APPEAL ISSUED BY THE MAYOR OF NORWICH.
the Castle the German flag was now flying, the Britannia Barracks were being used by the enemy, food had all been seized, the streets were in a state of chaos, and a complete reign of terror had been created when a company of British infantry, having fired at some Uhlans, were ruthlessly shot down in the street close by the Maid’s Head Hotel.
An attempt at a barricade had been erected at the top of Prince of Wales’s Road, but the enemy, who came down the Aylsham Road, had soon cleared it. Many motor cars were seized from Howe’s garage, and the Norfolk Imperial Yeomanry, who were assembled at their headquarters in Tombland, were quickly discovered, disarmed, and dispersed. Green & Wright’s wholesale provision stores in Upper King Street, as well as Chandler’s in Prince of Wales’s Road, Wood’s in London Street, and many other grocers and provision-dealers were seized, the telegraph lines at the post-office were taken over by Germans, while, by reason of a shot fired from a window upon a German soldier who was passing, the whole block of buildings from the East Anglia Daily Press office, with Singer’s and the railway receiving office, was deliberately set on fire, and produced an alarming state of things.
In addition to this, the Mayor of Norwich was taken prisoner, lodged in the Castle, and held as surety for the well-behaviour of the town.
Everywhere Von Kronhelm’s famous proclamation was posted, and as the invaders poured into the city the inhabitants looked on in sullen silence, knowing that they were now under German military discipline, the most rigorous and drastic in the whole world.
The nation had, unfortunately, passed by unheeded the serious warnings of 1905-6. The authorities had remained impotent, and Mr. Haldane’s Army Scheme had proved useless. The War Office had only one power within it, that of the man who represented the Cabinet. The rest were mere instruments.
There were many reports of sharp brushes between our cavalry vedettes and those of the enemy. The latter belonged to the corps who had established their headquarters in Maldon, and among those killed was an officer named Von Pabst, who was a prisoner, and who was shot while escaping, and in whose pocket was found a letter addressed to a friend, a certain Captain Neuhaus, of Lothringen Pioneer Battalion, stationed at Darmstadt.
It was interesting, for it threw some light upon the manner that particular corps of the invaders had embarked at Antwerp, and had apparently been hurriedly written in the intervals of the writer’s duties with Prince Henry of Würtemburg’s staff. Having been secured, it was sent to London, and was as follows:—
“Maldon, England,
“Wednesday, September 5.
“My dear Neuhaus,—Behold me, here at last in the ‘tight little island,’ by the English so greatly boasted! So far, we have had absolutely our own way, and have hardly seen an enemy. But you will be glad to have some account of my experience in this never-to-be-forgotten expedition. I was, of course, overjoyed to find myself appointed to the staff of His Highness Prince Henry of Würtemburg, and having obtained leave to quit my garrison, started for Treves without a moment’s delay. Our troops were to enter Belgium ostensibly to quell the riots in Brussels. But the line was so continually blocked by troop-trains going west, that on arrival I found that he had gone with his army corps to Antwerp. There at last I was able to report myself—only just in time. My train got in at noon, and we sailed the same night.