The Cologne correspondent of Der Tyd says:

“An endless train rolls into the station at Cologne. In it have arrived 700 French prisoners taken at Muelhausen and Lagarde, Alsace-Lorraine. They were dressed in red trousers and short, dark-blue coats. One could see that they had been in a fight. They were unkempt and badly in need of a wash and a shave.

“I remember having read somewhere that a French Senator had declared there was a great shortage of shoes for the French troops. I have seen 100,000 German soldiers going to the front, every one of them wearing a brand new pair of russet shoes, heavy enough to withstand any campaign. But there were no such shoes among these French prisoners. Their footgear was of a flimsy character and worn so badly that in most cases their toes were protruding. They ate greedily of bread and drank eagerly the tea and coffee that were handed to them.

“The faces of most of them were blank and expressionless. They conversed among themselves in an undertone. I asked one something about Lagarde.

“‘I know nothing,’ he answered sullenly.

“But after I told him he was speaking with a Hollander and not with a German he modified his reply to: ‘I will say nothing, sir.’”