AVENUE OF DEATH.

North Otago Times, Volume C, Issue 13170, 7 October 1914, Page 7

AVENUE OF DEATH.

, »■»■■■ ■' 'I H , .. HORRORSv OF: BeLgM'^ - I BATTLEFIELD., '•■ FALLEN. BURIED BY THE. .. THOUSAND, ' ; ' " I i BRUSSELS,"August 17. (Noon), Sitting in Brussels,in 1 conditions al-i most normal, it'is diflieult' to reafibe | >\bat war is, It is still more diftioult.to bring home to the British people wlint, (lofpiiiling ono's country means, . and what is the cost, -wrote Alfred Stem}, special correspondent of tlio "Express." . ( . ■ » l.linve just reWued from visiting the Imttlelields. On Wednesday and Thursday I readied the extreme outposts of the Belgian nimy, \ilicie the Jiring of the patiols is almost incessant. But'it is not at the outposts that'war seems real. It is on the battlefields wherein (old blood one sees the aftermath at ,wnr that the nation makes up its ac-' counts and balances the daily petty cash expenditure ofliuinaii blood. - The actual outpost fighting hns ssouiothing of the theatrical. Tlicic is something exciting in the sudden coniiifg'into view of mounted men on a peaceful stretch of load. Then a few sharp reports, dead men, and frightened horses, all with kinematpgraphic: rapidity. ..One forgets to lie. deeply affected. . • Heartrending Scenes., ;

In actual battle also there is a rush of nerve exhilaration, but io visit the stricken;field aftowards, and, see (he 'sordid ■.details'of'hiding awayHhose who lia\ie-paid the cost of tin emperor's ambition or a diplomat's folly is to have the ; heart-strings tortured.. ; ... All aloug.tlic road the villagers were pursuing their UHiml vocations 'quite •calmly; That is one of'the'greal'se'prets of ■ Belgian,' success—llicir ' absolute strength, and self-detachment. Near Liege during these great days'! saw a farjner placidly hiilkiiig hia cows in a field furrowed every few mopients-by, shells, . "'. .

I The attitude of the German troops rej minds me of,-the saying-of-an; eminent j admiral during the Hague conference relative to the rules of war at sea:—- ■-; 'fLet them make them as strict as | they like, Every, admiral .knows lie will ' forget they exist if they threaten in any wav to endanger liia success in war, ./'!lf the.admiral, succeeds he .has passed beyond criticism, If he fails, he will be dead and equally unaffected," ■;' Germany's attitude of neck or nothing is, frankly, not pretty. This is the. 1 seamiest aide of war.'(totted "villager stained "with the blood of peasants, and echoing to the sobs of women and children, are not a- pretty background to the stage on which the Germany of Wagiierand the great philosophers 13 now fighting an -unjust war, May God grant that England may never experience the like, A Placid Population. A carabineer said to me:— "When you see peasants working in ,the fields yon may safely asßiima that no German's are about, Otherwise, beware!" He knows what lie is talking about, beiug one of six survivors of a company, of 160 cyclists who v met and stemmed the Prussian, attack -during ten' long hours, At last I reached Diest, a little town which fell into German hands and wa3 evacuated immediately after. The population was placid, but highly strung, pursuing.it 3 ordinary vocations, Passing through the,town 1 soon enme on the first •and most impressive of all battle scenes in the little village of Zeleh, where the German cavalry made a desperate charge, l'ii seeking lb-reach Diest'they fell on a barricade of- fallen trees at the end of a straight avenue, and perished. Tgnorantly or foolishly confident, they charged in masses down jtliifi ten-yard-wide road, bordered 'by trees and ditches, into the methodical, reasoned, and concentrated tire from thj barricade and the roofs of the neigh' boiiring bouses which had been roughly loopholed. What a spectacle the horsemen made, led by the hussars of Par. zig with their skull and crossboned cups, die trade mark of the modern pirates," Vista of the Dead. Those who took part in the defence, speak with emotion mingled with pride of the victory. Looking down the avenue/through' a gap in the barricade one saw a shocking vista of dead horses, while the last-corpses of German soldiers were being collected. After the attack men anil .horses were piled pell-mell down that straight-road, uhlans, cuirassiers, hussars from! Danzig, ollicers and men nil cut down ruthlessly, ami none nearer to the .barrier thnii twenty' yards. When I arrived there were still burying parties at'their work, and the soldiers were becoming expert after some three thousand had been handled. ■'

' .Kverytliiiig in (he way of arms■ or useful equipment was v removed, ami these grim, stiff, erstwliile humans wero buried in a Hliirt and trotlsors side by side in a shallow grave, Home seeminji to resist when possible: in a last stiff effort of class, pride, Only two varda distant were horses in a still shallower grave, but covered witlr quicklime, • 'Hiil not the Kaiser say, "To the last breath of man and horse"} War's Horrors. All the these Herman'dead' are little sqtiare wooden boards on'which are a few dry details. On the last, hearing the epitaph "Crab (Grave) 21 Uhlans" with,ilia date, an oflhw had added in poiieil the words "Wurtemburg Regiment." And that was all. The head of the grave-diggiii'' pnYty, requisitioned from gathering in the peaceful corn, said grimly that by this their friends could come'later anJ liinl the bodies! • The odour from the horses still encumbering the road was terrible, and the awful mass of human debris brought home an impression of war from which there was no eseape, 'die'sight amid peaceful fields was too much of a' contrast.

Herejwl there were broken lances, helmets, ami lnnce pennants, now bloodstained rags, ' . ■ .'• . Threading its way among bodies of horses, as in 1 happjer times it might seek to wiu a prize at some gvmkhanu, my motor car arrived at Haeleu, where the fight;was thickest. Here the Germans strove to cross the river, and here they lost three-fifths of their strength. The .town is desolate. Some buildings a.re in. miuaj there is blood in the streets and on the thresholds everywhere, but who really notices blood now? Curiously enough, blood-stained bandages impress more than pools of blood. '■■..'■■ I ; picked up.a khaki,collar at Zeleii, and in it was sewn the name qf.Unterofficer Struebiug, a blo'pd-atained memento of : a'bob, a father, a brother who will never return'from the war, and who will never bejenown to.have died., It Is, blood-stained aud useless -now; nil the printed facts on it-the regimental number and the dates—Unter • ofltzier Struebing has no use for them." / ' . rhaye just helped to bury him, and ' in the.words of a graye-dlgger, "Ho was-very,dead." ' '" . -V r 'V The Belgian troops holding the line.' wer'o M\ of confldeuco, and they were right, .because thoywere not the, aggressors'. ,Tho German , troopers- 'were right because.they obeyed'orders,' as they had been taught to do. But thas : e who w,ere wrong arc not yet vorvdead though-,men /have died \\ thousaiidi)! Mpro,tlmn;3oQo ;i<lon.tiflea.tlQ« plates'of ■: Germans, were, collected, and in 'tW twilight, 'likes, an open ..wound. ' the - wejue of through MiCQptryglde^ i And..tMß-is - WB i,v-