Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-10-10
YPRES REGION DESO[ATE
WASTE OF SHELL CRATERs
Few Sectors in West So Thoroughly
Destroyed by Havoc of
Explosives.
HOLES CHoKED WITH BODIES
Hun Victims Of English Guns Scat.
tered Over Zone Of Fire-Fagged
Walls Only Evidence OF Former
HamletS-RedOubtS Smashed.
Inr Associnied Prcss.l

BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE AND
BELGIUM. October "a prosperous
farming country before the war the
region east of Hprcs is now desoiate
waste of large and deep she'll cratcrs.
1t has been the scene of much bitter
and sanguinary lighting. and the artii-
iery fire has done its work.
Few sectors of the western front
have been laid waste as has this one.
Farm buildings and villages have been
swept away by the shells Only rev
pieces of wall mark where buildings
once stood. Grass and other green
things have disappeared in the turn
ing up OF the earth by the innumer-
able exploding shells.
From Ypres out across the WcsthoeS
bridge and over the site of what once
was Zonnebekc. from which the Ger
mans were pushed Thursday. the scene
OF demolition recalls the days of the
battle OF the Sommc The unprcce-
dentcd havoc wrought on the Sommc
front hardly surpassed that which
exists along the Ypres front.
BODIES OF GERMANS
HUDDLED WHERE THEY FELL
More striking than all the rest were
the scenes of death on every hand.
Germans lay In great numbers over
this ground. which has not yet been
cleared. At many places groups OF
Germans had been killed a s they fought
together. and they rested as they fell.
Shell holes at some places were choked
with bodies.
Tho village of Zonnebeke is only a
memory. Some shattered walls remain
OF the big church, and in very few
places there are marks of other public
buildings, but the village as whole
has disappeared. The railway station.
OF the Ypres- Roulcrs line. where for
days the British and Germans battled
iiercely ut close quarters. is gone. and
there remains only n small concrete
rcdoubt. about which the Germans made
their last stand.
The Yprcs-Roulers railway, which
for so long was under British Gunfire
and is now being hammered by the
Germans. is nothing but broken
mound of Garth. The rails have been
twisted into knots and hurled here
and there.
HIGHWAYS BADLY DAMAGED
AND PITTlD WITH SHELL HOLES
All the highways here and on other
parts OF the battle field have been
damaged severely. They arc pitted
here and there with shell holes. a
thousand yards in front of zonnebeke
was Broodseinde ridge and the village
with it's famous crossroads. where
many Germans were killed re-
Gently by the British artillery fire.
The British line is over the crest Of
this ridge on the eastern side. Brood
seinde has gone the same way as
Zonnebckc. Reutel, Gravcnstafcl. Pass
chendaele and many other hamlets.
The German redoubts and pill boxes
in the Ionncbeke region mostly had
been smashed by she'll fire, although
many of them put up a stout resistance.
There was one great concrete and steel
redoubt which had withstood the ter
rife fire TO which ii had been subjected.
It's defenders had been driven out by
the infantry in n pitched battle. The
rcdoubt was eighty yards long and
about forty yards wide. The walls,
which were OF concrete rc-cnforced
with steel rails. were about five feet