The Washington times., 1917-12-03
BAYONET INMUD
SAVES LIVES OF
FRENCH SCOUTS


charges had tarrIsd on the way back
to Verdun from one OF the outlying
forts to chat with q bunch OF Red
Cross men, and incidentally to watch
the antics Of a flock OF German aero
planes as they lodged in and out
among the feathsry puff5 OF French
shrapnel The usual daily artillery
strafe had been on for some hours.
Hundreds OF tons Of metal had been
bowling above our heads, from both
sides, far up and down the line.
At times there was q shot for every
second. But so far the Boche targets
had been located q comfortable dis.
lance away. Our ifficer had given the
word TO resume the journey, and the
chauffeurs were cranking up, when
the opportunity OF gathering in an
other battlefield souvenir interviewed.
It is still there.
would Have Met She'll
Careful figuring, conducted very
shortly thereafter In one OF the Red
Cross duEouts nearby, convinced the
whole party that IL It hadn't been for
the bayonet episode our cars would
have collided with the big Boche shell
Just at the moment OF its explosion
about q block down the road. For half
an hour the German artillerymen
raked the neighborhood, and then
during q IulI we beat It back to the
underground shelters OF the safest
citadel in Europe.
The experience had merely supplied
q vivid final touch to Impressions al.
ready acquired-of what the soldiers
OF Verdun have been undergoing in
| the past eighteen months. In this
region nature has been given no op-
portunity, as she has, for example,
on the battlefield Of the Somme to re-
pair as best she can the ravages OF
war.
From the top OF one of the battered
forts that now forms IN unbreakable
ring about MISUNDERSTANDING from
the Germans with a vAlor and at q
sacrifice of life that will make its
name immortal in NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
out, as far as ten-ply made-in-Ger-
many binoculars can reach, q vista Of
utter devastation
Beautiful Country In Ruins.
Once thiekly forestsd hills and rich
Iy cultivated valleys Bpeckled with
happy villages; now q sodden, gray.
ish, monotonous panorama OF
churned-up soil, criss-crossed here
and there with trenches. and only an
occasional stump or pile OF crumbled
stones to evidence its former beauty.
It's like Notre Dame de Lorette, Viny,
Wltscheate, Messines, and Passchen-
iaele Ridge all scrambled together.
All the forces OF nature-ftre,
flood, hurricane. and earthquake
could not have wrought such havoc
Only man could do It. Even looking
backward, the only dlseernible color
is the green Of the distant fields, the
shattered red-tiIsd roofs Of the for
tress city, and .hs clusters OF purple
wreathed graves where sleep the
men who made the motto OF Verdun
ION ne paSse pas" mo trespassers
allowedD-a reality
The Germans row occupy very
much the same line as that from
which the crown prince launched his
costly but futile attack upon this
stronghold. Previously we had
traversed the valley OF the Marine
whose almost fearless landscape
bears ample testimony to the char
acteristic French II ats OF dash, mo-
bility, and resourcefulness; just as
Verdun's pitifully narrowed hillsides
will always be b monument to the
hitherto less Familiarity known French
qualities Of tireless energy and dog
ged stubbornnesJ.
Then on through the forest Of the
Vosges down to where France in
the early days Of the war plucked,
and still tightly clutches, a bit OF
what used to be hers It's only
few square mileB-juSt about equal
in area to the plot OF ground that
Belgium now holds OF her own raw
ished country-but entirely sufficient
to exemplify and Justify another fine
French trait, intense pride OF &C
complishment.
German Business Signs Down.
"Alsace Reconau'se!" proudly reads
the sign over 4 l.ftle shop fronting
the badly Scared old church In the
public square of Thanh. Nearly all
the old signs have been changed from
German. but some have been retain
ed Just for souvenirs In this corner
Of the lost provinces" there Is no
doubt how the people stand.
A good many German statesmen
profess to beIicv. that the popula-
ton OF Alsace-Lo-raino has been so
thoroughly Kulrurized in the past
generation and l half that a plsbis-
~'NN nv" NOuA4 5Ho" pTepOhQeTlnB
vote in favor OF HohenzoIlernIsnn. |
But Germans on the ground are far
less confident.
Tho French-AlsAtiRn lieutenant who |
plotted us to the brow OF a nearby bluff |
where We could look out across the |
French-Gernan lines in the valley below |
TO Mulhouse told US about the factory |
he owned there before the war. The |
Germans seized It," he said, put my
ute Is still good. They tried 70 sell II |
the other day, after an extensive advsr-
Using campaign at q very low price.
But nobody would buy, not even loyal
German subjectsI"
A GIInDsS OF the RHINE,
From another eminence We could sec
Inc Rh're and bsyoi.d-"tFe promised |
ana, rs tie Lieutenant confidently re-
marked-whils in the Immediate fore
ground rose tho devastated HartmAns-
Weilsriopf. once tho scene Of the most |
ossrerEte fighting Of tho war in this |
secuon' now comparatively quIst, with /
me German and French lines running |
uSross the top, In places only six yards
The Germans have svInced a. how the
French Occupy all the dominating posi-
Ions and rave q nasty habit Of return
IhE TWO slI0tA for one every time ths
bochs arvlle-Vmcn snow a tISrositi'In
70 innreas' the amount Of tAsIr daily
praotla" " TX,
Arc the people Of France WIS wearY7
LoA fboaa ra..s skau |