"BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL"--WITH VON HINDENBURG 1
RECORD OF A REMARKABLE WAR PILGRIMAGE
Told by Count Van Maurik De Beaufort
(Permission of Dodd, Mead and Company)
"KITCHENER'S MOB"--ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN WITH
THE BRITISH ARMY 16
UNCENSORED ACCOUNT OF A YOUNG VOLUNTEER
Told by James Norman Hall
(Permission of Houghton, Mifflin Company)
"HOW BELGIUM SAVED EUROPE"--THE LITTLE KINGDOM
OF HEROES 32
TRAGEDY OF THE BELGIANS
Told by Dr. Charles Sarolea
(Permission of J. B. Lippincott Company)
THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S VISIT TO THE FRONT 43
TAKING THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST TO THE BATTLE LINES
Told by The Reverend G. Vernon Smith
(Permission of Longmans, Green and Company)
"GRAPES OF WRATH"--WITH THE "BIG PUSH" ON THE
SOMME 52
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN THE LIFE OF A PRIVATE
SOLDIER
Told by Boyd Cable
(Permission of E. P. Dutton and Company)
A NOVELIST AND SOLDIER ON THE BATTLE LINE 63
Told by Coningsby Dawson
(Permission of John Lane Company)
STORIES OF THE WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS IN BELGIUM 81
AN AMERICAN AT THE BATTLEFRONT
Told by Albert Rhys Williams
(Permission of E. P. Dutton and Company)
TALES OF THE FIRST BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 94
TO FRANCE
IMPRESSIONS OF A SUBALTERN
Told by "Casualty" (Name of Soldier Suppressed)
(Permission of J. B. Lippincott Company)
IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY--EXPERIENCES OF A
PRISONER OF WAR 104
Told by Benjamin G. O'Rorke, M. A.
(Permission of Longmans, Green and Company)
"AT SUVLA BAY"--THE WAR AGAINST THE TURKS 117
ADVENTURES ON THE BLUE ÆGEAN SHORES
Told by John Hargrave
(Permission of Houghton, Mifflin Company)
SEEING THE WAR THROUGH A WOMAN'S EYES 122
SOUL-STIRRING DESCRIPTION OF SCENES AMONG THE
WOUNDED IN PARIS
Told by (Name Suppressed)
(Permission of New York American)
LOST ON A SEAPLANE AND SET ADRIFT IN A MINE-FIELD 134
ADVENTURES ON THE NORTH SEA
Told by a Seaplane Observer
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
HOW I HELPED TO TAKE THE TURKISH TRENCHES AT
GALLIPOLI 144
AN AMERICAN BOY'S WAR ADVENTURES
Told by Wilfred Raymond Doyle
(Permission of New York World)
"BIG BANG"--STORY OF AN AMERICAN ADVENTURER 156
A TALE OF THE GREAT TRENCH MORTARS
Told by C. P. Thompson
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
"WITH OUR ARMY IN FLANDERS"--FIGHTING WITH TOMMY
ATKINS 165
WHERE MEN HOLD RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH
Told by G. Valentine Williams
(Permission of London Daily Mail)
COMEDIES OF THE GREAT WAR 176
TALES OF HUMOR ON THE FIGHTING LINES
Told by W. F. Martindale
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
LITTLE STORIES OF THE BIG WAR 188
UNUSUAL ANECDOTES AT FIRST HAND
Told by Karl K. Kitchen in Germany
(Permission of New York World)
POGROM--THE TRAGEDY OF THE JEWS AND THE ARMENIANS 194
A MASTERFUL TALE OF THE EASTERN FRONT
Told by M. C. della Grazie
(Permission of New York Tribune)
TALE OF THE SAVING OF PARIS 204
HOW A WOMAN'S WIT AVERTED A GREAT DISASTER
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
HOW IT FEELS TO A CLERGYMAN TO BE TORPEDOED ON
A MAN-OF-WAR 212
Told by the Rev. G. H. Collier
STORY OF LEON BARBESSE, SLACKER, SOLDIER, HERO 213
Told by Fred B. Pitney
(Permission of New York Tribune)
THE DESERTER--A BELGIAN INCIDENT 230
Told by Edward Eyre Hunt
(Permission of Red Cross Magazine)
GRIM HUMOR OF THE TRENCHES 240
AS SEEN BY PATRICK CORCORAN, OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS
(Permission of New York World)
PRIVATE McTOSHER DISCOVERS LONDON 247
Told by C. Malcolm Hincks
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
RUSSIAN COUNTESS IN THE ARABIAN DESERT 259
ADVENTURES OF COUNTESS MOLITOR AS TOLD IN HER
DIARY
GERMAN STUDENTS TELL WHAT SHERMAN MEANT 270
THREE CONFESSIONS FROM GERMAN SOLDIERS
Told by Walter Harich, Wilhelm Spengler and Willie Treller
(Permission of New York Tribune)
BAITING THE BOCHE--THE WIT OF THE BELGIANS 277
Told by W. F. Martindale
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
HOW SERGEANT O'LEARY WON HIS VICTORIA CROSS 288
STORY OF THE FIRST BATTALION OF THE IRISH GUARDS
(Permission of New York American)
STORY OF A RUSSIAN IN AN AUSTRIAN PRISON 295
AN OFFICER'S REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE
(Permission of Current History)
TWO WEEKS ON A SUBMARINE 302
Told by Carl List
(Permission of Current History)
A GERMAN BATTALION THAT PERISHED IN THE SNOW 305
Told by a Russian Officer
THE FATAL WOOD--"NOT ONE SHALL BE SAVED" 309
A STORY OF VERDUN
Told by Bernard St. Lawrence
(Permission of Wide World Magazine)
HEROISM AND PATHOS OF THE FRONT 316
Told by Lauchlan MacLean Watt
AN AVIATOR'S STORY OF BOMBARDING THE ENEMY 321
Told by a French Aviator
(Permission of Illustration, Paris)
A DAY IN A GERMAN WAR PRISON 325
Told by Wilhelm Hegeler
MURDER TRIAL OF CAPTAIN HERAIL OF FRENCH HUSSARS 330
STRANGEST EPISODE OF THE WAR
Told by an Eye-Witness
(Permission of New York American)
HOW THEY KILLED "THE MAN WHO COULD NOT DIE" 338
Told by a Soldier Under General Cantore
(Permission of New York World)
HOW MLLE. DUCLOS WON THE LEGION OF HONOR 344
STORY OF A WOMAN WHO DROVE HER AUTO AT FULL
SPEED INTO A GERMAN FORCE
Told by an Eye-Witness
(Permission of New York American)
THE RUSSIAN "JOAN OF ARC'S" OWN STORY 351
Told by Mme. Alexandra Kokotseva
AN ITALIAN SOLDIER'S LAST MESSAGE TO HIS MOTHER 355
Translated by Father Pasquale Maltese
[Illustration: IN A PRISONERS' CAMP
Germans in a French Camp]
[Illustration: THE U-9 SPEEDING ON THE SURFACE
_From a Drawing by a German Artist Published in a German Magazine_]
[Illustration: A NARROW SHAVE!
_A Remarkable Photograph of a Torpedo That Missed Its Mark by a Scant
Ten Feet. The Men on This Vessel, From the Stern of Which the Picture
Was Made, Literally Looked Death in the Face and Watched Him Pass By._]
[Illustration: THE LAST ACT OF A SUDDEN SEA TRAGEDY
_Rescuing Sailors From H. M. S. Audacious_]
"BEHIND THE GERMAN VEIL" WITH VON HINDENBURG
_Record of a Remarkable War Pilgrimage_
_Told by Count Van Maurik De Beaufort_
This is the remarkable story of a titled Hollander, who was living
in America at the outbreak of the War. "Europe called me," he
says. "Blood will tell. I soon found myself getting restless. My
sympathies with the Allies ... urged that I had no right to lag
behind in making sacrifices. Before starting for the War, I applied
for my first American citizenship papers. I hope to obtain my
final papers shortly, after which I shall place my services at the
disposal of the American Government." This Hollander was educated
in Germany and recalls how in his youth he was forced to stand up
in front of the class and recite five verses, each ending with: "I
am a Prussian and a Prussian I will be." He later became a student
at Bonn. Count De Beaufort has written a book of sensational
revelations in which the German veil is lifted. With a magic
passport, nothing less than a letter to Von Hindenburg from his
nephew, he gained access to German headquarters and to the Eastern
front in Poland and East Prussia. We here record what he thinks
of Von Hindenburg from his book: "Behind the German Veil," by
permission of his publishers, _Dodd, Mead and Company_: Copyright
1917.
[1] I--GOING TO SEE VON HINDENBURG
Yes, if the truth be told, I must say that I felt just a wee bit
shaky about the knees. I wondered what view they would take of my
perseverance, worthy, I am sure, of a kind reception.
I would wager that in the whole of Germany there could not be found one
... whose hair would not have stood on end at the mere suggestion of
travelling to Hindenburg's headquarters without a pass. Why, he would
sooner think of calling at the Palace "_Unter den Linden_," and of
asking to interview the Kaiser.
I think I must describe to you the way I appeared at headquarters. At
Allenstein I had bought, the day before, a huge portrait of Hindenburg;
it must have been nearly thirty inches long.
Under one arm I carried the photograph, in my hand my letter of
introduction, and in my other hand a huge umbrella, which was a local
acquisition. On my face I wore that beatific, enthusiastic and very
naïve expression of "the innocent abroad." I had blossomed out into
that modern pest--the autographic maniac.
Army corps, headquarters, strategy and tactics were words that meant
nothing to me. How could they, stupid, unmilitary foreigner that I was!
It was a pure case of "Fools will enter where angels fear to tread."
You may be sure that my subsequent conversation with the Staff captain
confirmed the idea that I was innocent of all military knowledge, and
that I probably--so he thought--did not know the difference between an
army corps and a section of snipers.
Why had I come to Lötzen? Why, of course, to shake hands with the
famous General, the new Napoleon; to have a little chat with him,
and--last, but not least--to obtain his most priceless signature to
my most priceless photograph. What? Not as easy as all that, but why?
Could there be any harm in granting me those favors? Could it by the
furthest stretch of imagination be considered as giving information to
the enemy? What good was my letter of introduction from the General's
dear nephew? Of course, I would not ask the General where he had his
guns hidden, and when he intended to take Petrograd, Moscow or Kieff.
Oh, no; I knew enough about military matters not to ask such leading
questions.
But joking apart. On showing my famous letter I had no difficulty
whatsoever in entering the buildings of the General Staff. The first
man I met was Hauptmann Frantz. He didn't seem a bad sort at all, and
appeared rather to enjoy the joke and my "innocence," at imagining that
I could walk up to Hindenburg's Eastern headquarters and say "Hello!"
to the General.
He thought it was most "original," and certainly exceedingly American.
Still, it got him into the right mood. "Make people smile," might be a
good motto for itinerant journalists in the war zones. Few people, not
excepting Germans, are so mean as to bite you with a smile on their
faces. Make them laugh, and half the battle is won.
Frantz read my letter and was duly impressed. He never asked me whether
I had any passes. He advised me to go to the General's house, shook
hands, and wished me luck.
Phew! I was glad that my first contact with the General Staff had come
off so smoothly. I had been fully prepared for stormy weather, if not
for a hurricane. Cockily, I went off to Hindenburg's residence, a very
modest suburban village not far from the station, and belonging to a
country lawyer. There was a bit of garden in front, and at the back;
the house was new, and the bricks still bright red. Across the road on
two poles a wide banner was stretched, with "Willkommen" painted on it.
Two old Mecklenburger Landstrum men guarded the little wooden gate. I
told them that I came from Great Headquarters, and once more produced
the letter. They saluted, opened the gate, and one of them ran ahead to
ring the door bell.