The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-12-31
Iv ! !! ! ypIlEs l
LEFT 10f RIMS
LOllly Town Laid Waste by'
Murderosls Work Of Ger
man War Guns.
ONCE WEALTHY CITY
Nothing Was Too Sacred to
Stop Terrible Reign of
Destruction.
ONCE WEALTHY CITY

Dec. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF the Assoc
ciated Press.-There ID literally notf,-
ing left OF the once lordly city Of Ypress
except heaps OF dust and broken stones.
Although still within the range of Ger
man artillery. the city may be visited
in comparative safety AZ It Is too far
behind the lines to offer certain tar
get for continuous bombardment.
Ypres is 600 years old and carried
with It before the war, the Impress OF
an honorable past. In the middle eyes
when the Flemish merchants were the
great traders OF Europe. the city was
fabnlously wealthy. being for many
years the center Of the wool trade.
After It's prosperity passed, It would
have become obscure but for the Ca
thedral. and Cloth Hall, where the wool
merchants once had met. These two
of the architecture Of their time. and
for hundred years had made Ypres
known and visited by the world.
Work fos Hun earbarity.
1t remained for the Germans to turn
to ashes what had been place of
beauty for 500 years. The first bonn
bardment OF Ypres came on November
l. 1914. The town was then full OF
wounded soldiers and peasant refu-
gees from the surrounding country.
They were crowded principally in the
| Cathedral and the Church of St Nicho-
| las, in the vain belief that these sane
tuaries at least would be spared by
tho invader.
Il The battle on the hills around Yprcs
ended II days later The Germans
failed to break through the British
line, but the bombardment of the
town, instead of waning, grew more
intense. The Germans. foiled in their
attempt to capture Ypres. determined
to destroy it. For a long period,
heavy shells fell into the town at the
rate of Is minute. The sound OF
the continuous destruction could be
heard SO miles away.
The Inhabitants Of the town mostly
fled soon after the bombardment
started. When 1t was over. they re-
turned to find the beauty Of their town
well nigh gone. The famous Cloth
Hall still stood, but it was a roofless
!. skeleton; only it's cellars were intact
The great square in front of 1t was
heaped with broken stones and charred
wood, and nearby lay the broken bells
the famous bells of Ypres, which fol
900 years had sounded every hour
across the level fields of Belgium.
| Cathedral Ruined.
AS for the Cathedral, one could stant
inside and look up at roof which
was like a sieve. while the interior wa
filled with stones, fragments of mar
BILE statues from the tombs. charre'
wood that had once been the wonder
full carved roof, rags of burnt canva
that had been beautiful pictures. brok
en- glass of wonderful color that ha'
; been the famous painted windows.
:. Such was Ypres after the first bonn
bardment. Whole streets had bee
II destroyed, vet there were still house
where people could live: there wa
still broken skeleton of what ha
been town.
For six months Ypres was left /
comparative peace: shells still fell !
the town at irregular intervals, bu
Ill IL WAS DOSSlDIc loI ISopIt " NV t'N'
and to open shops for the troops tina
passed through to the battle line.
II Shudder at the Memory.
The second bombardment bcga
, without warning on April 20. 1917
II The first shell fell in the Great Place
when it was filled with people. 1t
impossible today to get any accurat
! estimate of the loss of life caused b
that first shell, but those who saw
still blanch and tremble with the mer
memory of it. 1t was a heavier She
than any that had been used in tn
first bombardment. coming from on
of the giant siege guns 1t could b
heard for ten seconds in the air, tn
noise of it growing as 1t came, Xix
the sound of an express train. Whe
it fell the thick smoke Of its explosio
!. rose 200 feet high. eN
;. The full storm of the bonibardmen
burst 48 hours later. accompanied b
i the first waves of poisoned gas use
| against the French and British lines
| Day and night for long period tn
II great shells poured into the town In
III steady stream, while above streets an
squares and fields hung siniste
IL cloud, gas and smoke and dust.
When this bombardment ceased,
was hardly possible to find ones wa
through the town. Houses and street
had all melted together in heaps {
rubbish. The one or two walls whic
still stood only served to emphasis
the desolation, a few fragments of tn
iii church wall and tower with thel