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126 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
grazing cattle, fields with ploughs at work, country roads and
metalled high roads lined by two long rows of trees vanishing
in the distance. In the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg one sees
no houses wrecked by shells, no people rendered homeless. It
is true that the billeting of German troops has caused some
inconvenience, but the inhabitants have received full com-
pensation for all that has been taken.
On the roads one sees no marching troops, no toiling
columns. And why—so near to the front ? It is because, as
far as the railways are worked in conjunction with the German
railway system, they carry out almost the whole of the trans-
port. It is only when railway traffic comes to a stop that
recourse must be had to lines of communication by road.
Hence the country on both sides of the railway looks quite
flourishing, often idyllic. The only thing that reminds us of
war are the sights which meet us at the railway stations, and
the guards posted along the line. These guards are frequently
stationed at such short intervals as to be actually in sight of
each other. German railway corps troops are responsible for
the traffic. The Landsturm attends to the guarding of the
line. There you may see men of over forty, clothed in the
dark-blue tunic with red collar and light-blue shoulder-
straps, black trousers with a narrow red stripe, and peakless
blue caps with red band. All are armed with rifles. It is
especially at bridges and other important points of the line
that one is sure to see these loyal trusty fellows, pacing to
and fro,—just as they are doing in every other part of the
German Empire. They are always there, always vigilant.
Lieb Vaterland, magst ruhig sein. . . .
Our route takes us via Mamer and Kapellen. The country
is rather flat ;
gently undulating, sunlit fields extend in every
direction. Between two stations the train pulls up—^we
wonder why. At last we see a long train of empty carriages,
nothing but goods-trucks, running up by our side on the up
line. There does not seem to be a soul in it and one can hear
how empty it is by its hollow ring as it rumbles by. It has
carried a body of fresh troops as a reinforcement for one of
the armies, and is now hurrying back through Luxemburg to
fetch another. When the train has passed by, we run on to
Kleinbettingen, where not a single civilian is to be seen, only
some twenty of the usual trusty blue Landsturm men.
Sterpenich ! So we are now on Belgian soil. There is no
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