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140 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
been erected in memory of the great victorious marshal, him-
self a native of Sedan. In the market-place is the office
of the Sedan Intermediate Base Commandant, located in a
better-class cafe, in which busy clerks have taken the places
formerly occupied by the habitues of the place. Here we
happened to come across a most unusual sight,—a couple of
civilians from Germany, who have come to see about the
body of a killed relative. The dead man had been traced,
and if they could identify his body they would have a zinc
coffin made and take him home.
From there I proceeded to the Hotel Croix d’Or to call on
General Baron von Seckendorff, who is Inspector of the Lines
of Communication of the Fourth Army. The " Inspectorate
"
comprises, besides its Staff—the Chief of which is Colonel von
Kemnitz—a variety of administrative branches, with sub-
ordinate organisations and establishments. One may truly
say that whole armies and endless processions of transport
columns of various kinds pass through General von Secken-
dorff’s hands. The task of the lines of communication organisa-
tion in general is, on the one hand, to arrange for bringing up
to the army reserve troops and material of all kinds, and,
on the other hand, to relieve the fighting troops of the wounded,
prisoners, booty of war, and all worn-out material. As already
hinted, each class of requirements has its own representative
in the Line of Communication Inspectorate. There are
supervisors for the provisioning and for the hospitals, for
ammunition supply and store maintenance, for the railway
traffic, for the telegraph, post-office, and road and hydraulic
construction departments, for administration of justice and
maintenance of law and order, and for civil administration.
It is an immense burden of labour that rests on the shoulders
of an inspector of the line of communication. There must
be no hitch anywhere. The troop trains must not come too
late ; the ammunition and commissariat supply trains must
arrive at stated times and places. Nothing must go wrong.
The inspector must know how to find ways and means in all
emergencies, must think of and foresee everything,—else
incalculable calamities may arise.
It might not be out of place here to give a short outline of
the manner in which the lines of communication between the
fighting troops and the home base are arranged.
I reproduce a diagram showing the arrangement of the
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