An Open Letter to Sir Arthur Doyle, From James O´donnell Bennett (Classic Reprint)
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| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Bennett, Bennett) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from An Open Letter to Sir Arthur Doyle, From James O´donnell Bennett That was four hours after the entry began. On the following Saturday, August 23rd, I started on a trip that took me in the wake of German columns as far south as Beaumont. On Saturday I was far in the rear of the troops and in towns which the Germans had not yet garrisoned. At Nivelles the party of which I was a member visited for two hours with the townspeople and some peasants who had come in from the country-side. No outrages were reported. Half the next day we went on foot through a dozen Belgian villages and learned of no atrocities. The rest of the day our party marched alongside a German baggage train and saw Belgian women, apparently unterrified, giving cups of water to German soldiers. It is only fair to suppose, however, that they had been ordered to do that. In confectioners shops we saw German soldiers civilly asking for chocolate and scrupulously paying, in marks and pfennigs, the price demanded. On Tuesday we were compelled to rest all day at an inn in the Belgian town of Binche because our feet were badly blistered from unaccustomed marching. We moved freely among the population, making small purchases of equipment and larger ones of horse, dogcart, and bicycles. A German baggage train or two passed through the town but no German soldier hindered our movements. In fact we appeared to be identified by the Germans with the Belgian population, and they let us alone. The next day we rode and marched by ourselves through many Belgian villages and towns. We heard stories of unprovoked atrocities when we visited with the inhabitants but always it was "in the next village, messieurs." Arriving at the next village we received the same assurance, and so on all day. Finally a Belgian burgomaster told us that he had been investigating the reports for two days and had come to believe that they were frantic inventions. Of the cruel signs of war we saw much and of the summary execution of franctireurs we heard something and we heard it from Belgians. That evening we caught up with a German column at Beaumont and we were placed under surveillance by German officers. The next day surveillance became arrest, and on that day (Thursday) and on Friday and Saturday we had, of course, no opportunity to learn from Belgians how they had been treated or mistreated. But we did have ample opportunity to observe how the German soldiers behaved themselves. We found their conduct admirable. Even to five men whom they had gathered in as suspected spies they were considerate. They did not bully us but shared with us their food and drink. On Friday night they put us on a train with scores of French prisoners of war bound for Cologne, depositing us at Aachen and seeming right glad to be rid of us. In Aachen we were under surveillance for three or four days by the civil police and then ceased to be objects of either suspicion or interest. The town being convenient to the Holland border where we could mail our letters to America, we made it our headquarters for nearly two months. During that period I made two trips to scenes of German military operations in France, each time under escort of German officers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
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