The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-12-22
RUINS IN WAKE OF
ARMIES IN FRANCE
SCENES OF DESOLATION MARK
THE COUNTRY IN WHICH BIG
BATTLES HAVE RACED.
WHOLE VILLAGES WIPED OUT

liz Half Sheltered Shacks Women and
Children Sit Uttering Scarcely a
Word. Even in Drainage bitches
Many Graves Have Been Made.
VITRY LIE FRANCOIS.-Black
ruins, which have just ceased smol-
dering, houses whose interiors have
been demolished by bursting shells,
leaving only the skeletons Of their
structures standing, others with sides
blown out, still others where only
chimneystack remains erect are com
mon sights in this portion of the
track of the armies fighting a short
distance to the north.
Amid the desolation, in half-shel-
tered shacks, sit women and children
and old men, uttering scarcely a
word except about their husbands
and fathers and sons away with the
army, and from whom news is rare.
Lack of Iaborers makes it almost i'm
possible for the villagers to start any
repairs. Trade is at a standstill and
the common articles of domestic ne
cessity are difficult to obtain owing
to the dislocation of transport.
Only mile or two from Vitry the
villages of Frignicourt and Courde-
manange have virtually disappeared
except for disorderly heaps of bricks,
| tiles and stones, which a few weeks
ago were houses. The fighting around
here was some of the most terrible
of the war in its intensity. The fields
are dotted with deep holes made by
bursting German and French shells,
while all about are small mounds
showing the burial places of German
and French soldiers inferred where
they fell Even in the drainage
bitches along the roads many graves
were hastily made, and small crosses
formed of two broken branches of
trees placed over them, without name
or number to indicate the occupants.
The church of Courdemange, with
the exception of one house which did
not appear to have been hit seemed
to have suffered less than the other
structures of the village. This was
possibly owing to its strong walls
which are five feet in thickness. At
one corner, where large shell hit,
there is a deep indentation, while
splinters knocked out stones here and
there and shattered all the stained
glass windows.
The battle in Courdemange lasted
nearly three days before the. Ger
mans hurriedly departed through vi
try-le-Francois. In the streets of the
village the ground was thickly Gov
cred with corpses, which were later
inferred by the inhabitants.
Further away from Vitry is Nor
NEE. near Fere Champenoise. Nor
NEE before the war possessed about
100 houses. Now there are about go,
the rest having been blown to pieces
or burned. The village passed from
hand to hand several times during
the German retreat to the Aisne. 1t
is placed in a capital position for de-
tense from any side, and the oppos-
ing forces fought desperately for its
possession. In it's single street $40
German bodies were picked up one
day. as we'll as about 100 French
dead. Everywhere near was the scene
of furious combats and graves streW
all the fields, while the excellently
constructed and sheltered trenches
on all sides remain as they were dur
ing the battle, with pieces of explod-
ed shells and accoutrements spread
about. In the upper part of farm
house is a small opening whence a
shower of machine gun bullets was
poured on the advancing French with