The new twentieth century mode of warfare puts the ban on anything that glitters, even the rifle barrels, bayonets and sabers.

A BELGIAN BOY HERO

On a cot in the Red Cross hospital at Ostend, September 12, lay one of the heroes of the war.  He is Sergeant van der Bern of the Belgian army, and only 17 years old.  He was only a corporal when he started out with twenty-nine men on a reconnoitering expedition during which he was wounded, but displayed such valor that his bravery was publicly related to all the soldiers, and Van der Bern was promoted.

Van der Bern and his little command came suddenly upon a band of fifty Uhlans while on their expedition.  Outnumbered, his men turned and fled.  The corporal shouted to them and dashed alone toward the Germans.  The other Belgians rallied and threw themselves upon the Uhlans.  Within a few minutes only Van der Bern and two others of his command remained.  Twenty-seven Belgians were dead or wounded.  Within a few minutes more of the corporal’s companions fell, mortally wounded.  Then the boy picked them up and displaying almost superhuman strength carried them to safety.  As he was making his retreat, burdened by the two wounded men, Van der Bern was hit twice by German bullets.  He staggered on, placed his men in charge of the Red Cross and without a word walked to headquarters and reported the engagement.  Then he fell in a faint.  WHEN THE GERMANS RETREATED

A vivid description of the rout and retreat of the Germans during hurricane and rain on September 10, which turned the roads into river ways so that the wheels of the artillery sank deep in the mire, was given by a correspondent writing from a point near Melun.  He described how the horses strained and struggled, often in vain, to drag the guns away, and continued: 

“I have just spoken with a soldier who has returned wounded from the pursuit that will go down with the terrible retreat from Moscow as one of the crowning catastrophes of the world.  They fled, he declares, as animals flee who are cornered, and know it.

“Imagine a roadway littered with guns, knapsacks, cartridge belts, Maxims and heavy cannons even.  There were miles and miles of it.  And the dead—­those piles of horses and those stacks of men!  I have seen it again and again, men shot so close to one another that they remained standing after death.  The sight was terrible and horrible beyond words.

“The retreat rolls back and trainload after trainload of British and French are swept toward the weak points of the retreating host.  This is the advantage of the battleground which the Allies have chosen.  The network of railways is like a spider’s web.  As all railways center upon Paris, it is possible to thrust troops upon the foe at any point with almost incredible speed, and food and munitions are within arm’s reach.”

PRINCE JOACHIM WOUNDED