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26o WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
all sides by barbed-wire entanglements ; a number of trees
had been felled to clear the range, and houses had been pulled
down, all—so it seemed now—needlessly !
The road was stone-paved and shaded by fine oaks and
beeches ; it passed through the villages of Donck, Eckeren,
and Cappellen. Quite close to the frontier we passed between
a couple of the extreme fortifications on the northern front.
These, too, were surrounded by barbed-wire entanglements
and an area of demolition, which had not been caused by the
attackers but by the defenders. In one place a barricade had
been erected right across the road—all to no purpose.
Dryhoek is the name of one of the northernmost works,
where we made a brief inspection, accompanied by a young
German lieutenant and a Belgian merchant, a friend of Consul
Petri. Dryhoek has been totally demolished, but the destruc-
tion was not wrought by German artillery. When the Com-
mander recognised that the fortifications would fall into the
hands of the Germans, he decided at least not to leave them
to the enemy in undamaged condition, and ordered the garrison
of about two hundred men to march off, whereupon he set
fire to the powder magazine and blew himself up together with
his fort. The great concrete blocks now lying scattered on the
site form a monument over his grave. Even if nothing is
won by such an act one cannot but recognise that it requires
rare fortitude and resolution.
The German lieutenant told me that several minor after-
explosions had taken place on the site. Yesterday he had
found among the ruins the arm of a man, evidently the Com-
mander’s, unless one of the men had remained to die with his
chief.
The fort was crescent-shaped, with four turrets for 12- and
15-cm. guns, having a range of 8-10 kilometres, and one
turret for 7.5-cm. guns, intended for short-range fighting.
This turret faced north, and was the only one which remained
intact besides the breastwork of sandbags for the defending
infantry.
All along the road we passed returning fugitives. At the
village of Putten the frontier post is in the middle of the
street, where the Dutch and the German flags float side by
side, and where Dutch soldiers guard the frontier. All pass-
ports are scrutinised here. As for ourselves, we had no diffi-
culty in being passed through, and we proceeded some distance
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