BELGIUM'S NEW ARMY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 243, 19 January 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

BELGIUM'S NEW ARMY.

THE KING AND HIS MEN. By V. A. MeKENZIE Tho Well-Known War Con espon dent

With tho Belgian .Army. YVliat arc the Belgians doing?' Why do wo hear little or nothing cf their Army? What ha_s happened to it? Those questions have been freely asked for some little time past. To find an answer to them I haw visited the Belgian lines and travelled from Boesinghe, north of Ypres, where tho Belgians join up with the British, to the sea. I have found a new Belgian Army in existence, a powerful reserve force for the Allies, waiting eagerly for the hour to come when it may advance. Out of the stricken remnant that survived the retreat from Antwerp and the hatt'e of the .-e" there has grown a fiirhting force- of young men, led l>y officer.s seasoned in war. newly equipped, with an ample supply of guns of every kind. They constitute a striking force, of infantry and cavalry, with an ever-graving reserve ready to (ill up ■jose in the ranks.

At the head is King Albert himself. I met him among his men, a solder among soldiers, dressed in the simple uniform of a Belgian general, accompanied only by an A.D.C., supervising, organising, sharing their life in the trenches and in the rc->t camps. It is impossible to see without some emotion this monardi moving from trench to trench in the little strip of his own territory yet left to him, looking strangely young and cheerful despite all. The people, who say that be has aged much in the last two years are misinformed. Active, confident, practical, and simple, he holds the hearts of his Belgian soldiers more surely today than ever he did.

Conti'tst the Belgian Army of today and t!u> Army during my Inst visit two years ago. ihen a little remnant, all that had escaped from Antwerpj was fighting with the fierceness of despair to save the last I in- of Belgian defence. To the rear, towards Dunkirk and Calais, were uncounted companies of wounded and invalids, masses of rags and dirt, a tragic spcciaci'e. Tho towns were choked with wounded and with refugees. There was a lack of everything. Invalids scares able to crawl were burying the dead to save an epidemic. Forty odd thousand worn-out soldiers were clinging on to twenty miles of caani banks and wrecked towns, holding back the advance ot 150,000 triumphant Germans. The:r very dress was mid-Victorian: their guns were outranged and outdated; their munitions were scanty, i' rcnch gunners and French cavairy flew to their aid, but even before the French came the force of tho German attack had been broken. I was there and speak of what I know. England, absorbed in tho fighting then going on at Ypres, did not realise then—l doubt if she has realised yet—what Belgium did at the battle' of the Yser. Had she failed, all the splendid bravery cf French's men would have been wasted, for our position would have been turned.

Belgium emerged from that battle with her infantry reduced- to 32,000, and with half the remnant of Irer guns, saved from other field*, put out of action. Her little Army m holding up the great German machine had been smashed bv it.

That was yesterday. What of today? To-day the situation is transformed. A process of reconstruction war; at once begun, and during the past two years the Army has been rebuilt from the foundation. The quaint uniforms have disappeared and have given place to the universal khaki—khaki with certain minor picturesque decorations which the Belgian loves. The uniforms are good ; the boots are good ; tire very steel helmets of the cavalry are covered with khaki. The gas helmets are, to my mind, far better than those used by our own men when 1 was last with them.

Simplicity of life and cheerfulness of spirit are the note of this new Army. To-day I lunched with the staff of ono division. All sat together around one long plain table, the general-in-chiet sitting like a father in the centre. The mess-room was plain, the food was soldiers' fare, and there was a note of cheerfulness from top to bottom of the room. Later in the afternoon, while walking 'behind the trenches, I heard time after time sounds of singing. It was the rank and file gathered together when work was over. Nearly all the private soldiers are between twenty and tliirtv.

Beigium had to obtain men. Numbers of those who had fought on the Yser were broken in the fighting. The niv.v rc-cruitvs were raised by compulsory service among the Belgians living -n England and France and by tire pressure of public opinion. The man whose sons were living in safety abroad was looked upon as little better than a traitor.

Simultaneously with the raising of fresh troops the machinery for supplying the Army with necessary equipment and munitions was re-created. Tile French provided Belgium not only with fresh Government headquarters at Havre but also with considerable land in the north. Large parts of Calais wharves were loaned to them, and thrl'ittle port of Gravelines iMvame in effect Belgian. Munition factories aro-e in Frame.

Fresh officers' schools for young ruvalterns were opened. The, medical service was extended and improved in a very remarkable way. To-day tlrere is a. splendid service of hospitals behind the Bilgian lines ready for the coming days when lighting in earnest is l'enew-c-d. There are ambulances, many ol them piwnti from England. stalled m inarlv ail cases by Belgians. I noticed one at work marked on the outside 11 Presented by the Wakefield furls' High School." There are about live hundred doctors in the medical servi'e. The hospitals right at 'lie from contain Id*') bods for the seriously wounded, and behind thorn are others ready for tho cases v. hen they can !>e ni';v^d.

Dnrinij the process (i! r*;".-(;n>tn:c:i' n tli" Hdjjians did not attempt. an otl'eiisiv. i hov were i> : >t in a j)»>.-':t■->: 1 t > (! i so. Tliis doos not mean that tiny have had no 11 Along 111-' <!!•'- i'oront ?i:i ri*- of thr front, mare parti-tii-nlar v in the Hcr-singhe :.m! Dixniude districts, the (iennaiis li.ivc : : 11;s <•!-_<• I tin/.' alter lime they have (.one lower (iov.n at \ pres. llio Hi m A' nn hie- had tli:* (Oiuiii in (If'.'endive expeni iiM -s .1' ti; ■ FiritMi and i I;•' In V.-i-v lit tie lis* ■ n -ait! al'ont t!ir« f' . ill Kitlilii 11(1 hocarse I !••■ lie - jaans have not yet < "pallia i t.:eii ]"• •'- li rv side. T- —<l.ty. 1 j - "iv i vci 1 , <*v<»n tin's fiirli t mc l:::.s very lariii 'y di:d d.\n and tlt/-«■ i-. «•<;illj;ai ati\ v peai o a*.l ahum ;l ° li' rthorn I ''out. i nis u due to J tie f»' t that th • (ini turns ii ive w ii away all li V ,si!il . ii en mimiti-ns to the S .mine. I had a s'rikii,- ONan.pl • "I' tills ni.Vs-lf || f(\V I.dill > .«•-:•>- 11l <«!> pinv with a >taff ofTVi r I vi .ited ( n '* section of the trendw-s. My o'>nipaiii( n h anf 1 h isi;n i v ov r vi > 11:*r;■ J)»■ t and liainteil out in (let ii! ill" 1 (lernian itnsitioiis i">t a-r-. s th" cf tie Vrr Canal- lie ? i' > \\« 11 mo th' r first lin-», i.nd i': -n. ' .'ino way r. -

hind, a bit of rising ground where their second line could be seen. From where we stood tho ruined countryside around us might have byen deserted save for our sentries and the men in our own dug-outs. There was not a seund of life and not a sound of activity. The officer stood up in full view (\ the lines. Only once d'd we hre.r the sound of a rifle, and that v.a.s some distance away. The shells that we heard were being fired at Ypres. '• What does this mean?" I asked my £u r.le. . The commandant smiled. ' The Germans are afraid. he said. "'They been sent here, broken, to rest, and their chief fear is lest we should open cut on them. They know that it they send a bomb or a bullet over our lines we would hit back, and hit back hard.