The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-11-08
'front.' -A-|MOUssOAC CENTRE
d Of T.E| |: A. |: LIGHTING
First Bombardment OF Town EARLY
in August Followed Up in
So September.
FRENCH Now IN POSSESSION
Germans Are Driven Out, and Hum
sss dreds Are Slaughtered in Their
Desperate Efforts to Recapture 1t.
Total Losses Mover May BE Known.

Total Losses Never May BE Known.
correspondence of Associated Press.)
ONT-A-MOUSSON, November L.
Astride the last three-ihch gun of r
column of artillery, hanked OIL either
side by n Bavarian soldier with fixed
bnyonet. Monsieur Bertrand, n round
shouldercd. white-hnfred veteran of the
war OF 1870, and deputy mayor of
pont n -Mousson. was carried from the
city as chief hostage of the Germans,
In the procession: which marked the
end OF the occupation by three Ba-
varian regiments.
sPont- a-Mousson is n quiet town of
1900 Inhabitants, the possession OF
which was valuable to the Germans
only because OF its bridge which fur
nishes a convenient crossing of the
Mosclle on the road from Metz to Toul.
1t was attacked early in the war,
J partly for this reason and partly as the
result of the defective vision Of captive
. balloon observers. who mstook for
fortifications the antique ruins of
castle ut the village OF Mousson OH
hill TO the east of the bridge.
GERMANS DROP ZOO BOMBS
ON CITY OF MOUSSON
The 'first bombardment of the town
early in August was not followed up
until the first days of September, when
a&captive balloon appeared In the air
across the river and German aero
! planes commenced over.
the town. They dropped 200 bombs,
killing six and wounding great
number of civilians. but 1t was not
until the 5th that the ringing of tho
focsin announced to the citizens that
the Germans had appeared tho
other side OF the river in force. The
solemn tones of the bell were still
heard when q terrific dull explosion
shook the windows of every house;
the bridge from which the town de-
rfyes its name was no more, and i'm
nlediately after blowing 1t up the
French troops, in too small number
to. cope with the enemy, quit the town.
The captive balloon was seen again
4 70 rise In the distance and soon after
tue German heavy artillery began to
play on the dilapidated antique castle
on the hill. During thirty-stx hours
(, they showered great projectilcs OH that
spot, literally pulverizing what re-
lpained OF the walls, occasionally d.
r. Nerting q shell to the town, after which
they crossed the Moselle OIL an impro-
vfsed bridge and rushed up to the as
sSult of the supposed fortress, which
they found rs quiet as the grave. No
French soldiers had ever occupied II.
and what the Germans took for guns
from their captive balloon were simply
cleverly. disposed tree trunks, and the
fire which replied occasionally to their
guns to. complete the illusion, came
from behind the hill.
THE story OF the occupation of this
town is quite the same as has been SO
often told of other towns: hostages,
proclamatiOns and reQuiSltions. but 1t
did not last long. The morning of the
9th the impressive music of the French
three-inch guns was heard in the town;
at the same time n French neroplane
was seen to dart through the Sky I'm
the direction of the captive balloon,
which FASTENED to descend. These were
the prelimnaries of the battle of
Dteulouard, to which no dispatches
have referred by name, but which was
one of.the hloodlest in the action of
General Castelnau's army defending
Nancy.
"A continual procession OF improvised
aiI1bulances passed through the town
toward the bridge that night, and other
wagons with n more Rrewsome mis-
sion turned to the railroad station,
where inhabitants, retired to their
houses by order, saw loaded into all
kinds Of fiat cars. horse cars and cattle
cars the bodies OF those that fell that
day at Dieulouard. They were piled
asEhigh as they could he packed, and
charnel horses were hauled across the
frontier toward Metz.
NOT ONE OF REGIMENT
SEEN IN TOWN AGAIN
AS for the Sixty seventh Bavarian In
fantry, not one of this regiment was
ever seen again In the streets OF Pont-
a-Mousson, and three days later the
other troops of occupation left the
town.
September % the Germans made their
last attempt to recapture Pont-a- Nous.
son, ending i'm Il charge on the hill of
Saint Genevieve. The French position
at the summit had been. bombarded
the fire of the French seemed 10 have
been definitely silcnced. The order for
the assault was given. and to the mn-
sic OF the fife and drum. the Bdv2,rians
sistunce until they arrived Within a
hundred yards of the first line or
trenches. Almost to man che first
line went down. under the first Volley
that received them there, others rush
ing. on to take their places fell over
their comrades The ranks came on.as
if those In the rear had seen nothing
of this slaughter. and the machine
some places it was impossible to close
the ranks because the piles of bodies
separated them. and finally those heaps
oftdead and dying became the rampant
sheltered themselves TO protect me re-
treat OF those that were left. The
saint Gcneviere Hill was strewn with
bodies. and the soil saturated with the
blood of the Bavarians. and all efforts
TO reach Nancy from that poiEt were
definitely abandoned.
The total losses of that bloody en-
gagement are not known. because no
one on. this side of the frontier can
toll how many Bavarians went 10 the
assault, but II is certain that few got
PACK TO their camp at Pagny, and of
the three Bavarian resimen's that DC
that not hundred of them returned
to German soil.
GEORGE. PRYOR CHARGED