The Land of Deepening Shadow - Germany-at-War | Page 6

Scheldt,
How those people discussed the terms of the coming early peace, terms
which were not by any means easy! Berlin certainly had its thumbs
turned down on the rest of Europe.
With two other Americans I sat with a group of prosperous Berliners in
their luxurious club. Waiters moved noiselessly over costly rugs and
glasses clinked, while these men seriously discussed the probable terms
Germany would soon impose on a conquered continent. Belgium would,
of course, be incorporated into the German Empire, and Antwerp
would be the chief outlet for Germany's commerce--and how that
commerce would soon boom at the expense of Great Britain! France
would now have an opportunity to develop her socialistic experiments,
as she would be permitted to maintain only a very small army. The
mistake of 1870 must not be repeated. This time there would be no

paltry levy of five billion francs. A great German Empire would rise on
the ruins of the British. Commercial gain was the theme. I did not
gather from the conversation that anybody but Germany would be a
party to the peace.
A man in close touch with things military entered at midnight. His eyes
danced as he gave us new information about Antwerp. Clearly the city
was doomed.
I did not sleep that night. I packed. Next evening I was in Holland. I
saw a big story, hired a car, picked up a Times courier, and, after
"fixing" things with the Dutch guards, dashed for Antwerp. The long
story of a retreat with the rearguard of the Belgian Army has no place
here. But there were scenes which contrasted with the boasting,
confident, joyous capital I had left. Belgian horses drawing dejected
families, weeping on their household goods, other families with
everything they had saved bundled in a tablecloth or a handkerchief.
Some had their belongings tied on a bicycle, others trundled
wheel-barrows. Valuable draught dogs, harnessed, but drawing no cart,
were led by their masters, while other dogs that nobody thought of just
followed along. And tear-drenched faces everywhere. Back in
Bergen-op-Zoom and Putten I had seen chalk writing on brick walls
saying that members of certain families had gone that way and would
wait in certain designated places for other members who chanced to
pass. On the road, now dark, and fringed with pines, I saw a faint light
flicker. A group passed, four very old women tottering after a very old
man, he holding a candle before him to light the way.
As I jotted down these things and handed them to my courier I thought
of the happy faces back in Berlin, of jubilant crowds dashing from
restaurants and cafes as each newspaper edition was shouted out, and I
knew that the men in the luxurious club were figuring out to what
extent they could mulct Belgium.
I pressed on in the dark and joined the Belgian army and the British
Naval Brigade falling back before the Germans. I came upon an
American, now captain of a Belgian company. "It's a damn shame, and
I hate to admit it," he said, "but the Allies are done for." That is the way

it looked to us in the black hours of the retreat.
Soldiers were walking in their sleep. Some sank, too exhausted to
continue. An English sailor, a tireless young giant, trudged on mile
after mile with a Belgian soldier on his back. Both the Belgian's feet
had been shot off and tightly bound handkerchiefs failed to check the
crimson trail.
London and Paris were gloomy, but Berlin was basking in the bright
morning sunshine of the war.
Although the fronts were locked during the winter, the German
authorities had good reason to feel optimistic about the coming spring
campaign. They knew that they had increased their munition output
enormously, and their spies told them that Russia had practically run
out of ammunition, while England had not yet awakened to the
realisation that this is a war of shells.
The public saw the result in the spring. The armies of the Tsar fell back
all along the line, while in Germany the flags were waving and the bells
of victory were pealing.
All through this there was unity in Germany, a unity that the Germans
felt and gloried in. "No other nation acts as one man in this wonderful
time as do we Germans," they told the stranger again and again. Unity
and Germany became synonymous in my mind.
Love of country and bitterness against the enemy are intensified in a
nation going to war. It is something more than this, however, which has
imbued and sustained the flaming spirit of Germany during this war. In
July, 1914, the Government deliberately set out to overcome two great
forces. The first was the growing section of her