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i8 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
every stall was occupied by recently requisitioned farm
horses, fat and sleek and contented in their new unaccustomed
surroundings. As regards the men, they were all volunteers,
who had offered themselves in far greater numbers than were
needed. Just as we were walking across the yard a detach-
ment drove in at full speed with its loads of masts and wire.
It had been out practising, and the precision and resolution
which distinguished the work of the men was astonishing,
seeing that they had only had four weeks’ training. One of
them, by the scars on his cheeks, showed himself to be an
old University student, and was now headmaster in a school.
When addressed by the Colonel he came to attention and
saluted with a smartness which made us suspect that he
preferred the driver’s seat on a field telegraph lorry to the
schoolmaster’s desk. We also visited the immense sheds
containing the wagons with their substantial provision for
batteries, telegraph and telephone apparatus, insulators,
tools, wires and the innumerable objects required for field
telegraph lines. The wagons, which are motor-driven,
resemble enormous but well-built and graceful boxes. They
are of immense weight and can only be used on paved or
macadamised roads. On the Polish roads, soaked by the
autumn rains, they would not get far. But on the western
front it is sufficient if they keep to the main roads, where they
are stationed at suitable points as depots from which supplies
are conveyed in lighter vehicles to the spot where they are
wanted. One store shed contained perfect mountains of
gigantic wire coils. The wire seemed to me somewhat thin,
but I was told that it fully answers its purpose. The Colonel
showed me the lances by means of which experienced and
expert riders throw up the telegraph and telephone wires
among the branches of an avenue of trees. When I saw all
these heavy lumbering vehicles and appliances and all these
thousands of miles of wire, the idea crossed my mind that it
was all very well when it was all ranged up before one as at
an exhibition in Berlin, but how would it all work out in war ?
Was it possible that everything would turn out as calculated ?
Would the wagons arrive in time and would there not be
endless bother with all these wires in trees and on the ground ?
I was soon to learn how wonderfully everything panned out
and with what meticulous care every detail was superintended
by trained soldiers.
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