A letter from a Belgian grenadier reported about the effects of German cannons. He told about a long battle the Belgians fought against the Germans and that they were hungry, thirsty and tired, but that the situation helped them to achieve more. They had to flee from the house where they hid because it was destroyed. They hid the whole night in a cistern with their legs in the water. The next day, the Germans had disappeared and the Belgian soldiers put on the clothes of their dead comrades because their own were wet and burned. They found their own regiment, marched forward until they got into another battle lasting eight hours against the horrible German cannons. Many of the Belgians died or were wounded. When they could finally flee, they reached a river, where many of them drowned.
(„Auf der Flucht“, Berliner Journal, 30 December 1914)