Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 191, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1916 — BELGIUM NOW HAS SPLENDID ARMY [ARTICLE]

BELGIUM NOW HAS SPLENDID ARMY

Remarkable Piece of Work in Reorganization Accomplished Since October, 1914. TRIBUTE TO ZEAL OF KING Belgian Army More Numerous and Better Equipped Than It Was at Outbreak of the War—Difficulties Surmounted.

Paris. —It is hard indeed to recognize in the well-equipped and trained Belgian army of today the disheveled, war-weary troops who, at the end of a painful retreat and lacking almost every military necessity but courage, turned desperately to bay and helped to make history at the battle of the Yser. The reorganization accomplished since October, 1914, is a remarkable testimony to the energy Inspired by the example of King Albert and the zeal with which, often in very difficult circumstances, his officers have fulfilled their task. L The result of their efforts is that M. de BroquevfTle was able to declare recently that the Belgian army is more numerous and better equipped today than It was at the outbreak of war.

Start at the Beginning. When, in October, 1914, Antwerp was evacuated, the Belgian recruits who had joined and, being still without arms or equipment, had been employed in digging trenches round the city, were sent back to the neighborhood of Furnes. Driven thence by the approach of the Germans, they retired, under the command of Lieutenant General de Selliers de Moranville, to Dunkirk. Hence, in the face of innumerable difficulties, of which not the least was the lack of shipping, they were conveyed to Normandy where the whole work of preparing them for the front had to be

undertaken from the beginning. The men had to be lodged, clothed, armed and equipped far from their own invaded country. The French government rose to the occasion. An extensive camp and a number of large buildings in various parts of Normandy—barracks, convents and unemployed factories —were put at the disposal of the Belgians. Clothing was hard to find, and here again, for part of it, recourse was had to the French, although they themselves had barely enough for their own needs. A clothing depot was formed at Rouen, which obtained cloth from Elbeuf. Factories which had been closed for want of labor were reopened for the manufacture of equipment.

• Hospital Centers Created. Similarly at Rouen, and this time with the assistance of the British Red Cross, a hospital center was created, including a large portable hospital, situated above the town in a particularly healthy position, a section for mechanical treatment and a section for the manufacture of artificial limbs. Another hospital center, equally well equipped, was founded in the district of Rennes. Attached to these hospitalorganizations are convalescent homes. From the purely military point of view, the arrangements made by the general inspection of the Belgian army are wonderfully complete. There are centers for infantry training, an artillery school and depot, a machine-gun school, a bombing school and a school at which men coming from the convalescent homes are taught by “old soldiers” the latest “tricks of the trade” before returning to the trenches. Recruiting offices have been started in all French towns where assemblages of Belgian refugees are to be found, as also military establishments at all places through which the troops pass. Most important of all, a school, known as the “Centre d’ Instruction des Sous-lieutenants auxiliaires instructeurs,” has been opened, at which a great number of picked noncommissioned officers and spldiers are taught the command of platoons, thus insuring a steady supply of well-trained officers.