One
was, that all her trade with Germany should cease at once; secondly,
that none of her lighthouses should show light at night.
One of the German surgeons who used to operate at our hospital was
particularly ingenious in inventing tortures for me; I used to have to
help him in his operations, and he would recount to me with gusto how
the English had retreated from Mons, how the Germans were getting nearer
and nearer to Paris, how many English killed, wounded and prisoners
there were, and so on. One morning he began about the Fleet and said
that a great battle was going on in the North Sea, and going very badly
for the English. I had two brothers fighting in the North Sea of whom I
had no news since the war began, and I could bear it no longer, but fled
from the operating-room.
Charleroi and its neighbourhood was just one large German camp, its
position on the railway making it a particularly valuable base for them.
The proclamations and rules for the behaviour of the inhabitants became
daily more and more intolerant. It was forbidden to lock the door, or
open the window, or pull down the blinds, or allow your dog out of the
house; all German officers were to be saluted--and if there was any
doubt, any German soldier was to be saluted, and so on, day after day.
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