Show I CLOSING SCENES I OF WORLD WAR ARE RECALLED Where Fighting of Famous American ican Divisions Was M Most Effective Writing In the Philadelphia Ledger Corliss Hooven Griffis gave the following follow follow- following ling ing graphic description of war torn war torn France and Belgium at the close of the contest The village of Le Catelet which is Isi i 1 mostly destroyed was the scene of the most Intense fighting when it was reached by the Twenty-seventh Twenty divi divi- sion To the south through Vaux- Vaux is the battleground of the Thirtieth In this sector we wo saw the tunnel made by bj the St St- Quentin canal as It runs for more than three miles below the surface of the ground This tunnel built by Napoleon Is a very unusual thing It was employed extensively extensively extensively ex ex- by the Germans as a safe rest billet and they fitted up the tho tunnel tunnel tunnel tun tun- nel with commodious quarters offices kitchens and even stables When the I I i I I I i I I I I tr r r t x fa I MOHun NT TO 0 THE DEAD DEAD CHATEAU DU Ou LOIRE LOIR INDr EaT tT LOH LOIRE E. E Americans captured this part of the canal they took many prisoners here as the enemy poured out of the entrance entrance entrance en en- trance to their underground quarters like rabbits out of at a warren One route led on through Cambrai and Lille Into Belgium After After- crossing the Belgian frontier we came upon the sectors that were fought over oyer by the Thirty seventh and Ninety first dIvisions divi dIvi- Here as a part of the Sixth French arm army they assisted In driving the Germans across the Scheidt river Belgium Is not Dot France and there Isn is isa isa a n world of at difference in many ways In the first place the houses are all of or red brick instead of stone And this gives every village a decidedly dust dusty appearance The TIle trees along the roads are different and windmills dot the landscape with waving arms firms The country though flat flut Is decidedly beautiful beautiful beau beau- because of at the care It receives So crowded moreover are conditions In Belgium with houses and villages ever everywhere where that the whole conn country try reminds reI reminds re re- minds one of at passing through the suburbs of at some large city I Belgian Reconstruction I Of course Belgium also has tremendous tremendous tre tre- I and pitiful areas where the war has effaced everything but as German reparations payments have IHne been made to Belgium first the recon recon- 1 work here is further along than it is In France Yet there still sUB remains remains re re- re- re mains a vast amount to be done For example we passed through a n great groat deal of at devastation between ut and From on our way to Ypres and crossing the border until we arrived at Lille In France on the life Journey back we did not see one tree trea left standing or one house that had survived the war For miles and miles hour upon hour we wc rode through a scene of such desolation as asIt asit asit It Is Impossible to comprehend There Is no doubt that the two outstanding outstanding outstanding out out- standing cities of the war were Verdun Verdun Verdun Ver Ver- dun and Ypres So much Is associated with these two places that their chronicles chronicles chron chron- almost embody the story of the war In them the thc hopes and fears and miseries of two nations were bound up Yet after seeing both Verdun impresses Impresses Impresses Im Im- presses us as terrible but hut glorious gorious Ypres as pre-eminently pre tragic Wo We had heard so much of ot Ypres reading rending of at the tho struggle there evel every everyday everyday day for years that it seemed as if we ought to know the tho city when we sow saw it On the way we rode down the famous fa famous fa- fa road Never Ne In all history history history his his- I fa-I tory has any road rond been so bathed in blood as this this fought fought over Incessantly as It was for four long long- years Following Following Follow low I ing It takes one through the heart of the most terrible of the British fightIng fightIng fighting fight- fight Ing zones and panoramas of battlefields battlefields battle hattle- fields unfold before the er eye eyo as mile after mile Is traversed We Ve passed through one area where we counted fourteen tl nl tanks s In the surrounding surrounding sur sur- rounding fields lying just t where here they had been put out of 01 grim relics lelle of ot a 3 furious furlow battle hatte Not Kot e even en n the stumps of trees are left here the here the devastation Is utter complete Tragedy at Hog Close upon Ypres wo wu passed through h hn a n little UttIe cluster of wooden shocks the shacks the the name of at the place was Hooge It gave me a shiver to see It for noo Hoose c was one of the deadliest spots of the lie entire war It was here t that at the Hun first used the diabolical Invention of liquid fire tIre on July 30 1915 and the British were literally burned alive It was also at Hooge durin during the German attack attack attack at at- tack that the Canadians lost ost mote more than men a startling percentage of at their fighting force on Tune June 2 1010 uno In this vicinity where little attempt has hns been made to cultivate ate the ground again there Is not one foot of the soil which has hos not been blown up at some time Along th the roadside we passed many British cemeteries and these gave the final note of tragedy cd tc It all nil Ypres Is so thoroughly ruined that there is very little HUle left to see sec The remnants of the once magnificent Cloth I hall and cathedral dominate what Is left of ot the town and are Impressive even In their shattered condition Rebuilding Rebuilding Re Re- building Is now going forward In Ypres so rapidly that before long much I of the devastation de will have been removed removed re reo moved but it will take many ninny long lon years to efface the devastation in the hearts of countless thousands wrought by the Germans at Ypres It Is impossible impossible im im- im possible to escape a n feeling of horror upon entering the city today todar and yet there Is Inspiration too for Ypres means nothing If it not courage co and devotion devotion devotion de de- to duty duty and and sacrifice r f l I ski |