Into the Battle Zone
A BODY who was in Belgium at this time must
have been struck by the sudden and com-
plete change in the attitude of the civilian
population between the first and second days of the
Battle. That first day we felt that Belgium was
bringing to the struggle courageous and cheerful
comradeship: on the second day we saw her gloomy
and restless* The women were still on their door-
steps, but they averted their eyes as we passed or
perhaps raised them anxiously skywards, searching
for hostile aircraft.
'But what can be the matter with them?' I asked
Duncan.
'They've had a pasting/ he said.
Bombs had, of course, fallen here and there on the
villages, especially at cross-roads and level crossings,
but the damage had been slight. Nearly all of them
had missed the roads or the railways. There had
been two or three casualties, but all in all, the bombs
had been few and far between and looked to have
been pretty ineffectual. I was wrong. The bombing
had produced results of major military importance.
Not by the destruction of specific objectives, but by
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