THE BELGIAN SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2412, 18 March 1915, Page 6

THE BELGIAN SOLDIER

HIGH SPIRITS AND COURAGE. In the letter of a British Staff officer, whoso duties take him into various sections of tho theatre of war in. Belgium and Northern France, there is a description of how King Albert's soldiers impressed him on close acquaintance while he was in the Fumes district. Ho writes:— "In the neighbourhood we encountered a largo number of Belgian troops. I observed them very closely. They were mostly men of medium height, but thiok-set and smart, and had every appearance of being well-fed. Indeed, except for their weather-beaten countenances ' very few of them showed any traces of the hardships which they have undergone. Yet, I remembered, theso men wore part of the Army that as far back as August had so gallantly defended Liege, and had since won imperishable glory by. their stubborn resistance on tho banks of the Yser from Nieuport to Dixmude, and ha'd thereby frustrated tho efforts of the Supreme War Lord to reach Calais. What struck mo most was their remarkable cheerfulness.- I watched.a company or more of them go by on their way to tho trenches. Some were' singing, and,, despite their heavy equipment, they seemed almost without exception to be in the best of spirits. Each oiie carried a pair of wooden sabots, and I was informed that these, When partly tiled with straw/ have been found most useful for the men to wear in the trenches. . "I remarked to'a friend, a . Belgian officer, who was standing near me, that these soldiers appeared to be very far from disheartened. ' His' reply was curious', for : ho l said':' "They have now nothing more to bo downcast about, because they have' lost eVery tangible thing 'they' possessed.' 1 If 'that sentence . had come from one of the dusky warriore we had previously met 011 tho road. I should have 'put it down to Oriental fatalism, but my friend, who had suffered every bit as much as his countrymen, was quite as cheerful as the soldiers. This spirit of optimism is, I think, largely handed down from the officers to the lower ranks. "The attitude of tho officers towards their men is rather like a dignified and good-natured father addressing his children. while the latter respond like dutiful and happy sons. The manners of those soldiers are wonderful. I have seen much of them in peace and war, in hospital dnd when off duty, and they are invariably courteous to' a degree, and always appreciative of the smallest kindness. Their bravery ■is magnificent. For instance, recently a hundred of them were asked to volunteer for a desperate adventure; ho fewer than six hundred responded. In fact, the Belgian Army now, alas! greatly reduced in size, consists of a number of very gallant gentlemen."