When the Prince heard of the recapture, he jumped on a horse and galloped off after the retiring troops.
Three aeroplanes were circling above to discover and rescue the Prince. Two of the aviators who attempted to descend came into the Russian fire and were disabled.
By this time the Prince was with a number of German troops completely surrounded by Russians. His position seemed very critical. Just in the nick of time the third machine came down near him and the Prince, taking a seat thereon, was borne away to safety.
A correspondent of the Central News in northwestern France says:
"In attempting to destroy a railroad station, a Taube aeroplane dropped two bombs on Hazebrouck. The first did no harm, but, on returning, the aeroplane dropped a bomb on a curious crowd gathered about a hole made by the first missile, killing ten and wounding five civilians, including women and children."
A quick command from General Bertrand at Haecht turned a retreat of the Belgian forces into an attack in much the same manner as that in which General Sheridan rallied the Union forces at the battle of Winchester in the Civil War. The story is printed in the _Currier des Armes_, the official Belgian soldiers' paper.
General Bertrand, who succeeded General Leman in command of the division which withstood the Germans at Liége, suddenly found his troops in retreat.
"Friends," he shouted, "you've mistaken the road! The enemy is in the other direction!"
Electrified by their leader's words, the soldiers wheeled about and charged the German troops with renewed vigor.
On another occasion the general is declared to have stopped an attack of two Belgian companies upon each other by rushing between their lines and singing a popular ditty. Until they heard the general's voice, the soldiers did not realize that they were firing on their own countrymen.
The general is fifty-seven years old. He was a second lieutenant at twenty years, and became a major-general last March.
While previously soldiers of the Jewish faith have never attained any rank in the German army, now promotion is given wholesale.
In the Prussian army alone, twelve Jews have just been promoted to be officers; in the Bavarian army another twelve, and one each in the Saxon and Wurttemberg armies. Seven hundred and ten Jews have received the Iron Cross, which some have refused to wear because it is the emblem of the Christian faith.