attacked the French all along the line.  They were utterly crushed.  The Germans took 10,000 Frenchmen prisoners and more than one hundred guns of every description.  Alsace-Lorraine is now reported absolutely cleared of French troops.

“The armies of Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm and of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria are moving in an irresistible manner into France.  In a 3-day battle below Metz the French were terribly cut up and forced to retreat in almost a rout.  It is declared that in this engagement the French lost 151 guns and were unable to make a stand against the victorious Germans until they had passed inside of their secondary line of defense.”

THE GERMAN “SPY POSTERS”

Just prior to the declaration of war, cable dispatches from Paris told of a remarkable series of posters dotting the countryside of France.  These posters, innocently advertising “Bouillon Kub,” a German soup preparation, were so cleverly printed by the German concern advertising the soup, that they would act as signals to German army officers leading their troops through France.

In one of our photographic illustrations, one of these “spy posters” is seen posted on the left of an archway past which the French soldiers are marching en route to meet the Germans near the Alsace frontier.

The ingenuity of the signs was remarkable.  Thus a square yellow poster would carry the information, “Food in abundance found here,” while a round red sign would advertise, “This ground is mined.”  Many geometrical figures and most of the colors were utilized, and animal forms, flowers and even the American Stars and Stripes were employed to convey their messages of information.

The French Minister of the Interior got wind of the system, and orders were telegraphed throughout France to destroy these posters.  Bouillon Kub, therefore, is no longer advertised in France.

A SOLDIER’S EXPERIENCE UNDER FIRE

A wounded French soldier described his experiences under fire during the Alsace campaign.  He said in part:  “There!  A blow in the breast, a tearing in the body, a fall with a loud cry and a terrible pain; there I lay one of the victims of this terrible day.  My first sensation was anger at the blow, my second an expectation of seeing myself explode, for, judging by the sound of the ball, I believed I had a grenade in my body; then came the pain, and with it helplessness and falling.

“Oh, how frightful are those first moments!  Where I was hit, how I was wounded, I could form no idea; I only felt that I could not stir, saw the battalion disappear from sight and myself alone on the ground, amid the fearful howling and whistling of the balls which were incessantly striking the ground around me.

“With difficulty could I turn my head a little, and saw behind me two soldiers attending on a third, who was lying on the ground.  Of what happened I can give no account except that I cried for help several times as well as I could, for the pain and burning thirst had the upper hand.  At last both of them ran to me, and with joy I recognized the doctor and hospital attendant of my company.