Show tee tells I 1 I 1 s 0 H ON FA Wr by hauns united states mining expert investigates vesti gates coal and iron mines in france ARE SET BACK MANY YEARS frank H probert probest gives firsthand first hand story of unbelievable atrocities of huns in destroying industrial life of fr france nce and belgium washington fronk frank 11 II probert con consulting en engineer ineer of the bureau of alnea department of the interior nil and dean of if the college of mining ver of california member of a commission to investigate the done by the germains Germi ins during th war to the coal find and iron mines rind the steel works tork of france and belgium after a per personal flon has just returned to with a firsthand first hand liand story of the almost unbelievable atrocities of tile huns in the destruction and wreckage of the andu industrial talal life of fronce and Del belgium glum so systematic and diabolical has bas been this its destruction in one great coal mining region sir rrobert says that it will take tit at least five years yc ars to rehabilitate this district and it will be twelve to fifteen years before it gets back to normal prewar pre war output lie ile predicts that with the alie indomitable spirit of france in spite of the fearful destruction to her steel works with the return of alsace rind and lorraine Lorr alne to the mother land F france rance v hlll ill eventually become the dominant factor in ill the future steel In industry austry of europe exploited by invaders in a preliminary report to van 11 II manning director of the bureau of ri viles mr probert says in part early in the war the german hordes swept southward through the iron basins of french alsace rind and lorraine Lorra inc and for nearly four years tills this renowned mining area was held and exploited X by the invaders many of the employees were made captives captive and compelled to work in the mines under german direction the international boundary between france and germany was drawn in 1871 to give the victor of the franco prussian war control of the iron fields but since that time scientific development devel OPulent guided gu idil by a better understanding of the local geology exposed for france a greater ore reserve at lower horizons than that of the Lorr arhe ne annelee an the actual physical damage to the iron mines aines Is comparatively ihben hen compared to the destruction of the hie coal fields of northern france chich Is as reprehensible ns as it Is complete only in it a few cases achere here pillars have been robbed in tile the mines Is there any collapse of underground working but the equipment both surface and underground hns has been misused find and where ore has been mined mine the ahe lack of development will defer realization on capital until the exploratory work is sufficiently advanced to admit of daily output approximating prewar pre war wor conditions the mines are not seriously crippled hut but what abat of the steel plants in which rhe iron ores are smelted smelter smelt ed in my opinion no such atrocity was ever perpetrated against the industrial life of ony country magnificent plants comparing favorably with anything we have lit in the united states are now but a twisted mass of structural steel and broken stone the willful adno demolition it M was a s scientifically planned and systematically carried out tills this after the removal of all such lucli mcclinn ica arid and electrical power units as could be used by germany the maliciousness licious ness and efficiency with which this crime against french industry was carried out Is almost unbelievable in the coal districts of pas do calais and nord it a sector fought over from the beginning to the end of the war changing hands frequently bombarded I 1 1 led nil the lie binic all surface structures ur t 4 wh whether her of town village or wining mining enterprise have been razed arras I 1 donal bethune Gap Bapa aume time lens loos centers of coal man ing in activity but it a few years ago anil and the mainsprings main springs n ga of french industrial life are gone but the indomitable spirit of france survives arid and already plans tire are laid for the future bruny at the western edge of the known coal field was not in the fighting zone and its output has been steadily maintained but going enRi eastward the friant falness Is more and more appal appalling lZ for the hate of the hun left its mark marb on the alie mines during his forced retreat the coal measures are overlain by water vater bearing strata necessitating special methods of shaft sinking rind and support to keep the he mines dry the steel lining of the hie shafts was nias dynamited letting in tile the an anil I 1 flooding the underground workings for wiles miles around in the entire pas de calais region it I 1 Is S estimated that 32 ILO cubic meters of water must lie be pumped before mining operations arc resumed having flooded the mines the head bead frames arid and surface equipment were systematically dynamited the twisted debris lit in ninny cases filling up the demolished shafts |