"
One mile from where we were billeted on the Belgian coast stood a villa
owned by a German. It lay between St. Idesbald and Coxyde Bains, on a
sand dune, commanding the Channel. After the war broke out the Belgians
examined it and found it was a fortification. Its walls were of six-foot
thickness, of heavy blocks of stone and concrete. Its massive flooring
was cleverly disguised by a layer of fancy tiling. Its interior was
fitted with little compartments for hydraulic apparatus for raising
weights, and there was a tangle of wires and pipes. Dynamite cleared
away the upper stories. Workmen hacked away the lower story, piece by
piece, during several weeks of our stay. Two members of our corps
inspected the interior. It lay just off the excellent road that runs
from St. Idesbald to Coxyde Bains, up which ammunition could be fed to
it for its coast defense work. The Germans expected an easy march down
the coast, with these safety stations ready for them at points of
need.[A]
A Belgian soldier rode into a Belgian village one evening at twilight
during the early days of the war. An old peasant woman, deceived
because of the darkness, and thinking him to be a German Uhlan, rushed
up to him and said, "Look out--the Belgians are here." It was the work
of these spies to give information to the marauding Uhlans as to whether
any hostile garrison was stationed in the town.
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