Railway Journeys.
Once furnished with a proper passport, one has only to set out. By suitably arranging one's route, one can often take advantage of the local tramways. All other means of communication are extremely precarious. The automobile is forbidden. Horses have been requisitioned by the military authorities.
November 1914.
Official Railway Time-table
of railways at present operating in Belgium under the administration of the German Government. With details of journeys. Price, 0 fr. 10.
General Arrangements.
A certain number of trains have during the last few days been run over the Belgian railways by the German Government.
These are:—
1. Brussels—Aix-la-Chapelle.
2. Brussels—Lille.
3. Brussels—Namur.
4. Brussels—Charleroi.
5. Louvain—Charleroi.
6. Brussels—Antwerp.
7. Brussels—Courtrai.Owing to the defective state of the lines and the telegraphic and signalling apparatus, these trains can as yet travel only at a moderate pace, and the duration of the journey is not guaranteed. For this reason it is prudent to provide oneself on departure with the necessary provisions for the journey.
1. Brussels—Aix-la-Chapelle.
2. Brussels—Lille.
3. Brussels—Namur.
4. Brussels—Charleroi.
5. Louvain—Charleroi.
6. Brussels—Antwerp.
7. Brussels—Courtrai.
The time-table of the railways is often made up in such a way that the Belgian cannot make use of the trains. Thus the only train leaving Brussels for Mons in November 1914 reached Mons at 9 p.m. But after 9 p.m. it is forbidden to walk through the streets of Mons. The only train leaving Mons for Brussels leaves at 12.14 a.m., but one may not "circulate" in the streets of Mons earlier than 4 a.m.
We see to what extremities the Belgian population is reduced. Well, well!—despite all these difficulties, we have procured documents of great importance. We cannot, unfortunately, publish them all at this juncture; for they would result in the identification of those who conveyed them to us, and expose them to reprisals; and we have learned, to our cost, all that this term signifies according to the ideas of our present rulers.
This work, then, will necessarily be incomplete. We publish it only because we think it useful to demonstrate that in spite of all the annoyances which they receive at the hands of the Germans, the Belgians do not allow themselves to be intimidated. Moreover, whatever may be the provisional lacunæ (mostly intentional) of our documentation, we cannot in any case be reproached with falsification. This, whatever our enemies may think, is a point of capital importance.