Through the Iron Bars: Two Years of German Occupation in Belgium

n Belgium were timed to take place on the eve of the Christmas season, when the angels proclaimed "good-will

a hundredfold the "horrors of war" Germany provided a powerful argument to the pacifists all the world over: "Look at these miserable Belgians. Have they not suffered enough? Is it not time that an end should be put to their misery? Germany has declared that she is ready to evacuate the country. She might even give an indemnity. What other satisfaction can the Allies ask, considering the present situation on both the E

ver to do with the origin of the quarrel. She had nothing to gain from its conclusion. She had been drawn unwillingly into the co

asses are decided to endure all sufferings rather than to accept a German peace, which could neither be lasting nor final. The Allies must not think that they must hasten the conclusion of the struggle for us. We are not asking for peace, and we take no responsibility for th

he workers declare that, "whatever their tortures may be, they will not have peace without the independence of their country and the triumph of justice." An eye-witness of the raids was telling me, a few days ago, that, on some occasions, the men in the slave trains are able to communicate with the people outside: "They shout, of course, 'Long live Belgium' and '

. At Soltau, the prisoners are given only two pints of acorn soup and a mouldy piece of bread, every day. They are so famished that they creep at night to steal the potato parings which their German guards throw on to-the rubbish heap. They divide them amongst themselves and eat them raw to appease their hunger. After the first week of this régime, several men went mad. Others were isolated for a few days an

her sweetest humanitarian smile, an olive-branch to the Allies whilst her executioners are starving thousands of Belgian sla

erman guns will not disturb it. It hovers over our trenches, over the sea, even over these terrible German camps where the best blood of a great people is being sucked by the vampires of War. And those who have fallen s

s in ambush, or on the rubbish heap of the Soltau camp in which men-noble men-are made to seek their food like pigs. Germany cannot offer what

ld we accept it? It is no longer green.

gium has been to act in perfect harmony with the Allies. How could it be otherwise? Their cause is her cause. Their victory will be her victory, and-if we should ever consider the possibility of defeat-their defeat would be her defeat. The Belgians who like myself, were in England during these fateful days of

olicy of England and of the Allies is determined by their first efforts in the struggle, and these efforts were made to protect a small

by Louis