Evening journal., 1917-12-03
BY I'D. L. KLEIN.
General European Manager, United
prnecN

General European Manager, United
Press.
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES IN
/ THE FIELD, Nov. i4.-fBy Mail.-n
one of the party hadn't stopped 4
dis up a Boche bayonet from the road
side. this piece wouldn't have beer
written.
The French oflcer-chaperon and hi:
charges had tarried on the way bach
10 Nerdun from one Of the outlying
forts TO chat with a bunch Of Red
Cross men, ard incidentally 20 watch
the antics Of a nock Of German aero
planes as they dodged In and out
among the feathery puffs OF French
shrapnel. The usual. daily artillery
strafe had been on for some hours.
Hundreds Of tons OF metal had been
bowling above our heads, from both
sides. far up and down the line. At
times there was shot for every sec
ond. But so far the Boche targets had
been located a comfortable distance
away. Our officer had given the word
TO resume the journey, and the chauf-
feurs were cranking up, when the op-
portunity Of gathering in another bat
tle-neld souvenir intervoned. II Is still
there.
Careful figuring. conducted very
shortly thereafter in one Of the Red
Cross dugouts nearby. convinced the
whole party that II it hadn't been for
the bayonet episode our cars would
havo cOllided with the bis Boche
shell Just at the moment Of iis cX-
plosion about a block down the road.
For half an hour the German artil-
lerymen raked the neighborhOOd, and
then during q lull we beat &c back TO
the underground shelters of the safest
citidel In Europe.
The experience had merely sup
piled a vivid final touch to impress
sions already acquired-of what the
soldiers Of Nerdun have been under
going in the past eighteen months. In
This region Nature has been given no
opportunity, as she has, for exam
ple. on the battlefield OF the Somme,
to repair as best she can the ravages
Of war. From the top Of one Of the
battered forts that now forms an un-
breakable ring about Nordun-recap-
tured from the Germans with a yalor
and at sacrifice OF life tnat will
make its name immortal In history
stretches out, as far as iO-ply made
in-Germany binoculars can. reach, a
vista Of utter devastation.
once thickly forested hills and rich
ly cultivated valleys speckled with
happy villages; now sodden, grayish
mOnOtonous panorama Of churned-up
soil. criss-crossed here and there with
trenches, and only an occasional
stump or pile Of crumbled stones to
evidence It's former beauty. It's like
Notre Dame de Lorette, Nimy, Wyis-
chaete, Messines and Passchaendelc
Ridge all scrambled together.
All the forces Of Nature-lre, flood
hurricane. and earthquake-could not
have wrought such havoc. Only man
could do it Even looking backward,
tho only discernable color is the green
Of the distant fields, the shattered
red-tiled roofs Of the fortress city,
and the clusters OF purple-wreathed
graves where sleep the men who made
the motto of Nerdun-"0n ne passe
pas 80 trespossers allowed la
reality.
The Germans now occupy very
much the same line as that from
which the Crown Prince launched his
costly but futile attack upon this
stronghold. Previously we had trav-
ersed the valley Of the Marno whose
almost acor-less landscape bears am
Die testimony 90 the Characteristic
French traits Of dash. mobility, and
resourcefulness Just as Nerdun's
pitifully narrowed hillsides will al
WAYS be a monument 90 the hitherto
! less Familiarity known French quail.
. A. Il
I stubbornness.
Then or through the forest OF IN,
Vosges down to where France in thl