The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-02-16
War WRECKS OLD HOME
A. j. kOHLER, OF MADISON.
KNOWS SOMETHING OF
WHAT WAR MEANS.

HOrrOrS OF the war nave
come close to the mind of A. j.
Kohler. a pharmacist in the employ
of j. C. Schultz. for. during the strug-
gle for Hartsmanns-Weilerkop in
Alsace between the French and Ger
man armies in 1915. his home town.
Thanh. was shelled heavily by the
! Germans and practically destroyed.
Thanh is in a valley of the Vosges
mountains. six miles south Of Harris
manns-weilerkopf and the French
first line trenches. To prevent the
supporting Frenchmen from advanc-
ing i'm numbers to the relief of their
comrades. the Germans shelled the
town which they had occupied and
one of the houses RACED 10 the ground
was the one occupied by Mr.. and Mrs.
Joseph Kohler. parents of A. J.
Kohler.
The members of the family lost
everything they had and were forced
10 vacate with only the clothes on
their backs in their flight into France
where they will remain until the end
OF the war. Mr.. Kohler's youngest
sister. 10 years old, was killed by
the explosion of one of the shells
that demolished her home. A broth
er. Jean. escaped the horrors of the
Smelling as he came to the United
States our months before the wal
broke out and recently spent some
time in Madison with his brother.
The town was practically buried
under the shell fire. only a church
and a few sections of the residence
ture. the railway station is now moth
ing but a train shed and the tracks
and entertainments have been cut to
pieces by the destructive force of the
Smelling.
Thanh had a population of 5000
and was one of the prettiest little
cities in the whole Vosges region.
Now IL is largely a mass of broken
brick. Had IL not been occupied by
the French troops the town would
have undoubtedly been spared the
~terrors of a bombardment. but mill
tary necessity compelled the Germans
TO shell IL to prevent the advance of
the French.
Mr.. Kohler's boyhood home is nov
a mass of ruins. one OF the many of
the wars. but he is thankful the fam
ily managed TO escape without the
loss of any more of its members.
But il was not a new experience for
his parents. In the war of 1870 they
n went through. as children, the Ger
man bombardment of the same town.
Then the city was in French terri
tory, coming under German control
by the terms of the treaty which end
0 ed the struggle that was only to be
renewed forty-four years later
Thanh has never become a German
city except in name. French is
taught in the schools and the people
when the French army came march
5 ing. up the street at the beginning
of the present struggle. hailed the
I troops as ~deliyerers.
Mr.. Kohler recently received a let
a ter from his mother in which she
~ CdsN Ahts ait hpA ~ IA Jul hAah
O of the staple articles of food are ex
y horbitantly high and working grea'
hardships upon the population. I'm
der the present conditions they can
not buy eggs. Sugar is over 81 I
pound, and meat very scarce although
p the people. even under these eondi
tions. are faring much better thar
those in the occupied territory. Con
ditions there are more poignant thar
even the press reports have made
them.
MIR. kohler's family is now livinl
: far enough away from the fighting
zone to make escape easy in case tn
y Germans should break through tn
French line, north OF Hartsmanns
le Weilerkopf. His mother said littl
a about the character of the fightinI
"a and made no predictions as to whicl
~ side would win.
War is now a commonplace topi
to the people over there. They hav
seen so much of 1t. and so much O
il is the same. that Mrs. Kohler prob
ably thought n news of such
' character would not be of any in
terest TO her on.
mo one really knows what the
are going through" said Mr.. Kohle
this morning. II am sure tina
Ia mother is not telling m all. Blu
I'M she says enough to make certain tn
family is all safe and under no sever
privations."