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Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury), 1876-1944

"Paths of Glory Impressions of War Written at and Near the Front"

This was rather a small man, quick and supple in his movements.
He had a limited command of English, and he appeared deeply desirous
that we Americans should have a good opinion of the behavior of his
troops and that we should say as much in what we wrote for our fellow
Americans to read.
Coming out of the house to reenter our automobile I saw, across the
small square of the town, which by now was quite in darkness, the flare
of a camp kitchen. I wanted very much to examine one of these wheeled
cook wagons at close range. An officer--the same who had first
approached us to examine our papers--accompanied me to explain its
workings and to point out the various compartments where the coal was
kept and the fuel, and the two big sunken pots where the stew was cooked
and the coffee was brewed. The thing proved to be cumbersome, which was
German, but it was most complete in detail, and that, take it, was
German too. While the officer rattled the steel lids the cook himself
stood rigidly alongside, with his fingers touching the seams of his
trousers.


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