South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-09-19
ALLIES LEFT WING
ADVANCES AS CROWN
PRINCE RETREATS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE)
the Germans purposely picked off the
officers SO as to leave the French
troops leaderless.
Admits Youths to Army.
Napoleon said:
France needs mothers"
The needs which inspired that re-
mark are present today, it is shown
by the government issuing a decree bv
which men of less than 20 years are
TO be admitted into the army as vol
unteers. Legally they are ineligible
as soldiers. Properly carried out this
decree means that the figures of the
ranks Of France will have been
brought up to nearly One-sixth Of her
population
A correspondent who has Just re-
turned from the district around Es-
ternay and Sezanne gives the following
account OF lighting which took place
there before the Germans were forced
northWard:
The famous chateau Moncemont
Cprobably MOntmort, 80 miles south
west or Rheims) was taken and re-
taken four times. 1t had been bonn
barded for three days and was left in
a mass OF ruins. The famous old
castle at Montmort was completed in
the year 1880. Near it stands an old
church which was built in the thir-
teenth century.
Commands Great View.
The castle stands on the edge Of
a nigh plateau commanding a wide
stretch of marsh land and was evil
IDENTIFY deemed a place of great STRAIT
egetical Importance by both the
French and the Germans. From the
grounds magnificent view is OBJ
tanned.
THE castle was twice captured at
the point of the bayonet So fero-
ciOus had been the cannOnade that.
when the Germans stormed the pla-
teau upon which the castle stands.
they found that the great, high iron
fence around the grounds had been
twisted and torn by the shrapnel. The
huge iron gates had been knocked
from their hinges and the ratings torn
asunder.
The two great wings of the cha
teau had been smashed by shell fire.
In the stables l saw the carcasses of
many horses and COWS that had been
killed. There was not a whole win
dow left in the castle.
Shells had ploughed up the tennis
court and the ancient oaks in the gar
den were twisted and torn.
The castle had been full of mag
nificent paintings. These had been
riddled and so had the oaken panels
of the walls.
I'm a summer house in the garden
stood small table set with cakes and
decanter Of wine. A shell had gone
clean through the table but the de-
canter stood upright and intact An
arm chair which had been beside the
table was shattered.
Shell Tears Away CllanCef Roof.
A shell had torn away the chancel
roof Of the church, 200 yards away.
/ The choir and altar were wrecked. Six
ancient paintings depicting Christ and
/ the Virgin Mary were not damaged
although fragments of shell had CASH
ed the walls around them. On the
wall ZOuaves had scrawled a notice
with chalk that 80 French and Ger
man officers killed in action had been
! buried in the church yard. The names
given included those OF Count De
Beaufort. Count Du Montesquieu,
Lieut. Waldecker and Lieut.. SiegmuI-
! Ter"
Bands of rowing Germans are still
reported from northern France. show
! ing that distance has been entirely
cleared OF the invaders.
Try TO Blow Up Bridge.
ON Friday party of Germans made
a daring attempt To blow up the rail-
road bridge at Oissel and thus severe
| railroad communication between
| Diepe, Havre and Paris
Oissel lies eight miles south Of
| Rouen and 50 miles northwest Of
/ Paris.
/ The members of the party were dis
/ guised in French officer uniforms and
/ were provided with Identification
/ papers 10 strengthen the impression
1 they were from the French army. The
| behavior. however. excited suspicion.
| An attempt 10 stop them resulted in
/ an exchange Of revolver shots. Three
| French gendarmes were shot and all
OF the Germans were subsequently
captured. The attempt TO damage the
| bridge was unsuccessful.
lTDN MEnC rEnaro tagAMT AnC