KING ALBERT'S HEROISM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 178, 6 January 1915, Page 7

KING ALBERT'S HEROISM.

AN INSPIRATION TO HIS ARMY. The heroic figure in this war is King Albert of the Belgians, whose devotion J to duty and personal courage rallied the i Belgian Army within the last few miles left of . their country, and inspired them ! to turn and push back the invader. His resolution during the painful retreat j from [Antwerp, his determination to re- | sict the advice given him to take refuge in France, have had more perhaps f than any other single influence the great efficacy in making the Bel- ! gian Army what it is to-day—a band of soldiers worthy of comparison with the ( Old Guard. The Belgian Army can be ; seen reacting to its influence. One re- j cent day the Germans engaged in a rpitcful bombardment of . The King liad . business that day in the town with his Staff. He did not permit the bombardment to disturb liim. Word of this pass- , ed through the ranks. Next day two ' Belgian regiments with two French re- ! giments, with a bayonet charge that could not be denied, won the key to the battle of the Yser; nnd the Belgians had been continually in the trenches 1 for sixteen days. ; "We like to do something for the : King," said one soldier simply, when he was congratulated on his share in the battle, he having kept on with the bayonet to the end in spite of a flesli wound from a rifle ball. The King of the Belgians is the real active, directing Commander-in-Chief of his Army. His Staff-officers are quite near to the front, and he is at his "oT,fice" early in the morning, sometimes as early as eight o'clock, rarely later than nine. At noon, a little inn near by sends to him luncheon. It is very simple; sometimes it is lacking even in what a middle-class citizen of London would regard as the ordinary comforts of the table. Of course, the King eould get anything that lie wanted if he chose to employ the military transport to bring It up from a port on the coast. He is so vitally absorbed in his work, however, as to 'be indifferent to his own comfort. So long as he can get a cigar after luncheon, he is satisfied, and even tiiat lie has been sometimes lacking. In the afternoon the King's labors continue. He has visits to receive and to make. He constantly visits the trenches. Of late he lias wisely decided that the Belgian Army would be encouraged in its task if it saw a little of the ceremony and panoply of war. So reviews are fairly frequent. When there is a chance for a regiment, passing from one part of the front to the other, to march past the King with music at its head, the chance is taken. Sometimes it is nine in the evening before the King leave his Staff office, but more usually six or seven. Probably going to his temporary palace—which German airmen are always seeking out with their bombs, but which happily they have not yet fonud—he continues then to carry on the work of State. But his day's labor in the public eye stretches to an average of eight or nine hours.