Scenes in Belgium

Horowhenua Chronicle, 21 October 1915, Page 3

Scenes in Belgium

GERMAN ARTIST'S IMPRESSIONS

A aeries of concerts has just been given in Belgium by a number of German'artists. Among the latter was Herr Heinrich Knote, a Bavarian Court singer, who has published in the Munich "Neueste Nackrichte-n" an article giving the impressions he gained in the "occupied country." These impressions are interesting (says the

"Morning Post") in that they undoubtedly 'reflect the opinion held by intelligent German civilians on the subject of what has transpired in Belgium. Berr Knote oxplains that the concerns were given solely for the benefit of the German trooj* in occupation, but he says that he and the artist who accompanied him observed most carefully the conditions prevailing in all the places through which they passed.

' 'SENSELESS^FRENZY." After paying a tribute to the German mi'ifary organisation, which, he noted ■Works so quietly and is efficient, tho Munich singer says:- •"Tmniedia'tply after we crossed t-lio- frontier in our motor care -we noticed on each side of {lie road terrible traces of the war. Rhino from Dolheim to Loiivain tell of violent fighting and of necessary retaliation, and the whole quarter in which the Louvain railway station was situated testifies in impressive language to the terrors of the Avar and to the bitterness of the necessity forced on the Germans to '.protect themselves against the senseless frenzy of a. mobgoaded to action." Herr Knote deplores tOie fact that the "magnificent onthedral" of Malines suffered so severely because of the ruthlessnoss of the Belgians, who. he asserts, brought it within the sphere of the fi.gt.injz. What lie saw at Antwerp shocked him terribly. Oppressive stillness prevails to-day, he enys, where the traffic of nations was dealt with before the war. end he was saddened by the sight of the wharves where vast quantities of good used to be pile 3 up, bu? which , are now filled with* hundreds of Belgian automobiles that "have become unserviceable.,, , THE AIRMAN'S FATE. As tflfo artiste approached Ghent they "were fortunate enough" to witness the oringing-down of an enemy aviator. The members of the party were at first somewhat terrified by the rattling of the macliine-guufi firing at the aeroplane, but Herr Knote remarks that they soon beenme accustomed to it. At Bruges, he adds, enemy aeroplanes were fired at every day. and in the end the artists took no notice when they heard the anti-aircraft guns at work. It. Ie noteworthy, however, that although the enemy aircraft paid daily visits to the towns where the artists utayed, Herr Knote stateJß that his party was greatly envied by very many officers who, although they had been many months at the front, had never eren an aircraft brought down. SOLDIERS' GRAVES. The artist spoke with much feeling when he referred to the cemeteries where 'the soldiers are buned and to the numerous graves by .the side of the roads. Speaking on the same subject in respect of his visit to the battlctie}d of Broodseynde, where the English and the Germans fought, the German artist said: '"Both sides hail buried their dead anil a comparison of the German and English graves spoke «n impressive language. On the one hand, comrades had laid comrades to reet, and the graves showed the respect paid to the memory of the dead occupants. On the other hand, hirelings had buried hirelings, superficially and heartlessly. How superficially a ghastly example told us. We observed ap English grave, close to the road; the rain had washed away some of the thin layer of earth with which the body had been covered and both feet could be seen. Oil one of these feet ■was a smart English boot; the other foot was bare."

It would be superfluous to say that the impression gained by the German artiste from all tHat tJhoy saw in Belgium is that the destruction and the devastation there are eloquent testimony to German heroism, to German strengtli, to German powers of endurance, and that tfiey returned to their homes with feelings of eternal gratitude to the brave men who have kept the enemy and the horrors of -war from '"our dear country."

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