A Journey Through France in War Time Part 23

To easily differentiate the solution obtained by this process from the commercial hypochlorites, pour into a gla.s.s about 20 c.c. of the solution and drop on the surface of the liquid a few centigrammes of phenol-phthaleine in powder. The correct solution does not give any coloration while Lebarraque's solution and Rau de Javel will give an intense red color which shows in the last two solutions existence of free caustic alkali.

TECHNIQUE--Dakin Solution.

The procedure is very simple. The solution, however, must be between 45 to 50% hypochlorite. Anything above this strength will burn and anything below is too weak. The edges of the wound should be covered with gauze which has been well soaked in vaseline, the solution should then be introduced into the wounds from an irrigator every two hours. A stopc.o.c.k should be put on the tube and only sufficient solution should be allowed to enter the wound to completely saturate all parts of the wound. In other words, the wounds should be bathed with the solution every two hours--do not mistake this and irrigate continuously. You can easily tell how much solution it takes to keep the wound wet.

Rubber tubes are used. The end of the tube is tied off and six to eight small perforations are made so that the solution can run into all parts of the wound. If the wounds are superficial, the same kind of a tube can be used to which a cuff of turkish towel is wrapped around the end of the tube.

If you feel that the wounds are sure to be infected, it would be well to lay them open freely and immediately start this treatment, be sure to have the skin well protected with the vaseline and gauze and see that the solution does not run out of the wound on the bed.

Just keep the wound bathed every two hours.

I have been informed that a movement is on foot to inaugurate the use of this remarkable discovery in the United States military hospitals, and that the Rockefeller Foundation has in view the erection at New York of a large hospital where the treatment may be studied and still further perfected for the benefit of this country.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Proclamation by the Mayor of Reims Issued on the Day the Germans Entered that City, Sept. 4, 1914.]

TRANSLATION

APPEAL TO THE POPULATION OF REIMS.

Dear Citizens:

To-day and in the days following, many from among you, both prominent citizens and workmen, will be kept as hostages to guarantee to the German authorities the quiet and good order which your representatives have promised in your name.

It is to your security and to the safety of the City and to your proper interests that you do nothing which may break this agreement and compromise the future.

Have realization of your responsibility and facilitate our task.

Men, women, children, remain as far as possible in your homes, avoid all discussion.

We depend upon you to be equal to this occasion.

All riotous gathering is absolutely forbidden and will be immediately dispersed.

J. B. LANGLET, Mayor.

L. ROUSSEAU, DR. JACQUIN, E. CHARBONNEAUX, J. De BRUIGNAC.

a.s.sistants.

XXV.

A CITY IN AN ARMY'S PATH

Few who read this book have ever been in contact with actual war. In order that they may have an idea of what happens to a city which finds itself in the path of an irresistible enemy, some account will be given here of what happened to Reims, a city about the size of Youngstown, having a population of one hundred and twenty-five thousand and being situated on the north bank of the river Aisne, in north-eastern France.

When the Germans attacked France they hurled their great armies by three routes. Not only did they violate the neutrality of Belgium and Luxembourg, but they also sent an army across the frontier between Verdun and Belfort, this being the force stopped by the cha.s.seurs at Gerbeviller, as has been told elsewhere. France had trusted too much and was in a desperate plight because her troops had been mobilized on the wrong front.

The first Germans crossed the frontier of little Luxembourg on the morning of August 2, 1914. They were met by the Grand d.u.c.h.ess, who disputed their pa.s.sage and pleaded with them to turn back. Her little army of four hundred and thirty men could do nothing, and when she turned her car across the road the German soldiers gathered around and, on the order of their commander, pushed it to one side and pa.s.sed on.

The Germans entered Belgian territory at Gemmenich on August 3, 1914.

The next day they attempted to take by a.s.sault the city of Liege, Belgium's greatest industrial center, and failed. This city, with its ring of nine forts, blocked the pa.s.sage of their troops and held the main roads into Germany. After a most b.l.o.o.d.y and unsuccessful a.s.sault, the Germans brought up their big guns and blew the forts to pieces. But they had been delayed five days. Then their hosts swept across Belgium and soon came in touch with the French and English. The English army of one hundred and twenty-five thousand men met them at Mons. The French met them between Mons and Verdun.

At this time the Allied lines swung like a huge gate from Verdun west toward the sea, barring the Kaiser's pa.s.sage. The Germans then had a million of men, with hordes of the famous lancers, and clouds of these hors.e.m.e.n hung on the right flank of the English, swinging out and around them so as to force Sir John French to fall back or suffer the turning of his flank. Von Kluck was in command of this turning movement, which was made possible by the fall of Namur, Lille and Charleroi. Things then looked desperately bad for the Allies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: First Order From the Invaders.]

TRANSLATION

ORDER

Having taken possession of the City and the fortress of Reims I command the following:

Railroads, routes of communications, both telegraph and telephone, not only of the City of Reims, but also throughout the immediately outlying districts, must be protected against all possibility of destruction; it is absolutely necessary to protect by a minute surveillance the public buildings along the lines of communication.

The City will be held responsible for disobedience to this order: the guilty ones will be pursued and shot; the City will be levied for considerable contributions.

I add also that it will be to the interest of the population to conform to the foregoing commands, at the same time going about their ordinary occupations; thus the inhabitants will avoid having new and serious losses.

THE GERMAN GENERAL Commander in Chief.

This notice on a white card, 45 by 56 centimeters, was posted on the walls of the City of Reims by German authority during the occupation of September 4th to 12th, 1914.

As they were forced back toward Paris, not so much by actual fighting as by the necessity to keep their lines clear and avoid the turning movement of the swift German division under Von Kluck, the Allied armies swung, like a gate with its hinges at Verdun and the outer edge at Mons, back until they stretched between Verdun and Paris. This movement uncovered the beautiful city of Reims, with its countless art treasures, its magnificent cathedral and its thriving population of more than a hundred thousand people, all of which, as the swinging movement continued, were left to the mercy of the German army. The French evacuated Reims with nothing more than some rear-guard fighting and fell back southward to take their places in the great battle line which Joffre had planned somewhere north of Paris--on the Marne, as it was later evident.

As the Allied forces swung backward to this then unknown position, they were hard pressed by the advancing German hosts. Their retreat will stand as one of the most masterly in history, for during ten days these vast armies retired more than two hundred miles on their left flank without disorder and without excessive loss of men or material.

The English army occupied the side toward the sea in these grand maneuvers for position. Sir John French moved swiftly backward, fighting as he went and constantly swinging outward to prevent Von Kluck from encircling his flank. On the morning of September 3rd, he reached a point between Paris and the sea, actually a little north of that city.

Suddenly in response to orders from Joffre, he marched his tired troops through Paris to Lagny, twenty miles east of the capital, where he took up a position on the Marne front.

Von Kluck was almost in sight of Paris in hot pursuit of the English when he found how he had been tricked. He could not attack the defenses, and it was urgently necessary for him to join the main army on the Marne front. To do this he had to circle to the north, around the outer fortifications of Paris a much longer march than that of the English.

The French government had packed its belongings and left for Bordeaux on the morning of the day the English pa.s.sed through Paris, and the people thought the Germans were about to besiege the city. All buildings in the line of fire had been destroyed, the civilian population sent south, and every preparation made for defense. Joffre only knew the real plan.

The Parisians were amazed when the Germans scarcely stopped in front of their city. They could not understand why Von Kluck should suddenly withdraw to the east, because they did not know how badly he was needed on the Marne front. But Von Kluck must have suspected, for it is said that he told an aide that, "We have met with a great misfortune."

Von Kluck was right, for the masterly strategy of Joffre had won the battle of the Marne before a shot had been fired in that historic struggle.

These facts were gleaned from military men whom we met in France. They show how little the civilian population of a military zone, or even the soldiers themselves, know of the movements in which they are engaged.

Evidently Joffre had not confided his plans even to the government authorities at Paris, preferring to have the seat of government move and the population flee rather than take chances of these plans being learned by the enemy. So also at Reims.