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48 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
Frenchmen only. They were treated otherwise in exactly
the same way as the Germans, but the old gentleman devoted
himself only to his countrymen. The latter, who were clearly
on the road to recovery, were singing cheery soldiers’ ditties
and delighted in recounting their experiences to anyone who
would listen. One of them had had three horses shot under
him on a critical occasion, but at last got hold of a mule which
enabled him to carry on his duties. " You need not believe
him if you don’t want to," said one of his comrades laughingly,
but he went on nevertheless with his tales and declared that
he slept like a child whUst the shells were falling thick around
him.
From the railway we drove to a private hospital, of which there
are several, supported by private contributions. This small
house had over sixty beds, of which fifty-three were now occupied
by soldiers. Forty Catholic sisters tended them. A sister of
refined and distinguished appearance took us round from bed
to bed, and Countess Moltke spoke in a friendly and interested
manner with all the wounded. Here lay men with bullets
through arms and legs, through a foot or a hand, or through
the lung. One had lost his right hand. Another felt his lung
wound only at the point where the bullet had passed out
through the back. A couple of French officers were lodged in
a separate room. All, and not least the Frenchmen, were very
satisfied with the treatment they received. Most of them had
been wounded at the battles of Vitry and Longwy.
It would take too long to describe all the interesting
acquaintances I made in Luxemburg and to introduce to the
reader all the eminent men with whom I spoke during the two
days I spent in this little town. Suffice it to mention the
Imperial Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg, the Foreign
Minister von Jagow, the War Minister Lieutenant-General
von Falkenhayn, and the Chief of the Imperial Volunteer
Automobile Corps the young Prince Waldemar, son of Prince
Henry.
The Main Headquarters are the head or rather the brain
of the army in the field, where all plans are made and from
which all orders are issued. It is an incredibly complicated
apparatus with an organisation of which every detail has been
prepared in advance. When an apparatus of this kind is
installed in a small town like Luxemburg, all hotels, schools,
barracks, Government offices, as well as a number of private
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