Show SEEING battlefields ANO AND RUINED AREAS OF FRANCE FOR FIRST TIME writer describes sensations experienced at first sight of devastation left in wake of war admiration for the wonderful spirit of the french people abandoned war material on all sides by 0 8 CLARK I 1 inels it rl s france fiance standing amid the i ruins of fort foit just beyond verdun and surveying tile spectacle of ruled ruined villages the tortured earth eaith tile wasted find shell torn regions the irful destruct loti and desolation stretching league after league in ili every dirve direction tion our one does not feel that the peace terms handed to the german tit nt versailles art are too bevere ono one cannot look upon work of lenda fiends find feel that tiny punishment slit nent or tiny indemnities are too great for the nation responsible for or tile the scenes that are everywhere ter where apparent throughout tho the northern part of france and belgium wo followed the rod road taken by the second and third american armies on their way to tho the argonne and chateau thierry sectors over hills through valleys and quaint villages runs tho the rond ns as straight us its tin arrow for over tt a hundred kilometers about two ta kil to it fail mile bordered on both bogli sides by trees tree which holcli when liebi their fo lingo la ii out forms it i complete archway ny of the rond road so straight tire the roads constructed by the government that frequently you can seo see tho the next town tan nt a distance of ten tell miles usually with tile alie cathedral standing ap patently parent li ly tit nt tile head of the lie street villages nestling on tile the hillsides hll hill sides or perched on oil tile crest of it hill come into view and disappear us as we vo speed along alduk nn an almost perfect rw via nn tio nalo which connects tile cities of france scenes of great beauty these picturesque villages will etli their houses of if cement or stucco cu red tiled filed roofs upon a background of green present a I 1 that would enrapture the alie henrt heart of nn an tilt tho colors of the scenery anti the sky in ill vr ince ire are incomparable passing through Kli claye alvalle and toward st there are acres or of farm land on oil both sides sadeq of tho the roadway adny ro Ilund hundreds reds of tire arp under cultivation and one vona ou der apri 4 where diore the men inen find bonien wil hf till tile ian land come from for often there lire art no houses in sight for ninny many lillias lilli cs at the lie inn fall of ohp alit gallant of tho green castle lit in we stopped for the night the inn ina bild bad not been heated for mouths find of course the bedding was very ery damp otherwise pur our rooms were most homet homelike like and we spent a comfortable comfort able night nigh while the dew was still illion the erasm kr iss we MC speeded toward st I 1 meno mene hould atin verdun soon we came to within sight of tile the first graec it was chrit of nn nil ln in tle the center of it wheat field the soldier imd had been burled where lie he foil fell wr we pass ims e ed I 1 hundreds of such graver rn during the next foxy few hours the roadway was moro more uneven where tile shell holes hail not been filled up lip and wr we found it necessary to reduce our speed entire vil ill lart were deserted and raping gaping shell holes i lit in the houses tile shattered roofs and the devastation needed no explanation lItI tIOU wo we passed abandoned airplanes army arms trucks cani camione camions lons and guns of every description wo we passed numerous gernian gorning pris on oil camps eight hundred thousand prisoners tire being utilized wherever possible in repairing the buildings roadways and the part of the alie damage amago they havo have done the debris of war nearing verdun we caine upon many storehouses filled with ammunition shells hand grenades and other war mater material lal that hag ing never been removed from tho the containers what to do with the tons and tons tona of this ammunition Is one of the nf af ter war problems miles and miles of narrow gauge railroad lines were constructed over which the ammunition and supplies cupp lles were nvere sent seat to the front these railroad trassa for ninny many mil miles es are still undisturbed not it a single entire house remains standing lit in verdun at one time the homo ionic of civilians where once there were ere homes Is now only it mountain n i stones brick rubbish and gaping walls the fort la Is intact at no point lid did the gernian german guns gittis penetrate tile the walls we walked through four miles of tunnels under the flip forts tn in which tho the inhabitants lived with tile the sold soldiers lers hiring during a part of the time thilo tins the city was under fire fort bonamont Don amont ten tell miles beyond Jer verdun dun la Is merely a bead or of stones and debris entirely surrounded for miles mile by torn and tortured earth resembling sem el bling libling a plowed field excepting for the tile lie craters made by exploding shells etere were tile tho bones tin ind d skulls of dead germans german empty shells helmets elmets It and pas masks some ot of the dugouts remain lit in the hillsides hill sides tills la is a most desolate spot on the earth excepting possibly no mans land between Clin lions find It helms elins we retraced our steps stepi and return returned od to ste Mene hould here wt ae found till an liin flit where we put up lip for tile flight and early curly with tile the sun still at 0 our ur backs anve G started on a 70 nille mile ride to helms ily by noon it was snow snowing snowhill lill hard tho the road between Cli allons I 1 ind reims lind hall not been put in its s good repair us its in some other sections shell holes forced us its to proceed cautiously desolation everywhere wo we followed the line which we crossed and re crossed several times during tw lite morning miles allies of barbed wire entanglements entangle ments tit dug I 1 9 allt irene tren trendier hes dies anti abandoned ili dinits t 4 tr etched clied along the roadway no na mans land annd stretched before us for we reached fort lie dc la in pom poin polio shortly after noon the fort hail been leveled to the ground lint but we ere able to proceed 70 feet below the ground and along the tunnels lendins lending to no mans land the bones of dead bodies boches find horses are still un tilt burled liere here WP we found abandoned tanks and nuns guns le helms inix it city of before the war with jnnny any nn public building gs including tile cath edAil now tins less hail dinn a dozen buildings standing and a population of people refugees are just beginning to come back and a few shops tire being opened the beautiful cathedral with its wonderful str v 1 d l glass windows where king chave linau licen been blessed Is 19 it mass of cultis with nothing but tho the walls standing gernian were removing tile stones bricks and mortar front from whore where I 1 the roof hall had fallen to the flit I 1 below it was estil lintell that it I 1 would a hundred Tr loners to remove tile tho debris Ger gervina german vinn prison erit are being ased to repair tho the parts 0 of tile th lilyin lii yin that hint enn be usel used us its t ettl r arnd ili n the sy syte steins I 1 ins it wita here wpc w 1141 1 low pvn ganv till tn kythe the T place of tile lie horses they the have killed or stol vit work of fiends members of our party shuddered it us we gazed on tile the spectacle of tills mined alt city could tills this ho be tile the dvork of inen or of fiends call such rounds S bo be healed can the germans who inflicted Ill eted this destruction ever ob forgiveness to those in fit america whose only interest lit in war lias has been it i desire to get over here before everything ev erv thing Is nil all cleaned up lip I 1 inn can send the message that they need not fret if they the are delayed it year or two their children children viii mill still look upon the ruins of invaded france with tile the seiti of spring but it few days old oil it already ahead begins to smell bid bad in western belgium and northeastern france bones of men find horses tire nrc nit nil about unburied burled un great piles of ammunition anti and lines of trenches lie he just its s if the troops hall had marched away ye no progress lias has been made in the restora von ton of li leonies Iio nips onies factories or stores allo utter after mile we sped through wrecked tony and nil hinges villages in which civilian residents nrc are just being permit d to return vicious desecration we stopped nt at a once famous coun try tr villa UK the beautiful home flat been occupied by b german officers when we ve went mt from room to room ind and found filthy pictures biml id obscene scribbled and scrawled upon the walls alls when we c found priceless tapestries with spikes deliberately driven through gli them when han we vc found statuary deliberately knocked about with rifle butts find and everything movable carried anway aa we e wondered alint sort of men had dwelt therein just its as it seemed our hearts could stand no more 0 we o came upon ft a little group of laughing kissing country folks one of our party caught enough of the conversation to learn that main mn ma goat had just successfully success af ull full increased the population with ith n bab baby goit goat atil and france could even smile with so sa little assistance we retired with alth increased adint ration of if the french nation find a grenter appreciation of the hardships that ali it hail been endured so heroically martyrdom of france no more pregnant emotion carl grip the human q soul out than those inspired by the scone celle we e had bedad bell id here men fought for empire and left their mark on nil nature these ruined villages hinges tills tortured earth this awful desolation stretching retching gt tor for miles lit in every direction unite milte in showing what men inen will do when they put on lie fic livery of lin fin militarism I 1 we linow ann now what ant franco france lins has suffered and we know that all she has lost Is a loss to the whole world horld iler her awful martyrdom her heroic endurance her indomitable fortitude cry aloud front from these heaps of stone which were one once homes or the lie cen of industrial prosperity now still stilled for a brief time only in this war tile spirit of evil ell sat upon the alie throne anti and sent its his slaves ses to challenge civilization in the ho providence of lot the end was certain that end we saw on the battlefield for despotism despotis in died if ed and the new justice for france find for the cause of right was wa born we returned tinned rp to paris through t chateau with the conviction that not if tenth of the devastation destruction st and looting lias has ever eier been told or ever e er can be I 1 have since ince rend the pence peace terms with n new understanding and I 1 do not wonder nt at their severity |