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Show BMI TROOPS wrjraf Army of Republic Celebrates Cele-brates Allied Triumph Over the Huns. Captors, Released, Join in Jubilant Scenes at the Front. WITH THE FRENCH A KMT IN FRANCE, Monday, Nov. 11. (By the Associated As-sociated Press.) Celebrations of tho signing sign-ing of the armistice were general today and tonight over the entire front held by the ronch troops. The demonstrations wert participated in by soldiers and clti-r clti-r :ensj liberated villages. ijiU Chinwy war correspondents passing wr through the town were taken for allied ' army officers and were drawn into the processions and compelled to join in the singing' of the allied national anthems. "For four years we have waited for this day," the people shouted. "Just think of it, the Germans have gone! Chl-may Chl-may will never seen another day like lis." Crowds gathered in front of the French colonel's headquarters and joined hands, danced, sang and cheered the French, British and Americans in turn. Hidden stores came forth from the most unsuspected unsus-pected places as the rejoicings went on. Meanwhile columns of French troops and convoys with supplies filed along the roads leading into Belgium with the same methodical regularity as during the days of pursuit. Captives Are Freed. Early today the same road taken by the envoys was followed in opposite direction direc-tion by two French soldiers who, perhaps, per-haps, were the last two captives to escape. es-cape. They had been taken prisoner in hattles of July on Chateau Thierry salient and were kept Just behind the lines. During Dur-ing the entire retreat they saw the declining declin-ing phases of Germany's military power. They were able to confirm the impression that lack of transportation equipment was one of the causes of the final breakdown of the great fighting machine. "With American and British prisoners the men took the places of horses and motors that were lacking and dragged back heavy guns in the successive retreats re-treats to the Belgian frontier. They witnessed the gradual crumbling r of the marvelous organization that, "in spite of the dwindling of equipment and constantly constant-ly diminishing facilities for movement, had maintained order in the withdrawal of troops and material nearly to the last minute a nd prevt nted the retreat from turning into an immense military disaster. dis-aster. Fireworks at Night. Fireworks displays went on all night long. They were witnessed from a convoy con-voy i of seven powerful motor cars that madjt a halt at Guise about 8 o'clock in .jhaacvening to replenish the gasoline Tervoirs. In the lead of this con'oy v.Aand in the rear were French cars, while 3 the oifcer cars bore on their sides the im-ijB im-ijB perial black eagle. At the sight of this fB.inmistakeable mark of identity, crowds 5.f French soldiers gathered around the fg'oys to get a sight of tho German en-vyV en-vyV who, a few hours before had signed the cbcument that released them from their hard work of war. Only the younger officers alighted in the mud during the replenishing operations. opera-tions. The gathering crowd watched the other cars in order to catch a sight of the notable members of the party, but in vain. Not a shout or even a loud remark was heard from the crowd of onlookers. The incident passed in such grave quiet on the part of th-2 French that tho low conversation of the German officers gathered gath-ered around the cars was audible. "When the big machines rolled away in the mist toward Belgium the throng broke up without once having lacked consideration for the representatives of tho fallen power. Striking Contrast. The Belgian frontier the retreating columns found to present a most striking contrast. For more than a hundred miles they had seen not a single domestic animal, ani-mal, not a sign of life In any form detached de-tached from the war excepting the stray cats in the ruin id villages. When they reached the frontier crossing cross-ing it seemed like coming back into life. There fowls were feeding in the streets and farmyards, cows were graztng'in tho pastures and pigs were wallowing in their sties. The villages were intact and the railroad rail-road yards crowded with trains heavil' loaded with all the accessories of war, ready fcr departure towards Germany. Those trains are still there. At Fourmies on the French side and at Chlmay, just across the border, trains more than a mile long fell into the hands of French troops, with billions of francs worth f of material which included vast quantities of copper in the form of shell and mine cases. Part of this was this afternoon finding its way into the homes from which it was taken in the form of copper cop-per kettles, pans and other household utensils. It was impossible to obtain here the slightest impression as to how the end of the hostilities impressed the soldiers of the vanquished army. Contact was broken early in the morning after having hav-ing been maintained with difficulty during dur-ing the past few days. The Germans everywhere were retiring so rapidly that ! the allies' advance guards were unable to catch up with them. |