Imperial Valley press., 1915-01-04
LETTER DESCRIBES
SOISSONS PLIGHT

Edinburgh, Scotland, Dec. 31.-A
letter has just been received here from
French woman whose home is in
scissors, long one of the hotly-con-
tested points on the French battle
front. She describes to her Scotch
friend the misery of the inhabitants
of the city. The Germans, it seems,
were driven out, but not beyond the
range of their big guns. The French
woman did not desert her home. She
says:
1--WE have to remain in our house,
for we really could not bring our
selves to leave it, and all our posses
sions, although most of the inhabi-
tants have left the town.
"For three months the bombardment
of the town has Continued, sometimes
for days and nights without ceasing,
and then we hide in the cellar. You
may guess how happy we are. We
simply live in dread of the shrapnel
which is going to fall on our house
and set it on fire and bury us in the
ruins.
"You have no idea what terrible
engines of war the Germans have. See
ing everything around us burn and
fall to pieces, we live in a sort of
nightmare. The house of Dubois (next
to u.s., is in ruins, and st. Jean des
Vignes is practically a heap of stones.
Indeed, everything is our quarter is
demolished. You will be heartbroken
to see it when you next come. For
tunately our house has so far es-
capped, though all the tiles are smashed
and the windows broken by the force
of the detonations. 1t is not worth
while replacing them, but you may
imagine how comfortable we are in
this cold weather, and the terrible
thing is that no one can say how long
it will last.
"On their way back from the Marine
the Germans took possession of all
the quarres along the hills to the
north, which they had carefully pre-
pared on their way south with con
crete and iron, making of them veri-
table forts They are terribly clever,
and now they are shelling Soissons
from the quarries of Paisley, Clamecy
and Grouy, from which they can also
dominate all the main roads from the
town. There is absolutely no chance
of taking them by surprise, because
from there they see everything that
happens. They have got the light
railway to Coucy, which enables them
to revictual from the rear. From Cou-
cy and Chauny they have the main
lines right to Germany, so that they
can bring up reinfOrcements as they
require them
"They have driven away all inhab-
itants. and they take everything move
able they come across. We had sam
ples of this in Soissons, where they re-
NAMED for two full days. We had
eighteen billeted on us. Every un.
occupied house they broke open and
took everything in their wagons and
automobiles. Nothing that could be
lifted did they spare-furniture, lin
ems. bedding, contents of the cellars
everything went, and from the farms
and flour mills they took all corn of
every kind, flour and all livestock
absolutely a clean sweep.
at is not war of soldiers, but
of robbery and destruction, such as
suppose the world has never seen,
and which should not be allowed
Whv lombard open, unfortified towns
and villages? But they have said they
will ravish all France. | do not know
what the future has in store for us,
but if we, who have right on our side,
and who have your soldiers and the
Russians with us, lose, there is no
more Justice in Heaven.
"Our troops can only keep them
from advancing and they will tell us
we must wait, but for how long? For
all the winter, perhaps. But we shall
be dead before it is over. Quite a