THE GERMAN FIRE BUGS

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15503, 13 November 1914, Page 4

THE GERMAN FIRE BUGS

MACHINE-MADE RUIN. ARMIES EQUIPPED WITH FIRELIGHTERS. "Not only , were hand bombs of vanous sizes and descriptions carried by the Germans for destroying property, but each soldier was supplied with a quantity or small black discs little bigger Uian a sixpenny piece." " I saw same of these discs, which had been taKen from German soldiers on the neid of battle. These were described to me as being composed of compressed benzine. Wnen lignted they burn brilliantly tor a fe*v minutes, and are suffi cient to start whatever fire is necessary after the explosion of the bomb." This further evidence of a. perfectly Organised system of wanton destruction by the German invaders is provided by Mr J. H. Whitehouse, M.P., who in September returned from a visit which he paid to Belgium with the object of ascertaining tho present condition and needs of the civilian population. "I was roeeived by the members of the Belgian Cabinet with the utmost courtesy," Mr Whitehouse writes. ''They gave me every possible facilitv for seeing their country, and their anxiety throughout was that I should have a,s full knowledge as possible of the conditions in order to give here an accurate report.

I do not think anyone here has realised the plight of the civilian popu lation in Belgium to-day, and I can only attempt to give any picture of this by describing some of my own experiences. On the morning of Saturday, September 26, I was informed that it would be possible for me to be taken as far a? Term on do, and we started at midday in two military cars, attended by a staff officer and others. We left Antwerp bv a temporary bridge across the Sc-hedt totlie south-west of the city, and I. was shown the nature of the defences around Antwerp; of these I dc rot propose to speak. 1 was also enabled to estimate something of the dahi ato which the Beleians had had to rn fi'<-t upon themselves in order to supplement the defences of their city. ANTWERP SACRIFICES MILLIONS "Hundreds of thousands of trees had been cut down, so that at points of the journey we had tho impression of pass, ing through a wilderness of roots. The trunks had all been removed, so as tc afford no cover to the enemy; all the houses had been blown up cr otherwise destroyed; and later we passed through country which had been flooded as a further measure of defence. The damage of these precautionary measurep alone amounted to about £10,000,000 sterling. "At _ Termonde we made a detailed inspection. I had read newspaper ac counts of the, destruction of Termonde, and I had seen photographs of houses or parts 6f'Streets showing the work of destruction; They had not conveyed tc niv mind any realisation of the horror of what had actually happened. I went through street after street, square after square, and I found that every lious< was entirely dostrojed, with all- its ! 'con tenta. '

"It was not the result of a bnmltfrd ment; it was systematic Id each house a separate Tidmb frail lieer placed, which had blown un the interior and had set fire to the contents. . All that remained in everv case were por t.ions of the ontor walls, -still r-onstantW' fallin<r, and. inside, the cindere of the contents: Not a shro-.I of furniture or of anything else remained. ' BLIND AMONG ME RUINS. "This slcrht continued in street pfter strpet tlp'o l !shout the entire extent of what had been a considerable town. Iti an indescribable influence upon the observer which no printed descriptor or even pictorial record "mild oive. i"fl"ence was increased by the uttpp S'lenca of the city, broken only hv th? Ronriri of the guns. Of tho oopnlftion T thonsc ,, + a. s<Mil T wns ■n-Tim-p +h n wrpf.V f ? tvhof 7-i,nd boon one oF the nv>st nf fJn+l-,,V mr ovs. 3 woman and be» frrOTied ntr,r\ii(T Tnin.c.. Tl'nv " wn +h" soTh b'v'ng creatures in the Tv-lf.t'* of the +o-^n. "Where a destroyed house' had obviously contained articles of value loot ing had taken place. In the ruins of what had been a jewellers' shoo tho re mains of the - afe were visible amidst the cinders. The part around the look had been Vown off and tho contents ob vionsV rifled. '"1 inquired what had become of the population. It was a question to which no direct reply could be given. They had fled in all directions. Some had reached Antwerp, but a great number were wandering about the country panic-stricken and starving, many were already dead. . . I had other op-1 portunities of seeing that what had hap I pened at Termonde was similar to what i had happened in other parts of Belgium under tlie military occupation of Ger many. UNEXAMPLED MISERY. "Conditions of unexampled misery have been set up for the civilian population throughout the occupied territory. Comparatively only a few refug ees have reached this country, the Belgians flocking into other towns and villages, 0 r flying to. points a little way across the Dutch frontier. "The whole life of the nation has been arrested ; the food supplies which would ordinrrily reach the civilian pop ulation are being taken by the German troops for their own nipport; the peasants and poor are without the necessar ies of life, and the conditions of starvation grow more acute every day. Even where, as in some cases hnnpens, there is .a. svroply of wheat available, the peasants are not allowed to use their wind mills owing to the. German fear that thev will send signals to the Belgian Arm.v- •. . "TVc are, therefore, face to face with a fact which has rarely, if ever, oc curred in the history of the world ; an entire nation in. a, state of famine'—,an<? that within half a: day's journey of ouif own shores. "It is necessary ! for me. to add that to the conditions of famine and home Inssness which exist on such a stupen dons scale there must be added one equally had—the mental pa.nic in which m",nv of the survivors remain. I iui how inevitable this- was whe" T saw and bprj-d" what thev had pansed 'tVor>Kli.. Eve-with of imimoeaeh -We described to* the sufferings of-'th'ii women and children at T/etre. fled frnm their hm-mmr houses cliuciriT to hiiphTndsi n»»4; fHfw»rg. wera nulled fr*v>n, tb<=-rr> and saw tliem shot a few yards away.*' I