At the stations, weeping French women
dressed in black were not uncommon sights, having just heard
perhaps of the death, months before, of a husband, sweetheart
or son who had been mobilised with the French army.
The fortress city of Metz through which we passed seemed to be as
animated as a beehive. Trains were continuously passing. Artillery
was to be seen on the roads and automobiles were hurrying to and
fro.
The Great General Headquarters of the Kaiser for the Western
Front is in the town of Charleville-Mezieres, situated on the
Meuse in the Department of the Ardennes, which Department at that
time was the only French Department wholly in the possession of
the Germans. We were received at the railway station by several
officers and escorted in one of the Kaiser's automobiles, which had
been set apart for my use, to a villa in the town of Charleville,
owned by a French manufacturer named Perin. This pretty little red
brick villa had been christened by the Germans, "Sachsen Villa,"
because it had been occupied by the King of Saxony when he had
visited the Kaiser.
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