A Journal From Our Legation in BelgiumGibson, Hugh
History
A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium
Gibson, Hugh
Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
To-day I went up to Antwerp to bring back our old motor. Left a little
before noon, after tidying up my desk, and took my two Spanish
colleagues, San Esteban and Molina, along for company. I had the passes
and away we went by way of Malines, arriving in time for a late lunch.
Antwerp is completely Germanised already. We heard hardly a word of
French anywhere--even the hotel waiters speaking only hotel French. The
crowd in the restaurant of the Webber was exclusively German, and there
was not a word of French on the menu.
The Germans took over the garage where our car was left the day they
came in, and there I discovered what was left of the old machine. The
sentries on guard at the door reluctantly let us in, and the poor
proprietor of the garage led us to the place where our car has stood
since the fall of Antwerp. The soldiers have removed two of the tires,
the lamps, cushions, extra wheels, speedometer, tail lights, tool box,
and had smashed most of the other fixings they could not take off. In
view of the fact that my return trip to Brussels at the time of the
bombardment was for the purpose of bringing the plans of the city to the
Germans, so that they would have knowledge of the location of the public
monuments and could spare them, it seems rather rough that they should
repay us by smashing our motor. I think we shall make some remarks to
them to this effect to-morrow, and intimate that it is up to them to
have the car repaired and returned to us in good shape.
The first group of Americans to work on the relief came into Belgium
this month. They are, for the most part, Rhodes Scholars who were at
Oxford, and responded instantly to Hoover's appeal. They are a picked
crew, and have gone into the work with enthusiasm. And it takes a lot of
enthusiasm to get through the sort of pioneer work they have to do. They
have none of the thrill of the fellows who have gone into the flying
corps or the ambulance service. They have ahead of them a long winter of
motoring about the country in all sorts of weather, wrangling with
millers and stevedores, checking cargoes and costs, keeping the peace
between the Belgians and the German authorities, observing the rules of
the game toward everybody concerned, and above all, keeping neutral. It
is no small undertaking for a lot of youngsters hardly out of college,
but so far they have done splendidly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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