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Morleville diary, 4 August-15 November 1914
MLDOC 2445
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Translation of my French diary
Started on the 4th August,1914
August 4th.
War. My God pity Belgium.
I enlisted today in the 3rd cycle corp(dispatch riders.
Being a military cadet I passed the doctors easily. I hope I will soon fighting
because my two eldest brothers are already fighting in Liege.
August 5th.
Volunteers are pouring in. we are training day and night. the news we get from Liege is terrible. Viseis in flames. Most of the population has been murdered by the Germans.
August 7th.
To the front at last. We are send to stop the Uhlans from destroying everything. They are the worst of all. Raiding the villages and towns, murdering destroying everywhere they pass, but they seem to be scared of us. When they see us coming they run for their lives.
August 10th
Ours troops are splendid. Liege is holding out despite the heavy german attacks. The Germans won't break through if the English or French arrive in time. Today we fond an officer of our company hanged by his feet to a tree. He was horribly mutilated Is this the way the Germans treat their prisoners. In the afternoon we caught a german spy. The coutry is full of them. We executed him without waiting for instructions.
August 12th.
News from the front is getting bad. The germans have broen through the line of forts ar Liege.They have occupied the town Seven forts are still holding out. We are retreating. The roads are congested by refugees fleeing before the invaders. Our allies seem to have forgotten us. And yet it is for them that we are sacrificing our own little country. The germans are advancing rapidly towards Namur and Brussels. We are doing s our best to stop them, but what is one man against twenty