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Show BURN FRENCH HOMES With the French Army in Champagne. Cham-pagne. Detachments of engineers from General Gournud's army ill exploring ex-ploring the region from which the Germans have been driven in this sector sec-tor have discovered in many villages evidence of the method by which the destruction of dwellings, churches ami other public buildings was organized. The region along the Itetourne abounds with Indications of willful devastation de-vastation of villages that were never within range of artillery, but were found razed. In others where houses were still erect they were mined for slow destruction, while the purely military installations, such as barracks built by the Germans for their own troops, were left Intact. Orders for the burning of .Tunvllle, a large village In the Valley of the Ketourne, arrived on the day of evacuation. evacu-ation. The pccnlc pleaded with the officers of-ficers to spare their h"iut s. hut the torch w::s pm to every house. The '-il!age was --no v::t brazier when the French entered It. Mont St. Remy shared the same fate. At Neuville, where a villager Implored Im-plored that his home might be spared, an ollicer replied : "I know it is an ignoble task, but such are our orders." C'batelet, Alincourt, P.ignicourt and Ville-Sur-lietourne were partly saved because the French troops pressed the Germans there so closely that the sappers sap-pers left behind to do the work were surprised. Some of these men fled before be-fore they could set off the mines which bad bec.ii prepared. Others were captured. cap-tured. It has been necessary from French sappers and miners to explore the eel-kit eel-kit of every house remaining intact in this region. Under most of them mines have been found. Mouths of wells were so mined that explosions : would till them with rock and earth. |