Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-09-17
STILL
RIMSONED BY
'!I'EUTON BLOOD
Xerdun Watch Tower, Re-
won by French, Is German
Charnel House
1HELLS UPTURN HORRORS
Rrussians, in Sullen Rage, Fill
Air With Drone Of
Hurting Bombs
BY HENRI BAZIN

|<Dt01 Corveapondrut Of the Evening Ledger tCfth
itl.t the American Army IN France
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES IN THE
FIELD tby official courier to Paris
I* post,. Aug. 20.
y On my way back to American field head
quarters from Paris. where had gone upon
\ 3 special professional crrand, made wide
detour and went by way Of Verdun.
know verdun of old. have seen IT In all
weathers this last year. and It Is to my
tnnnte regret that circumstances prevented
my being there in the days when They
shall not pass' was first Incorporated within
the language Of the world. Now. have been
compensated l could write book about
the experiences of the last sixteen hours.
From the spot news perspective, there are
newer rec ords than ! could make. records
flashed but recently, and records, too. long
past and ancient In tho h-tory of this war.
1 Here there is but the attempted portrayal
4 Of an impression--an impress on OF Hill S0i.
ssAn night IL had been raining, and this
morning, when the rain ceased the leaves
! upon nearly all the trees bordering the.
Meuse showed as IL by miracle yellowlng
tinge OF autumn. For during the most Of
August the ralnfsll has been constant and
the atmosphere of late October. The
earth is as IL soaked with water and the
mud Is as slippery as il soaked in oil.
We were but two. a French officer and
myself With every step there was the
sucking sound Of bootheel withdrawn from
suction. We had been walking full hour
silently through a bayou with nothing but
mud before US. mud v1der us. and a gray.
gray sky overhead y turn in the trench,
and its slightly higher elevation permitted
q sudden view OF familiar yet always un-
real landscape. a landscape Of nothing else
but shell craters partially or completely
water r-nlled. new craters and old craters, one
oisplacng the other
rs Beyond lay our objective Hill 304, the
Hill OF History the Hill surmounting the
city that a million years from now will
rank higher than Thermopylae Months
ago I had looked upon So4 through the
glass while the Doche still held IT, Now
as T. visioned 1t a. closer range, 1t seemed
lower. and II was red. the red OF dried.
coagulated mass of blood. We were still
half a klometcr away when I detected
something else--the indescribable odor of
decaying human flesh. For Hill 304 is truly
the Hill of Death and of hideous death.
Out of the bayou made our way.
still In silence through the cratered earth,
for II was hour when words would lrave
seemed mocking things I noticed in
stance after instance that Dante did not
mention in his Inferno only because he
had no conception Of modern war
DEAD. WITH SMILING FACES
AT my side. near enough to touch 1t had
-
? helmet covering dead head, head show
ling a blackened. ga rdonca'y smiling face
II Beyond, coming as II from nowhere out of
4 the martyred soil. pair ~ hands, crisp nd
Sdead.f and livid. One helo a revolver. Both.
were as stin as stone. Close beside, saw
( the leg Of French soldier with the shoe.
fthe puttee and part OF the trouser still COW
Fering it. And but a little distance away
I. the half-feshed skeleton of Prussan
guard that q shell had upifted from its
= l..
Singly. upon the surface The disco,,red
funiform still, recognizable IT WAS in
FITS putrid flesh and uniform that which was
}left Of a whole man. not the fragments of
80 man. and II was half leaning. half sitting.
I'm q fantastic. almost pensive attitude.
against the side of crater
f These will suffice. for more Of the same
rNk. indeed. did I also see. more by the
tnve score and ten score old dead disin-
sterred and new dead that had Just passed.
~ would had time to rewrite and rewrite
THAT which perforce ] must here type has
Z could do some small justice. convey in
.ttiny measure the very hell Of hels that
modern war In reality is But perhaps
THAT which the Germans have expiated. as
LIT were. on Hill 3o4 cannot be measured
Gin written explanation. Al any rate 1t
!, seems to me one should dream Of It and
weigh for great. great while before at
tempting to convey 10 words
Three hundred apd four. is truly
vast, vast German cemetery. As I re-
fxnernbered the reddish color have men,
stioned Al noting from distance, II flashed
acrosr me that the color was true, for the
fooil was genuinely soaked In blood and its
nature of reddish clay but weak syno-
3nym Of true substance. The dead are as
ciore upon II as dried peas IN n bag. They
ssre uncountahle One sees the places
where they were buried months ago, the
iplaces where shell-fre has dsinterred
them the places where they are newly in
.terred. and each grave rubs the other.
forms part Of the other, the whole hill an
Immense ill-smelline charnei house II
heggars description
Upon the very top Of the hill there IL an
fadrirahle observation point-an observa-
! ton roini that the Bocbe had held long
and finally lost. after sacrificing thousands
and thousands Of his own. and-mores
the pity many and many son of
tTrance From the point of its greatest
pbsiFht saw Forges Brook Of early.
fblocdy memory, tine villages Of Haucourt
and Malancourt and Rethincourt, with
other villages beyond and the valley COM
mandinR German occupied Montfaucon,
rising in the distance like beacon light
upor the shnrea Of the sea.
1 From the military point OF view II was
I easy 10 understand why the Boche fought
70 desperately here why he was willing to
pacrince the very flower of his future gen.
4 &ration's salt the best Of his youth and
'sviwor, only finally 10 lose and to see why
IN riiIlen Boche rage he still voices his dis
Measure. for the sight Of a single man or
two uron this height IL the signal for dis
charge Of his artillery.
Even we lone two drew a salvo of IT'S,
and we quickly moved to another spot out
"a sight within Roche dug bayou From
itr rear side ] watched German shells strik
ine upon road in our lines where French
h ambuisnces passed at frequent intervals
n death falling before and behind them but
X p<rikina nothing during the few minutes
k>oked Every village or that which was
- village within French lines was being
ttnba rded g. II In fury at finding once
1ralu the poilr of France q hetter man thar
Boche Of the Guard and In consequence
. Crown Princes artillery was aiming to
~ OF main the cld and noncombatani