OSTEND REVISITED

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 87, 7 January 1919, Page 7

OSTEND REVISITED

FAMOUS PROMENADE MASS OF GUN ( ..:,•; plts '•; '■'■'■: ':■ SOME QUEER SIGHTS : .' (Mr: Ernst Smith,in the "Daily New 6.") .1 found .in. Ostend' a. state", of. things' that I have not met with in any European city "or town sinqe the -winter of ,1911—matches ad lib."'on' tho', tables' of restaurants'and cafes. Before'leaving: Dunkirk, thinking thrif ,'the -'.Ostendois might be short,-1 laid'in a small supply to-distribute.-amongst" 'the sufferers', but ; .to my surprise I found full boxes on the " ; tables of' the'principal cafes.' ■ My .enterprise'.in carrying in French. •" papers was more successful. Iwas!able: to give the 'Burgomaster and Corporation the' first, news of the' German reply and hand: out a few- copies to people in the streets. 'It was worth carrying the papers! into -Ostend to see the joy with which they were read. -For four years it had been a crime to possess'a French, newspaper..- -.-■■-..■■'■■ -'-.'.■ The story of the premature evacuation of Ostend by the Germans is interesting. •' On October l'.the German officers let it beknown that the Belgians had occupied Dixmude, and summoned all' the male. . inhabitants aged between 17 and 45 to ■ present themselves in a church, where. :■■' they : were pounded up and-'.about 1200 : ' Bent off in the direction „of Germany. This number not being ".'onsidered suffix! ■ cient,; a'second raid:was mado the, next . day, and a further 800 men,and youths ,were : sent out ahead of the troops/' , •: : On the 3rd, Eoulers having withstood the attack and- the Allied action under the King of the-Belgians having apparently stopped,;tho. German'preparations. :.,for .evacuating Ostend- were suspended, and a'-very, large proportion of the com-, mandeered-civilians vera-allowed to re- ' turn-to the town, v Whrti (he actual abandonment of Oatend-occurred it -was too hurried for vh& Germans to think of ■ rounding up civilians.- again-! or even to ■■ remove some sf.orcs. An .elderly French Maiden lady who lived through ; the period of occupation had many adventures' with the Germanauthoritie«. ■: Hayiiipr. no idiStity! papers she described herself us a Belgian. One day she ; 16st /bar ■ wiispßrt, -andtrouble followed. , Tho sr-iritad French woman refused to-go to the Commandant to,reclaim-it and be fined:until she had been summoned-fqu'r times. Then , she went, and .was sentenced to pay 30. marks. She; told the'. Csir.mandant ; point blank that she would go to prison /■before- she would! pay a'centime that ■ ' 6h P»ld;go into:tho Getfnan war chest:, . It. is a; question of' principle?" inquired the. Commandant.- , "Yes, inon-. eieur," replied the Frenchwoman. - She was sent home to think ■ it- over, -'■■ and. • eventually, "opt of respect for. her:grey •:. hair, , the insult was overlooked and the -penalty lor dropping her passport in the .street was reduced to twenty-four-hours' imprisonment.. Four or-flvetimes the good -lady applied at the prison to. do i «er twenty-four .hours'Vand' was told that, it-was too crowded forher to. be. accommodated. :•'•-,. ~,... '•;'.'-. Determined to purge her''offence" she : Went, along, again, this time carrying a , cushion wth a British'flag on it (she told me she thought it was an, American flag, and the United States were not then at war with-Germany). -This vas like a red'rag to a,MI. She was sent before the Commandant, who : stormed at her' and told her he would give her eighteen, months in a German'fortress: The result ,ot the., multiplicity' of penalties awarded and threatened was'that the old lady never paid a fine, never-went:to prison ' am Ji, was never'sent.to .Germany. ■:■:"• '~When 'the.--German-:Commandant-Gen-' ' tl- i°°}^ d ' l rom Qstend' the ■ doors of '••'•' FS bu jW"ig he had'commandeered were left wide open, and at six o'clock the next morning the lights were found burnmg brightly ln all'tho offices.'. ■ -'-.-■ " The enemy left agents in,the town to act as spies or. cause prearranged explo-! sions. Five Germans in civilian clothes were captured "after the Belgian' . troops entered., '; . , - ~""s l ™. of'the -villas on the sea front' ,ee said tohaye been used,as ammunition stores, and are carefully avoided )> r " •w h5 e f,F l 9 Unt} \ th , ey «<™, been-search-' . .ed by the competent military authorities.' ; ;■•■';. ■..-.Barbed-VVire.on thsiss.no's. •■". ; "i f ™?t;is: ; a'mosit extraordinary' spec-' - -tap e. At the two ends are the Kaiser "Wilhelm and the Tirpitz batteries, the former near the Majestic Hotel and. the ?^ r f° l , PPo3lte , th ' e Eursaa! -- The slopes trom the sands are a mass of barbed wire entanglements, showing the German dread of a British landing. x "" waa ■. The promenade is .liarredio/f. at:intervals .of- about 100 yards with; wire 'obstructions' and scores'of anti-aircraft gun. ' fnf/rt mortar , thr »wer''Pit3 are built into the promenade. They are deep, commodious, underground forts, and were Concealed from our. airmen observers bv large covers; like ships 1 hatches, which ■_. were painted to.resemMe the tiled paving: of the promenade.: It. was quiteaTlever piece of camouflage. .' v• ' ' -The geheral'-treatmeAt bf!the popu'la-^ .tion always, severe, and sometimes brutal, depended oh, the' various commandants and judges,' of-whom:.Ostend:was , favoured with; many samples/ Captain-i Lieutenant: .Hintze ;is--.apparently .' the most hated of the series. ' He is described •,as; ; :aB-,awful-. ; brute/'.'-Amongst the. many acts related of him is this A' woman .bought' a'nice new piano for her daughter, who earned her living as a' / teacher of; music:'Hintze ordered the piano :to be handed over to him. The .-■ woman pleaded that her daughter's "profession was their sole :sburce of liveli-' hood,; but the heartless German seized the piano and sent the woman to prison for six months for not handing the instrument over to him immediately. Almost the first man,'to approach me and pour out his griefs after I.landed was a victim of the detested Becker. -He was ,0 years of age, and this is the story . he related. On August 18 last two British airmen made a forced -landing near Ostend, and were taken, prisoners. They were being marched through the streets, . and as :they passed the old man touched his cap. He was set upon by a.German gendarme,and, four soldiers, who. threw h ' m «> the ground, and beat him. They • then took ..him off to prison, and some ?. ay 'V. he ' came tef°™ Becker in the Court of. Summary Jurisdiction,-and was' sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment '.and anne'of .£4O for "manifesting sentiments of sympathy towards two English' prisoners. . •The town of Ostend itself was once fined I,2so,ooo'.francs (.£60,000) in these . circumstances:- The .Germans shot a pigeon at Middelkerke,. and alleged that it was carrying a message over their front to the Allies. A protest was made' • that, even if. true the town could not'be held responsible.for the incident; After -the threat .had been held over the place for months the fine was remitted. . At the time that there was a great demand for copper and brass in Germany., the invaders -stripped - Ostend. They carried away the peal of bells, amongst the best in Belgium, from the belfry over the Hotel de Ville. They also stripped tho metal work from the balconies, of the villas on the sea front, and frorii the ornamental bridge over which the trams used to rim from pstend to Blankenborghe and Zeebrugge. /._ But _the pillage of property of which ■ the inhabitants.- speak with:terriblo bit'■t|rn^s , wa ?'' tt°, renfoval into. Germany of.all the woollen material they could - lay hands on: ..Blankets were' stolen wholesale the wool stuffing was emptied from.mattresses, tho beds whero people lay sick and dying not escaping. The hundreds of new ships that arebe-ing-'built must have cooks as well' as sailors, "and the United States Shipping Board is training young men for this work'.. Some of the. board's advice, to tho :new cooks is interesting:—Never - have . sticky-plates or dishes...Use very, hot water for . washing them.. Keep . your hands very ..clean. Try to prevent your . nails, from getting: .black or discoloured. Don't scatter in your galley; clean,.upas -you go; put scalding water into each .'saucepan as you finish using.it. Never , scrub, the inside of a frying pan; rub it with wet silver-sand; rinse it out well 'with -hot water. afterwards. Keep sink and sink brush very clean. Do not throw cabbage water down Bink; throw it away, as its smell is very Had. Clean coppers . with turpentine and'fine-brick dust, rub- ' bed on with flannel. Clean tin with soap 'and whiting made into a' thick oream with hot'wateri I