Various Sourcs

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 133, 29 October 1914, Page 5

Various Sourcs

TWO BELGIAN 'PHONE GIRLS,

SCORN* FIRE. AND SHELLS,

Antwerp, September 10. Out of the horror, the terror, and suffering in the burning of Louvain by tap Germans, has come a story of heroism of two young girls, which will go down in history along with the gallant defence of Liege by the men 6f the nation.

Valerie de .Martinalli and Leonie va» Lint were telephoning operators. Now they are national heroines, for wi(i shells bursting around them and flame* cracking on every side, they remained at their switchboards until the telephone wire's had been cut, torn down by shells, or carried away by the fallinf walls of buildings. ' They knew that over the long line* which they controlled the orders of th« Belgian staff officers were being communicated to retreating troops. To desert the switchboard meant that thea» orders would not be received and confusion and disaster might follow, bo they remained at their posts until the last wire snapped, and then they escaped, JOKING UNDER FIRE. "On the field of battle you soon get used to the shells," says a French sDldier in the Morning Post. "You caa hear them coming from a long way off, and after half an hour of this music w« were calling out to each other, 'Mark ifbere! Mark over on the left That is yours!' and 'Look out on the right; you are going to be peppered!' or, again, 'Here's something to warm you up in •the centre!'

"We gave each other these warning* with a laugh, and every now and again another of us called out, bb if we were back in the old 1 fencing school, 'Touche!' For lihirty hours we stayed there, with nothing to eat or drink, without closing our eyes. In fact, they did not stop firing till 2 o'clock w> Friday afternoon. Out ambulances were out as soon as tu» firing stopped."