnd
wrecked, wine cellars cleaned out and
windows smashed, the latter being s
special pastime of the cavalrymen. Ai
we had to pass the night in the open,
we tried to Hud some quilts and en
tered u grocery store and a market
place. The store wns partly demob!
lahed, hut the apartment upstairs wai
as yet Intact with nil the rooms locked.
It was evident that a woman's hand
had Worked In thll house, for every- j
thing was ii, -at nnd cozy. But all this '
order was still surpassed by the ar
rangement In a large room, which n
parentl) had been Inhabited by a
young woman. We were almost
KShamed to enter the sanctuary. To i
our astonishment wa saw hanging on.
the wall opposite the door n picture
burned in wood and under It a dermal
verse: "Honor the women, they weave 1
a braid of heavenly roses in theti
earthly life." (Schiller). The OWnet
apparently was a young bride, for In
the wardrobe was n trousseau, tied
with neat blue ribbons, carefully put
away. All the wardrobe drawers hij
open. Nothing was touched here.
When WO Visited the same place tt
next morning, impelled by some Im
pulse, we found everything in that
house destroyed. Barbarians had gone
through this home, and with blttei
rttthleSSneSS had devastated every
thing, with every evidence of having
utterly cast off the ethics and stand
ards of civilized races.
The entire trousseau had boon torn
from the drawers and thrown partlj
an the floor. Pictures, photographs,
mirrors, everything was in pieces. The
three of us who had entered the roOBJ
clenched our fists with Impotent wrath
We received orders to remain In
Sulppes until further notice nnd th
next day witnessed the return of man
fugitives. They came In groat throogl
from the direction of Chalons-sur-Marne.
They found Instead of tin
peaceful homes they had left a wretch
ed and deserted ruin. A furniture
dealer returned to his store, as we
stood in front of his house. He broke
down when he viewed the remains of
his enterprise. Everything had beer
taken away. We approached the man
He was u .low nnd spoke Uermnn.
When he calmed down a little he told
us that Ills store had contained mer
chandise worth more than sink) frnncs.
"Hail the soldiers only taken what
they needed for themseh be ald
"I would he satisfied, for I did not ex
pect anything else, nut I never would
have believed of the (iermnns that
they would have destroyed everything.
Not even a cup and saucer were
left in this man's house. He bnd a
wife and five children, but had no idea
of what had become of them. And
there were manv more like him.
The following night, remain!. ig in
Sulppes. we were again obliged to camp
In the open "hers IIM It swarmed with
frank -tin in Su ii were our instruc-
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MICKIE SAYS
Devastated Everything.
Hons. In reality nothing was seen of
frnnk-tlreurs. hut by this method the
enmity toward the pie living in tlo
towns along our line of march was
maintained. The Cermnns practiced
the theory that the soldiers fight bet -,
tor and nre more amenable to dis
Ctpllne when filled with hatred of their ,
enemies.
The next day we were obliged to I
march to OhalonaaurHarne, This
Wag one of the hardest dnys we evei j
nnd. From the very beginning, as we
begun our Journey, the sun blazed I
down upon us. It Is about 3f kilome
ters from Suippes to Chnlons-sur-
II erne. This distance would not have
been so had, despite the hent ; we had
already mnde longer marches; but the
benutlful rond from Sulppes to Chal
ons goes with unending monotony with
out so much ns n curve or a bond to
the right or left. As fur ns we could
see It stretched before us like a long
white snake.
Many soldiers fainted or wore strick
en with sunstroke. They were picked
up by the Infirmary columns which fol
lowed. That the troops who hnd trav
ersed this rond before us hnd fared
worse wns evident from the mnny dead
(Iermnns who lay along the rond. The
commander feared that he could not
get the machine In motion again If It
was halted, and permitted to stretch
its weary limbs on the ground for a
brief rest. And so it crept along like
a snail. Only, Instead of having a
snail's shell on its back, there was a
leaden burden.
The monotony of the march wa
broken when we reached the enor
mous camp ut Chalons. This Is one
of the largest of the French army
camps. We snw Chalons from the dis
tnnce. As wa halted about an hour
later outside the city in an orchard.
without n single exception every man j
roll to the ground exhausted, l no nera
kitchens were soon brought up, but the
men were too tired to ont. We did eat
later and then wanted to go to town to
purchase some articles, pnrtlculnrly
tobacco, which we missed most. No
body was allowed to leave camp. Wo
were told that entering the city wns
strictly forbidden. Chalons hnd paid
a war contribution and therefore ni
one was permitted In the city.
We hetird the dull sounds of the
cannon In the distance nnd suspected
that our rest would be brief. The
rolling of gunfire continued to grow
stronger. Wo did not know then that
a fight hnd begun which wns destined
to become fatal to the (Iermnns,
The first dny's battle of the Marne
had begun I
CHAPTER VI.
At 12 o'clock, midnight sre werr
alarmed nml half an hour later were
on the march. The cool night nlr felt
good, nod despite our weariness, we
made rapid progress. Toward four
o'clock In the morning we arrived at
Cheppy. It hnd been completely plun
dered. We halted here for a brief
rest and watched preparations being
mnde for the execution of two fine
tircurs. They wore two little farmers
who hnd supposedly concealed 8
French machine gun with Its crew
from the Germans. The sentence was
executed in such a way that the peo
ple were shown who their real rulOfl
now were.
The little town of Pogny. located
midway between Clinlons-sur-Marn
and Vltry-le -Francois, fared no bet
ter than Cheppy, a fact which we dis
covered when we entered there at uln
o'clock.
We were now considerably nearei
the spot where the guns were roar
lng. and retiring of wounded and ttu
munition columns showed us that west
of Vitry-le-Francois, a terrible battU
raged. At four o'clock In the after
noon, we arrived at Vltry-le-Francolf
after a forced march. The city was
HI led with wounded, but the town It
self was not damaged. The bnttle must
have been going badly for the (Jerinam
because we were ordered Into a tloi
without being glean any ret. We won
within throe kilometers of the hatth
line, when we came within reach oi
hostile fire, a terrific hull .of shells tori
up every foot of ground. Thousand?
of corpses of (lerniaii soldiers indi
Bated at what enormous cost the (Ser
mans bad brought up nil available re
serves The French did every t lit m.
the could to prevent the (ienmin
from getting the reserves Into actloi
and Isjeeaased 'he artillery fire to un
heard of violence. It seemed Impos
slide for us to be aide to break thTOUgl
this Immure We Ml hundred ol
(To be continued)
eorroas is sooe fob.owm'
COSSES' a. JUN KN OtE ArV
bea-t 'enn oof en ELEVEN
NEMJ9' SUOSCftiPtiON fcrV
"Then The eoi-tor'll set
DOWN N' WRITE HALf A
COUJNSN fcfcOOf WHM VFNt
FElLEB THE OECEASEO VSUZ
AN HOVM EVERNBOOS NNlll
NMSS Mtrv
XOTH'K
Itognnllng rnclcnnc! Alleys
1 have appointed a special police
man to accompany Seanenger Sam
Rhelton on his clean up trips around
the city. Kvery person with a dirty
alley will he asked in a gentlemanly
way, to allow Mr. Shoton to clean the
alloy immediately. A refusal to have
lliis done will necessitate action by
the city officials, resulting in a fine
for failure to comply with health reg
ulations. Furthermose the alloys will
be inspected each week. Any dump
ing of refuse in alleys from now on
Will r. sult in I fine being taxed on
the offender.
W. B. ROtJSBY, Mayor.
wm
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