THE GERMAN ARMY'S FORCED MARCHES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2245, 3 September 1914, Page 5

THE GERMAN ARMY'S FORCED MARCHES

REMARKABLE ORGANISATION MEN SLAVES TO ROUTINE & OFFICIAL TERRORISM (Rec. September 2, 11.15 p.m.) London, September 2, morning. The "Daily Telegraph's" Brussel's correspondent, reviewing the passage of a quarter of a. million German troops through the Belgian capital, insists on the remarkable organisation, of every department of the array. Each company had a travelling stove, and the fire was never allowed to go out so that there was always something hot for the troops. He declares that only hot coffee and soup keep the men going on. the forced marches. Aeroplanes and airships led each march, directing the movements of the troops at night time by means of various coloured stars. The forced marches of thirty miles a, day lasted for six days. ' The men sleep as they walk and fall exhausted into ditches by the wayside. When ceen by the non-commissioned officers the latter kick them until they wake, prod them with bayonets, and curse with unrepeatable oaths. Then they give them hot coffee or soup, replacing them in the broken ranks like tin soldiers upset in the'nursery. The human element does not count in this army of men, who are slaves to routine and the • terrorism or their officers.