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Show FRENCH HAILED AS DELIVERERS Peasants Express Gratitude for the Aid Given Them by Americans. From a Staff Correspondent of the Associated Prss at thf French Front in France, Sunday, March 18. via Pans. March 19 - The French troops yesterday and today made one of the moM significant advances since the beginning of the war. Along a sixty-kilometer sixty-kilometer front, scrap hundreds of square kilometers refell into the hands of t hp French, while the Germans, retreating re-treating movement Rave no evidences of coming to a halt. This immense tract of reconquered territory was traversed today b a corrpspondent of the Associated Press, who found the inhabitants in many placps. where they were allowed to remain by the Germans, tearfulh joyous at the reappearance reap-pearance of their fellow countrymen, coming in as victors. Among the first words from the women wo-men and children who had been for thirty-two months in the hands of the Germans were expressions of grati- ludp to America. ' "Americans have kept us alive; oth erwise we would have died of hunger hun-ger " This was absolutply spontaneous, the stricken people not being aware that an American correspondent was present. Signs of a hnsl German departure are isible everywhere, especially in the villages and towns, in the shape of houses blown to fragmpnts by the incendiary in-cendiary bombs. In the distancp burn fng villages showed that the retreat was still in progress. Here and there were a few corpses of German soldiers, sol-diers, who evidently had been killed whilp acting as rear guards. Former Form-er Gprman positions are just heaps of scattered wirp entanglpmpnts and the trenches are half filled with water. Supply columns are proceeding In every direction, following the French pursuing troops, who keep close on tb hpels of the retreaiing Germans, not allowing them a moment's respite In thp villages of Candor and Las ny many women and childrpn still re-mained. re-mained. the rapid retirement not permitting per-mitting the Germans to carry them off with the may or, the assistant mayor and other officials. They asserted that everything they grew in their gardpus was requisitioned by the Oer-mans Oer-mans and the sole means of sustaining sustain-ing life was the food distributed by the Americans. Every month thp mayors or other village functionaries were called together whero the Am- erlcan representath e gave out supplies, sup-plies, and Hfp was sustained simply j by this moans. At Candor nparlv 20" women and children were left in German hands at the beginning of thp war The young mrn and girls were all carried off to Germany, their parents even now being ignorant of their where-i where-i abouts Those remaining were com-I com-I pellpd to do all kinds of work without payment and when, for rpligious reasons, rea-sons, thpy rpfuspd to work on Sundays, thpy were fined. Even boys over 12 .years of age assprt that they were j driven, often, under fire, to dig 'trenches for military iplephone wires. All schools had bpen closed since the (German occupation |
