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134 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
all, stretchers and bedding are never lacking, and the helping
hands never tire. The wounded Frenchmen are treated with
the same kindness as their own wounded, perhaps even better,
as nearly all have a feeling of compassion for those who have
fallen into an enemy’s hands and who, apart from their wounds,
must suffer at the thought that their native country is bleeding
under the hostile invasion. Sedan station is like a swarming
beehive. Ambulance trains are not the only ones to be seen ;
frequent trains loaded with fresh troops also run into the
station. There is also a considerable number of prisoners.
Most frequent of all are the supply and ammunition trains
from the north, and trains with captured or worn-out war
material from the south. Now night is hovering, cold and
starry, over Sedan, rich in memories of the past. But to those
who are working here for the sake of tending the wounded and
providing food, there is no difference between night and day.
It is a puzzle to me how the officers, doctors, nurses and
working staff can stand it. The force which impels them and
prevents their breaking down with fatigue, is the love of their
fatherland, which is now fighting its greatest and most fateful
war.
During our hurried round the Major narrates some episodes
of the locality. The bridge across the Meuse was blown up by
the French, and after the street-lighting some civilians fired
from the windows. A fine of two hundred thousand francs was
therefore levied on the town. A few days later, shots were fired
again from houses in the town, and the war contribution was
increased by half a million francs, to be paid within forty-eight
hours. The Maire was given the somewhat unpleasant task
of raising this sum. It was paid after fruitless representations
as to the difficulties. If we try, in an entirely objective manner,
to enter into the psychological currents which in such cases
stir the minds of the French and of the Germans, we come to
the following result : The Germans consider that, when a town
has been conquered by them in honest and open fight, they are
its masters, and the fight is therefore ended. The French
citizens who are armed and have seen that their own troops
are unable to defend the town, nevertheless nourish a mad
hope that they can check the invasion and prevent the enemy
from taking up his quarters there. They fire in frenzy and
hatred, forgetting that a few fatal shots signify nothing in the
serried ranks of disciplined soldiers. Nor do they realise that
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