The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-03-29
Saw SHAW
BEHIND THE
'BATTLELINE
Dazed Correspondent Could
Hardly Believe Eyes
Wants Dishonorable
Peace.

War Correspondents Headquarters,
March 29.-Today / have again gone
through number Of ruined villages
which were liberated just q week ago
from German rule. In the village Of
Voyennes, not far from Ham, and one
Of the few hamlets not utterly destroy
ed because the people Of the district
were herded here while their own
houses were being burned. went into
the ruins of the church. Everything
had been licked down by the flames
except one figure on the fragment of a
wall. Only one hand Of Christ there
had been burned. and the body hang
ing on the cross was unscratched, like
so many Of those Calvaries which !
had seen in shell fired places. When
called upon the priest who lives OPP
posite the ruin of the church heard
the story of its burning.
Says Germans Took American Food.
For year." said M. LIE Cure Caron,
my people here had not a morsel of
meat and not a drop Of wine. They
gave us bread that was disgusting and
had haricots and potatoes in 1t and
not enough -four; the children became
wan and the women weak. The Ameri-
can people sent us some foodstuffs, but
the Germans took the best Of them and
in any case we were always hungry.
But those things do not matter,
those are physical things. 1t was the
suffering Of spirit that mattered and,
monsieur, we suffered mentally so
much that 1t almost destroyed our in
telligence, it almost made us silly so
that even now we can hardly think or
reason.
Girls Sent Among the Soldiers.
you will understand what 1t meant
to us French people. We were slaves
after the Germans came in and settled
down upon us and said: We are home;
all here Is ours They ordered our
men to work and punished them with
prison for any slight fault
"They were the masters OF our wom-
en-. they put our young girls among
their soldiers, they set themselves out
deliberately at first to crush our spirit,
to beat us by terror, to subdue US to
their will by an iron rule. They failed
and they were astonished. b.
1--WE cannot understand your peo-
ple,' they said. You are so proud: your
women are so proud And that was
true, sir. Some women, not worthy of
the name OF French women. were weak
err. 1t was inevitable. alaSa But for
the most part they raised their heads
and said, We are French; we will never
give in to you. after one year or two
years or three years or four years
Captives Defiant in Face OF Foe.
THE Germans asked constantly
When do you think the war will end 2
but in the end we will smash YOU and
this made them very angry.
''Our people went about with their
heads up, scornfully refusing to COM
plain against the severity, or any hard
ship. Secretly. among ourselves. 1t v as
different.
I'VE could get no news for months,
except lies. We knew nothing or wha&
was happening. Starvation crept closer
upon us. We were surrounded by the
fires of hell for SO hours at a time. The
roar of guns around us week after
week, and month after month"; and the
sky blazed around us. We were afraid
Of the temper of the German officers.
Retreat Brings Days OF Terror. :,
"After the defeat of the Marine and
after the battles Of the Somme, Ger
many was like a wounded tiger, fierce,
desperate. crual. Secretly. although
our people kept brave faces. they fear
ed what would happen If the Germans
were forced to retreat. At last that
happened, and after ali we had endured
the day Of terror was hard to bear.
From the villages around, one by
one, the people were driven out, the
young women and men as old as 80
were taken away to work for Germany
which ended with the cutting down OF
our little orchards everywhere.
'aThe commandant before that was a
good man and gentleman. afraid Of
God and his conscience He said: do
not approve of these things. The world
will have a right to call us barbarlans.
He asked for forgiveness because he
had to obey orders and gave II to
him.
Nsaw Only One Good German"
sAn order came to take away all the
bells Of churches and ali metal work. !
had already put my church bells IN the
loft and / showed them to him and
said: There they are He was sorry.
This man was the only good German
oflcer / have met. and it was because
he had been is years in America, and
had married an American wife and
escaped from the spell Of his country's
philosophy. Then he went away.
Last Sunday a week ago. at this
very house, when our people all were
In their houses under strict orders and
already the country was on fire with