Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1915-12-16
Nancy Has a Front Seat.


Nancy, the old capital of the Duchy
of Lorraine, had for more than two
score of years the hazardous privi
lege of occupying a front seat in the
theatre of a probable war. Targets
for cannon" the cOnscripts sent to
Nancy were called. 1t was here the
iron division of the famous goth
army corps was stationed with the
18th brigade of cavalry, not to under
take the supposedly impossible task
of saving Nancy but to receive and
deaden the first shock.
The story has been told of the
French officer who, anticipating war
in June of last year, sold his little
country property near Nancy bought
a villa in Belgium and congratulated
himself that his family would be far
outside the vortex.
was crumoling under the blows of the
heavy German guns, unfortified Nan
cy, defended by Castelnau, proved i'm
pregnable. The French officers fam
lily fled to France with Belgium refug-
ees at the same time that Emperor
William, who, with 10000 cavalry of
the guard had awaited the moment
for this triumphal entry into Nancy,
turned back towark &etz. AS to the
purchaser of the officers country
place, he has not seen a German SOL
der and since August 81. 1914 the
ing fainter and less frequent in his
ears. 1t is only when the wind is
right that Nancy hears it.
Only once did the German artillery
get close enough under cover of night
to lombard the city; then it did less
damage than the dozen visits of
German aeroplanes and Zeppelins.
Nearly every one of those visits was
tragic because every one wanted to
see the aircraft. The two children
Jean stepped to the door to get a look
at a Taube one morning; all three
We're killed together with four other
persons, while the barber escaped
without a scratch. Four people were
killed by a bomb that fell under the
windows of the prefecture.
The second attempt of the Germans
to lombard Nancy with their heavy
guns is still the talk of Nancy. One
of the 15-inCh lOng-range naval
pieces. put in position near Chateau
Salins (Salzburg) to send into Nancy
the same destruction that they had
hurled into Dunkir< was discovered
by air scouts. The French advanced
their heavy artillery to easy range
and destroyed the big gun and it's
foundation before it had fired sin
gle shot, according to the report.
Nancy appears today to be anything
but a military headquarters. Only a
few soldiers on leave, a few conva-
descent wounded and officers on vari-
Gus missions give it the semblance of
garrison town. The soldiers quar-
ters in the barracks are occupied by a
thousand or so of families and debris
Of families from different parts of
Lorraine, awaiting the moment to re-
turn home. Among them are 81 chill
dren called the orphans of Pont-a-
AIousson', because their parents have
remained in the little town shelled re-
Gently for the 17Sth time. The wo-
men of this colony of exiles. taking
their par in the work of national de-
Tense by turning out 100000 trench
sacks. work at which they can earn
40 cents day besides their board
and lodging. 1t is rather coarse work
for some of them. expert in the finest
embroidery.
Nancy's industrial, commercial and
c&ucI.-i oEal life has gone on uninter-
ruptcd and modified only by difficult
ties of fuel and transportation.
The medical college la wschool and
other branches of the university have
not missed a day of their regular
terms and the public schools were
never closed.