STRICKEN GERMAN HOST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 143, 11 November 1914, Page 6

STRICKEN GERMAN HOST.

TUB ENEMY IN RETREAT. ACROSS SWOLLEN RIVER'S. AN AJRiMx IN -TORMENT. "There is a 'hurricane blowing. The rain descends iu torrent*—rain that lashes tiie roadways, eating into them and digging deep ruts. Over the sombre fields heavy clouds sweep, the mist trailing on the tree tops. TJio wayside brooks are swollen to littio torrents, the rivulets liave become cataracts; and although the earth has been baked 'by the.recent days of tropical heat, it is now sodden. The great rivers rush turbid and angry betvyeen their banks." "This," writes the London Times correspondent from Jfelun, on -Soptom'ier 13, "is tiie France of the great retreat—a France as different from the smiling land of last week as it is possible to imagine. Then ail was easy and alluring. The 'conquering' hordes of the German Emperor advanced over roads hard and smooth for the wheels of their transport; the great siege guns with their vast teams rolled swiftly among pleasant fields; the hoofs of the chargers rang upon firm -highways.

IN THE RUTS. "Con you picture tuosc dhuriots tonight as 1 am ab.e to picture thorn —as the picture has been presented to me by nhose who liave seen it? Trie great wheels roll no luiigvr upon easy ways. The roads are turned to riverways. The wheels sink in deep ruts that tax all lira strength of those over-weary steeds'. Tiie drivers shout and ply the lash unmercifully, Tiie griat beasts stralui and struggle in heroic effort. But the wheels sink deeper. The huge gnus lurch and swing. A horseman dashes up. -Haste, baste;' they are coming, those terrible Englishmen!' Again the deseent of the wet-sodden willing. Again that terrible straining on tile tracus. It is vain; the wheels are fast. Men cut file traces. The fibenited horses gallop off.

"tiich H tire drama of one of the innumerable roads leading north-east from Uiie region of the Marne. Follow back-wards along the brown surfaee', between the hedges, and you meet a troop of English cavalry—a cavalry unit lleeing through the darkness. There is a feeble, waning nioou somewhere overhead above the cloudwrae'k—the light is just enough to make it possible jo distinguish shapes. A niomiint and it is over. The retreat drugs onward into the night. "Then take a wider view. Believe—it is a splendid faith—those sunny hours which lured .him south came necessarily before the dark time that attends his backward movement. View those huge plains '-between the great rivers, and the rivers swollen between their hanks—the. rivers tiuit must be crossed when there are no bridges and when the guns of the enemy are upon the height coimnaiidiiig every crossing It would be possible to spare; pity for this host in torment were not the smoking ruins of a hundred villages ever before the eyes to counsel .stem pursuit.

• STACKS OP DEAD. ''l have just spoken to a soldier who I 1 lias returned wounded from tin* pur•suit. They fled,' iic declared, 'as animals (lee when conn-rod. and know it. Sometimes it became incredible. Imagine a roadway littered with guns, with knapsacks, with cartridge lielfs, with Maxims, with heavy caimim. even! There were miles and mile* of at. I picked up a beihnct here, another there —the helmets of the proudest of <'eri many's warriors bearing the vaunted I inscription. "With Cod, for King and Vathcrlaml." T saw arms and accoutrements of every 'kind and sort. Germany has left her very life-blood on these roads. And the ' dead. Those 'piles of horses, those stacks of men! f have seen it again and again—men shot so close to one another that they remained standing after death. At night time the sight is terrible and horrible I bevond words.'

' •'•Horrible, indeed! For, tremendous -as the efforts have been to dispose of nil these dead bodies, it has not yet hi en possible ot accomplish the tii-'k completely. One cannot burv whole amies in a din'. And over the fields of th'.i dead carrion birds are gathered tllev grey-throat'-d crow of evil omen, and :i host of lesser marauders. Robber- too have descended into these ' fields. 1 have heard of terrible rummagings amone.st the dead..

"It is terrible to see a. regiment of reMi-vists pass through such scenes T have described. Thev are fathers i>' ! families, these- men. 'Ask them:, and they will take from their inner tvekets of thnr tunics little parcc's folded in oibskin —the photographs of their children. I have seen hundreds of these pictures; and I have seen tears in the eyes of the good fellows who showed them to me as we stood beside the horror of other, men's broken and mangled homes.

FRENCH CHIVALRY. " 'They are our enemies,' a flue, noblehearted Frenchman .said to me—a man with a face that reminded me of tin; portraits of the young Napoleon—'but they are also men. And see, there are women who wait for them., ami ciliihlrcn who prattle of their 'home-coming. C'est tirrible—terrible!' "The retreat rolls back. Truinloud after frainload of Rritish and French are swept towards the weak points of the retreating host. This is tile advantage of the battle ground which the allies havo chosen. The network of railways is like the network of a .spider's well. All the rays centre upon Paris. It is possible bo thrust troopi) upon the foe at any point with almost incredible speed, and food and munitions are within arm's reach. The Germans, on the other ham! are far separated from their l>a=>,.. On Saturdav I saw truinioads of French and British .hurrying to the pursuit. "Most significantof all these were great pontoons -and guns—innumerable guns.

FLOW.En-DEOK.RD TIIAIKR "Tlii v sight of these trains goimr by is unforgettable. The French trains arc ell bedecked with flowers. Wreaths, great rich coronets of roses ami chrvrnnthcinum-, hanjj frOTii tlic 'handles of the can-iiijrn doors. - T'oiuiuets are snsliended 'from the side of the, engine; whole hushes ilmve been cut dowii to ornament the vehicles of war. Th.; train .stops a moment at a. station; ;i ■ elieer—oil' but it is not like our British I elicer—ooc up. The good cure—T wish you might see \those splendid French I'vicslrt! — forward with wine and chocolate, awl then An reveir, and away. . . "Listen. A deeper soimel. How grand in its swing' and verve—thrilling" you lo the very marrow. 'HurraHi-Wi!' A :hus'e train sweeps aeross the distance, and there are. the khaki-clad, British troops at every door and window. Do you know how good that sight is; Hut you have not livfld here through the dark days tbat are past, you have not