There were introductions in German which our guide translated into Dutch, and a lot of elegant speeches about how Germany was foremost in humanity as well as martial valour.

Then they stood us sandwiches and beer, and we formed a procession for a tour of inspection.

There were two doctors, both mild-looking men in spectacles, and a couple of warders--under-officers of the good old burly, bullying sort I knew well.

That was the cement which kept the German Army together.

Her men were nothing to boast of on the average; no more were the officers, even in crack corps like the Guards and the Brandenburgers; but they seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of hard, competent N.C.O.s.
We marched round the wash-houses, the recreation-ground, the kitchens, the hospital--with nobody in it save one chap with the 'flu.' It didn't seem to be badly done.