GUERILLA WARFARE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 153, 24 November 1914, Page 7

GUERILLA WARFARE.

INDOMITABLE BELGIANS. SALLIES FROM ANTWERP. ATTACK ON OUTPOSTS. Stirring incidents of the guerrilla warfare which was waged around Antwerp ' and vivid impressions of a battle outside Termonde, were described by Mr R. C. Ilawkin in an interview with the Pall Mall Gazette. Mr Hawkin had visited Antwerp on behalf of the Wounded Allies Relief Committee. It was only a few days before that he had witnessed the battle outside Tirmonde. "In the morning," lie 'said, the Germans had occupied the ruins of that town. So completely had the place been destroyed that only about two or three hundred houses remained intact.

"The Germans seemed to have pumped naphtha into each house and then lighted it, so that the ruin was absolute. A few old people were searching the ruins for remnants of their destroyed property.

i "During th« day the Belgians entero the town and drove out the German outposts. They then drove them back three or four miles, and an artillery duel commenced. Once more the Germans shelled Termonde, but lite Belgian artillery seemed to get the upper hand. The Germans lost two batteries and a large number of men. THE BELGIAN "FIFTEENERS." "When I came up in the evening the wounded were being brought in through the lines, and the Germans had beaten a retreat to their entrenchments outside Brussels. What struck me as remarkable was that the sound of the cannon seemed to attract rather than repel me. I saw the Belgian shells exploding over tlie lines of the retreating Germans, and the din that the Belgian guns, called 'Fifteeners," made was like the constant explosion of big fog-signals. King Albert, who had been u.p during the night, was taking a short nap in an hotel in the village behind Termonde. The sight of the Belgian soldiers, rugged peasants with determined faces, filled me I must confess, with a desire to help them in their magnificent fight. The day following the German army appeared outside 'Ma-lines, and I witnessed the refugees from tlie town pouring into Antwerp. STORY OF THE CAFE.

".Some of the incidents of the remarkable guerrilla warfare that is going on around Amverp are specially interesting. Every night has its story to tell. On one occasion two Belgian soldiers appeared in a cafe outside Brussels and ordered wine. The inhabitants were thunderstruck. Until they heard them talking in their familiar Flemish they thought they were Germans in Belgian uniforms. At last t-hey approached them and eagerly asked them how they got there. 'Look outside,' the men directed, and there they saw the German patrols lying dead. The Belgian soldiers drank their wine and disappeared into the night.

"'One of the German troop trains going to the front was wrecked by Belgian soldiers. Failing to catch the men, the Germans wreaked their vengeance on the local village, which they burned to the ground, chasing 1(10 women and children over the frontier (nto Holland. These women and children were received at the Maastricht by the kindly Dutch. "The Belgians had almost terrorised the German outposts round Brussels. Hardly a night passes when some sentries are not killed, when some German trains are not blown up, and when some of the carefully-planned arrangements of the German army are not upset by the incursions of the" Belgian soldiers, 'nicknamed by the Germans the 'Black rats,' because they always seem to come out at night and do damage when they appear.

"Every night, too, the Belgians sally forth on their motor-cycles accompanied by a armed motor-ear, generally accounting for a few German Uhlans or German cyclists. In the morning they return and are received with cheers by the populace at Antwerp. They exhibit captured helmets of the Germans and captured guns, and tell their story to the assembled crowds.

WONDERFUL DETERMINATION. "The determination of tin- Belgians is wonderful, and tliey go about their business as usual. Eight newspapers are published every day, four in French and four in Flemish. The Independence Beige is published at Ghent. Although it is forbidden in '.Brussels, yet every day a small boy whispers into the cars of people, the price of the paper, and the place where it can (be bought. All the> efforts of the Germans to prevent the entry or to prevent the news from Brussels leaking out hare completely failed. "The only foreign paper allowed in Brussels is'the. Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, which appears to be somewhat under German influence. Otherwise, German papers only are allowed. A BRAVE BURGOMASTER. f- i '"Brussels is now treated as part of Germany, and all the babies born in the city arc registered as German subjects. General von der Goltz demanded the right to attend the sittings of the Town Council. Mr Max, the burgomaster, nbsolutly refused, saying that if anyone entered without permission the sitting would be at once closed. Von (lev Goltz was compelled to give way. He cannot govern Brussels without the Town Council. "There seems to be among the Germans a. fear lest file socialist element in Brussels may get the upper band and conuneiicc street fighting. The result .would be to burn down the city, for which the world would bold the Germans responsible. "One thing is reign of terror established by the. Germans serves not to weaken t3ic Belgian resistance, but to strengthen their determination to free their country from the bated invaders. 1 I noticed that one of the Germans who had burned one of the cluirelies at Tcrmonde had saved tile image of the Saviour outside the building. Perhaps the general remembered the words of Luther:— But though they take our lives, Goods, honors, riches, wives, Yet is their gain but small: These things shall perish all. The city of God remaineth.''