The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-03-26
GERMAN RETREAT
VICTIMS SUCCUMB
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VICTIMS SUCCUMB
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hour set for the inspectton-these III
clad, ilI-nourished, refugees were
forced to wait in this freezing cold
without, shelter, without food-for five
or six hours before tho German OF
ficerS arrived.
AT Chauny, where six thousand
! women, children and aged men un-
der went s,icil al ordeal, three died In
the open street before the inspection
was concluded. Thirty died the fol
lowing night from pneumonia, lung
congestion and pleurdsy.
On succeeding days the resulting
deaths reached $50. Others were
still dying today from similar affec'
tons.
This was true, not only OF Chauny,
but OF other concentration centers as
well-the number of deaths depend
ing on the degree OF cold and the
length of exposure.
In the larger towns in the path of
the German retreat, like Ham, Ca
huny and Tergnier, refugees said to-
| day the destruction of houses and
property continued for three weeks
Ue1OIS lllo Icll eau was dCtudiIy USSuh
Regular crews of deStroyerS sys-
Dramatically burned and dynamited
houses in all parts Of the city.
Moving vans carried off to Germany
furniture and yaluables.
Some officers-from General Won
Fleck down-carried off furniture
from rooms which they personally oc.
cupied, burning what remained.
Some officers apologyzed to the
population, declaring they were fore.
ed to carry out the kaiser's orders.
Ham, like Roye, was blown up dur
ing the night. The explosions and
shocks terrified the French civilians.
They did not know the wholesale de
struction was planned and they had
not been permitted to see the prepar-
atoms. When the detonatIons shook
the city they were huddled together
| in panic. They had been strictly
/ forbidden to leave the houses In
which they were packed, before morn
| ing. Then, when dawn came and they
did emerge, they found the Germans
gone.
The mining OF Roye, Ham and 9th
er towns was continued three weeks
before the fuses were finally touched
off, German miners worked at nigh'
Willy, III olo W dNo4u ouSC4 sdSAS'L
OF allied aviators.
The vandalism OF the troops reach
ed such disgusting degrees that an
| occasional German soldier-even an
occasional officer-ccnfessed, am
told, in guarded pleas to the French
| Inhabitants, that they were sickened
| by them-but obliged to carry out
Won Hindenburg,s orders.
| During their two year occupanc CO
the Germans requisitioned continually
from the civilian population, giving
redeemable receipts"
| But before retreating, officers fore
ed civilians to surrender these claims
Moreover. they forbade any of the
| French from retaining either gold OF
silver money All they could kees
| was 500 francs OF paper money Zap
proximately 500. No one in the
| occupied section succeeded in saving
| any more than this sum. Nor could
| they save their property-except the
very ground, which was the only
| thing the Germans were unable tc
! destroy, or carry off.
| At Roye the Germans shared the
| American relief com mission headquar
ters which was able to keep babies
alive with condensed milk until the
French came.
| Before the retreat, the French had
! been limited to three hundred grams
of bread daily.
| In the vicinity Of Ham the Ger
mans destroyed all growing crops
| running harrows over the sproutins
| fields.
! During a twenty-mile walk, I die
not see a cow, a horse, a pig, g
| chicken or a rabbit. Every living ami
NAL had been killed. eaten, or carried
| off by the Germans.
Even the forests-denuded by the
I Germans-and in the orchards, where
the Germans ruined all trees. dc
not see a single bird.
Augmenting this impression OF &
stricken, scourged country as the
endless miles OF valleys of the Oise
and Afette, and various canals-al
damned up and their waters flood
! ing the country, creating great desc
late areas. lifeless sickeningly wave
/ less and dead.
Since the irst German invasion, NJ
atrocity has produced greater anger
among the French soldiers. who ar,
sixty per cent peasants and small
farmers. than the hewing of tn,
orchards by tho Germans. Orchards
they know, require from twenty t.
fifty years to grow 1t will take tina
long for this work of destruction t.
be replaced.