THE winter of 1916-17 proved more trying even than that preceding it. After the tyres were taken, came a demand for copper, and everyone was ordered to convey to central depôts all the specified articles he possessed in this metal.
This meant, for Belgians, not only the deprivation of kitchen utensils and other things necessary to a household, but, even more bitter, it meant providing the enemy with material to slaughter brothers and friends. Consequently every means was resorted to to avoid obedience, without incurring the drastic punishment promised all who resisted. Copper was hidden under floors, in carefully-replastered and repapered walls, under the earth in gardens and under coal in cellars—all such things as were then demanded, but, alas! not those demanded a short time later.
Treacherous servants rendered this defiance more perilous, as no one was sure not to be sold by a trusted butler or valet. The butler of one woman we knew had been with her for twenty years; and to him, as her husband and sons were at the front, she confided not only the hiding of copper but the fact that a younger son with her aid had crossed the frontier. He rewarded her confidence by insolently ignoring his position as servant and assuming an attitude of equality with her. Every order she gave was referred to another servant, while the butler sat comfortably in the drawing-room, smoking cigarettes in her presence! We ourselves were obliged to unearth our carefully buried copper at midnight and rebury it in another place owing to the dismissal of a gardener who had assisted at the first interment! Not that he threatened to betray us, and more than likely he would not have done so, but the consequences were too serious to risk.
Examples were made of those found to have hidden their copper, who not only had every particle of the metal taken, but in some cases were pillaged of all valuables, fined, and imprisoned. Neutrals were not exempt, and a story was told me of a Swiss family who offered resistance when their home was invaded by armed soldiers. After ordering the men out, they threatened to send for Belgian police, and were at once subjected to the most abominable treatment. Every ornament, lock, and door-handle of brass or copper was wrenched off; chandeliers were ruthlessly dragged from the ceilings; and the soldiers, after causing general havoc, announced, on departing, that a van would come the following day to take away piano, pictures, and other things of value. I cannot say if this threat was carried out, nor can I vouch for the story, as it came to me third-hand. But I myself witnessed one of these plundering raids, when a Belgian’s house was entirely gutted, and can relate the experience of a Greek family told me by the daughter, whom I knew well. They too, as neutrals, ignored the order to deliver their household goods, and, since they had not attempted to conceal them, were astounded when the soldiers arrived.
“Why do you come to us who are in no way implicated in the war?” demanded the Hellenic matron; and the plunderer replied: “That is of no consequence; all must obey, neutral or not neutral! We need the copper, that is enough.”
“But I need it too!” argued the lady. “What am I to do without my pots and kettles? It’s an outrage to treat Greeks as you do your enemies!”
“Greeks!” roared the soldier; “what have the Greeks done for us? If they are not fighting us to-day, they will be to-morrow!”
“But we are really your allies!” ventured the lady, changing her tactics; “although Greek by birth, my husband is a Turk by adoption.”
“Good!” was the reply. “If you are our allies you should yield everything without a murmur, and should have done so long ago. Since you have not done this, which it was your duty to do, we shall take everything you possess in copper or brass—even your ornaments!”