SMUGGLING MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1916, Page 6

SMUGGLING MEN.

- A THRILLING WORK. THE BELGIAN UNDERGROUND. HOW SOLDIERS ELUD/i GERIIANS. BRITISH, FRENCH, AND BELGIAN SYSTEM.

(By Curtis Brown, in the Republican)

There was a chain, and it had one weak link. There was an organisation of trusted men and women, and somebody made a mistake or somebody told. And so Edith Cavell, Hie English'nurse, died in the middle of a Belgian night. She was part of a system, the tale of which is a story of constant peril, danSerous work in the dark, secret meetings in secret places, scores, of men, constantly watched by the eyes of spies, carrying with them the lives of scores of others. It is a story that has not been told before, but can be told now without harm.

The system was for the escape from Germany-controlled Belgian of French and British soldiers who had been caught in the German net, but v/lio had managed to escape the actual clutch of the captor and of young Belgians similarly situated, who wanted to get out of the country to England, and thence to France, to'join their King. The system is comparable best to the underground railway of the United States in the antebellum days, when slaves were smuggled out of the South, and passed from hand to hand, until finally pushed over the Canadian border to freedom. The situation created, with the Prussians knowing what was secretly going on, but for months unable to stop it, was for the Belgians engaged like the days of terror of '93 in France.

While the evidence against Miss Cavell has not been published by the German authorities in Brussels, I am fortunate in being able to describe something of what has been goino; on in Belgium for the last year, and to give a few details, which have come from Brussels since the execution, of the system of smuggling men out of the country which the Germans desire to stamp out, and which is directly responsible for the execution of Miss Cavell.

German legions swept into Belgium in August of 1!114 with a suddenness tliat caught tlie Belgian Government unprepared. The men of the nation were hurriedly called to the colors, and the gallantry of the Belgian army in stemming the tide of the oncoming Germans is well known. But in many districts, so quickly engulfed by the Teuton flood, there were caught many able-bodied Belgian men who could not get to their regiments. Again, as the Germans advanced they overtook and surrounded many Belgian organisations. Thousands of prisoners were taken. These were 'transported to Germany. But there were thousands of others, soldiers and civilians who should have been soldiers, who were caught within the German lines. The soldiers threw away their uniforms, dressed as peasants, and became nonmilitary citizens. The Germans went on and finally faced the French and the British. The drive went into France. The Germans approached Paris, now holding large areas of France, as well as most of Belgium. British and French battalions which had met the Germans as far from what had now become their front lines as the middle of Belgium; almost, were broken and scattered. Hundreds of French and British soldiers were in the midst of the German army, some wounded, ethers unhurt and uneaptured. The Germans were engaged in the victorious advance, and had no time to search the country for stragglers. Soon after they were retreating, and had still less time to worry about the handful of men in their midst.

HIB THEMSELVES AWAY. These luckless stragglers hid themselves away. They secreted in woods. The Belgian peasants furnished food and nursed the wounded. Time went on and the opposing armies settled down to a routine. Then the Germans scoured the country for British and French soldiers. They found a few. The khaki of 'the British and the blue uniform of the French soldiers disappeared. Belgians managed to find civilian clothes for these soldiers in hiding. The British Tommies were kept hidden,»for not knowing French they were in the greater danger. The French soldiers, however, could readily masquerade as Belgian peasants, donning the simple dress of the countryside, and appearing stupid and speaking rough French when questioned by the German soldiery. From this situation grew the "underground" system of travel, such as prevailed in antebellum days in America. To-day in Belgium there is a great secret organisation of communication, for the transport of men as well as of information. Its ramifications extend over the entire country. Mayors of towns and villages, municipal councillors, even Belgian priests, are suspected of taking part. The main object, beginning a year ago, was to get out of the country the French and British soldiers who had been trapped, to nurse those who are wounded back to health, and to send out also Belgians of military age who were needed in the Belgian army. For a time there was some smuggling of persons right through the German lines back to the British, French, and Belgian fronts. This was during the turmoil following the time when the Germans were forced back from Paris. It soon became impossible, and the Belgians were faced with the task of getting their men out across the Dutch border.

OP BORDER SENTRIES. Here Hie Germans, after capturing Antwerp and obtaining thorough control of the country, established a line of sentries all along the border. The district in the north of Belgium along 'the frontier is called the Campifte. It lends itself to smuggling. All along, on both sides, there are woods and thickets, swamps *nd canals. There were hidden passages through morasses, which lwal men knew, but which were unknown to the Germans. For the whole length of the Dutch frontier there was a German soldier every few yard 9, standing 'there with his rifle to prevent anyone entering or leaving the country. This was not sufficient. Sentries were rushed, killed, or overpowered in the dark, and people kept constantly escaping from Belgium or entering tha ! t country. On one occasion last spring a German sentry was approached by a small group of Belgians arrayed like peasants. They engaged him in conversation. Suddenly a Belgian flung a handful of pepper in the soldier's face. Another knocked him on the head, and the whole group skipped across the border. There were many other instances of the kind, The sentries were doubled, but etill escapes frequently oc-

ELECTRIFIED ENTANGLEMENTS. Then the Germans built ii barbed wire entanglement all along the line. The wires of the entanglement were electrified, and more than one man was liilled trying to make his way through. Frequently dead rabbits, electrocuted, have been found. A belief that the talk of the entanglements being electrified was German bluff was speedily dissipated when someone tried to get through and was killed. The border is about 125 miles long, and now the entanglements extend the whole length. Where there are roads there are two of these barriers, with a building between where all travellers are searched.

It is said that 1500 French soldiers have been smuggled 'out of Belgium across the Dutch frontier. Once in Hollanfl they are safe. They head for a British or French Consulate, discuss matters with the Consul behind closed doors for a few minutes, and soon afterwards are bound for England and France, again to take up the rifle, and enter the trench. The number of British who have escaped probably runs into hundcreds, although there is no way of telling, for once across the border the fugitive never tells his experiences. The Belgians who have slipped across the line from first to last must number thousands aside, from the ordinary run of refugees. Of these there were tens of thousands.

The hiding and transport of French and British soldiers was desperate work. The Germans were for ever seeking them. The German secret service, in Belgium is numberless. Every town, village and hamlet has its informers. No one knows whom to trust. The Belgians liave learned never to talk about the war, never to express an opinion. There is no way of knowing when unfriendly ears are near, and life, to those who are doing things their German masters think wrong, is one long suspense.

The care of the wounded was even more difficult. It needed & large number of courageous, trusty men, who, knowing that death would be the penalty, would nevertheless undertake the task. Money, too, was essential. The system simply grew up. The leaders, feeling their way every inch, selecting assistance with greatest care, knowing that a weak link somewhere would mean disaster, went ahead. They worked slowly, and quietly, picking men here and there whoso integrity and discretion were beyond doubt. The final result was a pretty comprehensive organisation which covered the whole country. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.

When from some thicket or hedge a Britisli or French soldier made himself known to some passing peasant, a worker in the field, or pedlor with pack on his back, the news was carried to the nearest commune. Sometimes capture resulted, if the information reached (he wrong quarter. Jloro frequently the result was that in the middle of the night the hiding soldier would be found and taken to some out-of-the-way spot where he would be given food and given a chance to sleep. Then would begin the journey across the country. Usually at night the fugitive would be taken from one place to another, with guides who knew the bypaths and who could skirt German camps and outposts. Eight into Brussels were many of these soldiers taken and housed in the enemy's camp. This was most ticklish, for every oilier man in Brussels is said to be a Herman spy. The place is infested with them. In Brussels there were evidently headquarters of some kind, places to whjch the refugees, now clad, of course, in civilian attire, might go. A thrill went through the whole system a few months ago when certain British soldiers, with great daring, walked from their hiding places into the streets of Brussels to see. the sights. They were lucl?y not to have been captured and, by their foolhardiness, to have caused an exposure. From Brussels northward the system was the same. Getting across the border was one of the most difficult things of all. The barbed entanglement and the sentries formed an almost impassable barrier. But there were ways. Along the border there were guides who, for pay, would undertake to guide a man through unknown and hidden passages to Holland and safety. It was risky work and they earned their money. It is rumoured that in certain places long tunnels have been dug under the entanglement, starting many yards from the line in Belgium and ending well within Holland, both-en-trance and exit being well concealed from the sentries. An another place, it is stated, there is a collapsible sort of bridge, which can he laid oyer the entanglements. Another system is-the use of a barrel-like affair which is pushed through the wire and through which fugitives crawl. It is possible that bribery and corruption oi Herman frontier people may have proved helpful. \ It was apparently this system in which Miss Cavell was interested. Somewhere there was a weak link. Somebody told, and the German secret service found out something about the organisation, and finally the scheme was disclosed. Miss Cavell was not the only one involved; many other arrests were made, and the Germans hope that they have stamped out the system. Those who know Bel? ginm and the Belgians who are still there, however, do not believe they have. Others will take the place of those who have been discovered. There is not, however, ,30 much work to do now, as most of the British and French soldiers, as well as probably a majority of the Belgians of military age, have already got away. When the war is over the whole story of this, thrilling feature of the war will be known.