Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, June 28, 1919, Page 4

‘SEEING BATTLEFIELDS AND RUINED AREAS. OF FRANGE FOR FIRST TIME ‘Writer Desoribés Sehfations Experienced at First Sight of Devas- tation Left in Wake of War—Admiration for the Wonderful Spirit of the French People—Abandoned War Material: on All Sides, By C. 8. CLARK.: farls, France.—Standing amid. the ruins of Fort Douamont, just beyond: Verdun, and surveying the spectacle | of ruined villages, the tortured earth, the wasted and ‘shell-torn regions—the | awtul ~ destruction . and’' desolation stretching league after league in ‘ev- ery direction—one does not feel that- the peace terms handed to the Ger- man delegation at Versailles are too severe. One cannot look upon this work of fiends and feel that any punishment or any indemnities are: too great for the nation responsible. for the scenes that are everywhere apparent throughout: the northern part of France and Belgium. We followed the road taken by the second and third American armies on their way to the Argonne and Chateau Thierry sectors. Over hills, through valleys and quaint villages runs the road, as straight as an arrow for over & hundred kilometers, (about two kil- ometers to a mile) bordered on both sides by trees, which when their fo- Hage is out, forms a complete arch- way of the road. So straight are the roads constructed by theé government that frequently you can-see the next town at a distance of ten miles, usu- ally ‘with the cathedral standing ap- parently at the head of the street. Vilinges nestling- on the ‘hilisides or perched on the crest of a hill, come into view and disappear as we speed along an almost perfect “rue na- tionale” which connects the principal eities of France. Scenes of ‘Great Beauty. These picturesque villages, with their houses. of cement or stucco, red- tiled roofs, upon a background of green, present a scene that would enrapture the heart of an artist. The colors of. the scenery and the sky in France are incomparable. Passing through Claye, Meaux and Montmirail toward Challons, there are acres of farm land on both sides of the rondway. Hundreds of acres . are under cultivation and one won- ders where the men and yomen who |- till the land come from, for often there: are no houses In sight for many. miles. At 'the Inn-of the “Gallant of the Green Castle” in Montmirail, we stopped for the night. The inn had not been heated for months and, of | course, the bedding was very damp. Otherwise our rooms were most home- ke and -we. spent a comfortable night.' While the dew was still upon the grass we speeded toward St. Mene- hould and Verdun. Soon we came to within sight of the first grave—it was that of an.aviator—in the center of a whent fleld. The soldler had beén buried where he fell. We pass- ed hundreds of such graves during; the next few hours. The roadway was becoming more, uneven where the shell holes had not; been .filled up, and we found it neces- sary to reduce our speed. Entire vil- lages were deserted, and gaping shell, holes in the houses, the shattered roofs and the devastation needed no expla- nation. - We passed abandoned air- planes, army trucks, camions and guns: of every description. We passed numerous German pris- on camps. prisoners are being utilized wherever possible in repairing the bulldings, roadways and the part of the dam- age they have done. The Debris of War. Nearing Verdun we came upon many storehouses filled with ammu- nition—shells, hand grenades, and, other war material—that has never been removed from the containers. What ;to. do with the tons and tons of this ammunition is one of the af- ter-war problems. Miles and miles of narrow-gauge railrond lines were constructed over which the ammunition and supplies were sent to the front. These rail- road tracks, for many miles, are still undisturbed. Not a single entire house remains standing in Verdun, at one time the home of- 25,000 clvilians. Where once there were homes is now only a moun- tain of stones, brick, rubbish and gap- ing walls. The fort Is intact—at no point did the German guns penetrate the walls. We walked through four miles of tunnels under the forts, in which the Inhabitants lived with zhe soldiers during a part of the t"me the city was under fire. Fort Donamont, ten miles beyond Verdun, is merely a heap of stones and debris, entirely surrounded for miles: by torn and tortured earth re- sembling a plowed fleld, excepting for the the craters made by exploding shells. Here were the bones and skulls of dead Germans, empty shells, helmets and gas masks. Some of the, dugouts remain’ in the hillsides. This is a most desolate spot on the earth| excepting possibly “No Man’s Land” between Chdllons and Reims. ~ Reluctantly we retraced our steps - and returned to Ste. Menehould. Here we found an inn where we put up for. the, night. Bright and early with the sun at our backs, we started on a 70-mile ride: to Reims. By noon it was snowing hard. The road . between Challons and Reims had mot been .put in Eight hundred thousand X @s good repalr as in some other sec- tlons. Shell holes forced us to pro- ceed cautiously. Desolation Everywhere. We followed the Hindenburg line, which we crossed and .recrossed -sev- eral times during the morning. Miles of barbed-wire entanglements, dug- outs, trenches -and abandoned.- huts stretched along. the roadway. No | Man's land stretched before us for .fimiles. We reached Fort de la. Pom- ‘pelle shortly after noon. The fort had ‘been leveled to the groucd, but we were able to proceed 70 feet below the ground and along the tunnels lead- ing to No Man’s land. The bones of dead boches and horses are still un- buried. Here we found nbnndoned tanks and. guns. . Reims, a city of 125,000 hemrc the war, with many fine publie buildings, ncluding the cathedral, now has less han a dozen buildings standing and a population of 7,000 people. Refugees are just beginning to come back,’and +'a few shops are being opened. The beautiful cathedral with its wonderful stained glass ‘windows where : kings have been blessed, is a mass of ruins with nothing but the walls standing. German prisoners. were removing the stones, bricks and mortar from where. . the roof had fallen to the auditoriym below. It was, estimated that it would take a hundred prisoners weeks to remove the debris. German prisoners are being used ‘to repair the parts. of ' tbe .buildings that can be used as temporary quar- ters and in rebuilding the sewers and water systems. It was“here we saw Germans hitched to wagons. taking the | place of the horses they have killed or stolen./ Work of Fiends... The members of our party shud-, dered as we -gazed on-the spectacle of this ruined city. Could this be. the ~work of men or of fiends? Can such wounds be healed? Can the Germans who inflicted this destruction ever ob- tain forgiveness? To those In America whose only in- terest in war has been a desire to get over here “before everything is all cleaned up.”. I can send the message that they need not fret - if they' are dglaye(l a yeuar or two. Their chil- - THE:BEMIDJ1 DAILY: PIONEER Ipoémn -sexibbled: and scra\\led upo) flm walls, when we' found priceles: mpestrles' with spikes deliberately riven through them, when we found fitnmurv deliberately knocked about ‘with rifle butts and everything mov- able carried away, we wondered what sort, of men had dwelt therein. Just as it seemed-our hearts could stand no more, we came:upon a littie group/ of ' laughing, - kissing country folks—onme of our party caught enough of the conversation to learn-that mam- ma goat had-just successfully increas- ed the population with a baby goat— und France could even smile with so little assistance. We returned wit fnereased admi- ration of- the :French mnation and .a greater. appreciation. of the hardships that had been endured so heroically. Martyrdom of France. No.more pregnant emotion can grip the human soul. than those inspired by the scene we had beheld. Here men fought for empire and left their mark on nature. . These ruined villages, this tortured earth, this -awful desolation —stretching for miles In every direc- tion—unite in showing what men will do when they put:on the livery of im- perial militarism. We know now what France has suffered, and we know that all she has lost is a loss to the whole world. Her awful. martyrdom, her heroic endur- ance, her indomitable fortitude -cry aloud from these heaps of stone which waere once peaceful -homes or fhe cen- ters of Industrfal prosperity, now stilled for & brief time.only. In this war the spirit of evil sat upon the throne -and sent his slaves to chal- lenge civilization. In the providence of €od the end was certain. That end we saw on- the -battlefleld, for. theré l Satisfaotio nQuaranteed p— | GASr dren’s children will still look upon the} ruins of invaded France. " With the sun of spring but a few days old, it already begins to smell bad - in western Belglum and north- |_eastern France. Bones. of men and i horses are all about unburied. Great: “piles of ammunition and lines of ‘trenches lie just as if the troops: had ‘marched . away yesterday. No prog- ress has heen made in the restora- | tion of homes.. factories or stores: Mile after mile we sped through wrecked towns and villages in which civilian resiilents arve just bheing per- mitted to return, Vicious 'Desecration. * We stopped at a once famous coun- Ary ‘villa.:. The beautiful heme . had theen ‘occupied by German officers hen we went froin room to room and found filthy pjetures and abscene QASI GAS/! Hotpoint Electric Makes Coakmg a Pleasure despotism died’ ‘and ‘the' new Justice||'~ for-¥rance and.for the cause of right | was-born, We returned to Parls through ' Cha- teau. Thierry with ‘the conviction that- not a tenth of the devastation, de- struction and. looting has ever been told or ever can be. I have since read the peace terms with a new understanding and I deo not: wonder at-their severity, e ——— Subscribe for 'l‘he Daily . Pioneer: UR- reputation for business in- ¢ tegrity and profes- - sional wisdom is the public’s p_rotec- tion. 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