s
almost invariably set fire to their own villages.

On Aug. 24 we first entered battle; I led a combined brigade
consisting of ----. The regiment fought splendidly, and in spite of
the gigantic strain put upon it, it is in the best of spirits and full
of the joy of battle. On that day I was for a long time in the
sharpest rifle and artillery fire. Since that time there have been
almost daily skirmishes and continual long marches; the enemy stalks
ahead of us in seven-league boots. On Aug. 26 we put behind us a
march of exactly twenty-three hours, from 6:30 o'clock in the morning
till 5:30 the next morning. With all that, I was supposed to lead my
regiment across a bridge to take a position guarding a new bridge in
course of construction; but the bridge, as we discovered in the nick
of time, was mined; twenty minutes later it flew into the air.

After resting for three hours in a field of stubble, and after we had
all eaten in common with the men in a field kitchen--as we usually
do--we continued marching till dark.

The spirit among our men is excellent. Tonight I am to have a real
bed--the fourth, I believe, since the war began. Today I undressed for
the first time in eight days.

Letter of Paul Oskar Hoecker

The German novelist, Paul Oskar Hoecker is a Captain of the
Landwehr.

I wanted to write to you from the village of D., which we captured by
storm. Hundreds of Frenchmen, upon the retreat of their troops,
preferred to flee to the cellars, where they promptly transformed
themselves into civilians. Our battalion had orders to conduct
investigations, arrest those apparently liable to military service,
and to take possession of all arms. Unexpectedly large stores of
ammunition thus fell into our hands. Among these seizures were many
chests containing dumdum bullets and bearing the stamp of the
ammunition factory where they were made. The cartridges were intended
for use in carabines. Accordingly, it would seem to be chiefly a
question of the unlawful use of these missiles, repulsive to the laws
of nations, by bicycle and scout corps.

These bullets lay also in a factory package in a writing desk next to
a draft of the last will and testament which Monsieur le Capitaine
wrote out on the first day of mobilization: He bequeathed his cash
fortune of 110,000 francs, as well as his household furniture and his
two hunting dogs, to Mme. Isabelle H. The forsaken Mme. Isabelle, who
sought distant a