Belgium -- History -- German occupation, 1914-1918
Once furnished with a proper passport, one has only to set out. By
suitably arranging one's route, one can often take advantage of
the local tramways. All other means of communication are extremely
precarious. The automobile is forbidden. Horses have been requisitioned
by the military authorities.
_November 1914._
OFFICIAL RAILWAY TIME-TABLE
_of railways at present operating in Belgium under the
administration of the German Government_. With details of journeys.
Price, 0 _fr._ 10.
GENERAL ARRANGEMENTS.
A certain number of trains have during the last few days been run
over the Belgian railways by the German Government.
These are:--
1. Brussels--Aix-la-Chapelle.
2. Brussels--Lille.
3. Brussels--Namur.
4. Brussels--Charleroi.
5. Louvain--Charleroi.
6. Brussels--Antwerp.
7. Brussels--Courtrai.
Owing to the defective state of the lines and the telegraphic and
signalling apparatus, these trains can as yet travel only at a
moderate pace, and the duration of the journey is not guaranteed.
For this reason it is prudent to provide oneself on departure with
the necessary provisions for the journey.
* * * * *
The time-table of the railways is often made up in such a way that the
Belgian cannot make use of the trains. Thus the only train leaving
Brussels for Mons in November 1914 reached Mons at 9 p.m. But after
9 p.m. it is forbidden to walk through the streets of Mons. The only
train leaving Mons for Brussels leaves at 12.14 a.m., but one may not
"circulate" in the streets of Mons earlier than 4 a.m.
We see to what extremities the Belgian population is reduced. Well,
well!--despite all these difficulties, we have procured documents of
great importance. We cannot, unfortunately, publish them all at this
juncture; for they would result in the identification of those who
conveyed them to us, and expose them to reprisals; and we have learned,
to our cost, all that this term signifies according to the ideas of our
present rulers.
* * * * *
This work, then, will necessarily be incomplete. We publish it only
because we think it useful to demonstrate that in spite of all the
annoyances which they receive at the hands of the Germans, the Belgians
do not allow themselves to be intimidated. Moreover, whatever may be
the provisional lacunæ (mostly intentional) of our documentation, we
cannot in any case be reproached with falsification. This, whatever our
enemies may think, is a point of capital importance.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Since this was written, M. Max is reported to have been released,
and to be living in Switzerland.
[2] These documents are as far as possible translated literally, any
inelegancies of diction may probably be attributed to the German
authors, whose syntax is often peculiar.--(TRANS.)
[3] _Commandant de Place._--(TRANS.)
[4] We give examples of this censorship later (pp. 256-60).
[5] The English text was soon discontinued.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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