GERMANS IN BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2271, 3 October 1914, Page 5

GERMANS IN BELGIUM

THE FIGHTING ROUND LIEGE.

The Rev. Hubert Hoynan, who was in Liogo at the outbreak of the war, and saw much of the earlier fighting around tho city, gave an account of the earlier fighting on the Belgian frontier to a "Daily Mows" reporter. "I was in the city en August 5," he said, "whqn news carao that German soldiers were pouring over the boundary at Eupen. Belgian soldiers ' near tho villages'of Vise and Argenteau received orders to blow \ip the bridges over tho Meuse. Through a pair ot field-glasses I saw the explosions—iron and wood thrown into tho air and the smoke rising- ■'~ .

"Fighting began near Vise about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Wo could see and hear a little of it. but could not. understand it technically. The next day wo went north across the ■ Dutch frontier to • Maestricht. There I stayed until Monday last. From time to time I went down to the frontier.

•"At first the German 6oldiers were very friendly to the Belgian villagers in and,around Vise. Some of the officers said that they merely wished to pass by Liege and get into France. They asserted that Germany had no. quarrel with Belgium, and did not 'wish.to annex Belgian territory. They offered high prices for food and supplies. It was easy, to see that they wished to smooth matters, over. They wero expecting to be near tho French frontier in a couple of days.

"The day after the. invasion I was at the frontier near Maestricht. .Dutch soldiers wore patrolling a few dozen yards north- of. the lino, and German soldiers ivero a few dozen yards south of it. Tho German. guards were very anxious to" koop other German soldiers from straying over to the Dutch side. Occasionally a German soldier would crosi, and he was disarmed, by Dutch infantrymen. The German patrols vers quite friendly to the -Dutch patrols. . "The German soldier's with whom I talked were from places a 6hort distance oast of the Belgian frontier, and they 6aid they knew, some of the Belgian soldiers and. villagers, and that they desired to fight in ; France instead of Belgium. . • "A, couple of days after the first reverse many of those men went to tho base. They had little food and they, were tired out and discouraged. Soldiers from further east took thpvr places. Tho newcomers were of a different type—bitter and brutal."