The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-07-14
The Town of Ypres Looks
Like an Unearthed Imi-
tation of Pompeii
GAS BOMBS USED IN
FINAL DESTRUCTION
Where There Were 10000 People Only
a Few Weeks Ago the Only Living
Creatures That Remain Today Are
Two Cats.

YPRES, Belgium, June "a. = Cor
respondence of The Associated Press)-l
The last tenacious inhabitants of
Gpres were dragged from their under
ground refugees and taken by force
to places of safety a fortnight ago:
the cellars themselves had ceased to af-
ford protection from the continual
pounding of the German shells. The
town today looks like an uneartbed
imitation of Pompeii; not one of its
$4,000 houses is intact and not a dozen
OF those that remain partly erect are
repairable. The ancient pride of Elan
ders, II 1t ever rises from its ruins.
must be entirely rebuilt from the foun-
datlons. Of the famous hall, which
three weeks ago still showed a sem
olance of resistance, there remains
nothing but a single little tower stand
ing out against the sky like gigantic
finger raised in protest The only part
of the walls remaining is a battered
preached remnant on the side of the
. Grand Place Only here and there
Is it possible by close inspection to
discover any traces of the details of
It's former architectural beauty.
There were 10000 people here three
weeks ago and it was still possible to
enjoy a cup of tea at the cafe on the
Grand Place while contemplating
the agonizing g Halles; - today the only
living creatures that remain are two
cats sticking to the debris of their
homes in the Rue de Thourout. No one
knows what they live on-and the Brit
ish soldiers have been unable to cap
ture them.
The dead silence that has fallen here
is broken only by the occasional Shell
that stirs up the ruins, by the German
guns firing over the town at Poperinp-
ne, and by the musketry and machine
gun fire from the trenches close by to
the south. The silence is oppressive
toward dusk when the artillery fire
becomes desultory.
Protected by the ruins, one NAV APP
proach so close to the first line as to
get vivid auricular impression of
| what is going on in the trenches. The
'pang! pang! pang!'' of the rifles
with intervals of the pang-a-pang-a-
pang- apang' of the machine guns be-
come more intermittent as night falls,
and then comes from the trenches the
surprising contrast of the refrain:
cit s long way to Tipperary,' with
the accompaniment of piano that the
Tommies dug out of the ruins and
lrequisitioned for evening diversion.
| The final destruction of Ypres fol
lowed the attack with asphyxiating
gas. 1t is the common belief in Bel
GUM that the wiping out of the town
was a premeditated revenge for the
failure of the effort to occupy it. Shells
| intended for the British lines or for
| the batteries in the rear might easily
stray into the town, but, they say, the
aim of the Germans is good enough not
to waste in that way the thousands of
tons of ammunition required to reduce
the place to a stone heap, and the only
military Importance of the town is its
proximity to the battle front Count
| ing the shots that went wide of any
structure, is is estimated that more than
| a hundred thousand Of different cali
bres were spent on Ypres. Thousands
more were used during the gas attack
along the route from Ypres to Furnes
fby which the allies were expected to
send reinforcements. All along the
road for a few miles, deep funnel
shaped holes, sometimes on one. side
sometimes on the other and often full
| in the center, still show how seriously
| the operation was organized. One of
them lies directly in front of an en-
closed plot of ground covered with
| field flowers above which rise IA
crosses. Here were buried the remains
lof little detachment of British troops
that were sought out by one of the 16-
inch German shells while resting in an
abandoned cottage on the edge of
| Ypres.
The eventual restoration of Ypres
raises conflicting views, all of which
originate from sentiment, for the town
| had long ago lost all commercial i'm