DISILLUSIONMENT AND BITTERNESS IN BERLIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15716, 17 September 1914, Page 8

DISILLUSIONMENT AND BITTERNESS IN BERLIN.

TRAIN LOADS OF WOUNDED TELL THEIR STORY. FRANTIC APPEALS FOR A NATIONAL LOAN. Copenhagen, September 15. Letters from Berlin show that a startling change and disillusionment began with the reverse of the Außtrians at Lemberg, followed by the hurrying of an army corps to stiffen the wavering line of Austrian defence. Next came the general staff's confession that General von Kluck's wing had been turned. Berlin newspapers attempted to discount the reverse by long stories of the enormous total of prisoners in German hands, but trainloads of wounded and long processions of ambulances to hospitals told another story, while many staying at home received back unopened letters sent to relatives at the front. In red ink across the face of the envelope appears the pregnant word " Gefallen " (dead). The German press complains that unemployment is increasing because the French and Russian prisoners are being made to work on the railways and roads and in the fields. The German newspapers also express disgust at their "unnatural" women for treating French and Russian prisoners with kindness. London advices state that the German Government, realising that little help is probable from neutral countries, is making frantic appeals for a national loan, promising special rewards from the allies' war indemnity.