The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-12-31
NOTH|NGMUCH.
LEFT OF CITY
Of yPRES Now
CITY Over 600 Years Old
Badly Battered by
German Shells.
HEAP OF DUST
AND BROKEN STONES
Germans Reduced It to
Ashes and Laid Waste
the Beautiful Spot.
Behind the: Brit


Behind the: British Lines in France,
Dec. 30.-(By the Associated Press
There is literally nothing left of
the onee loraly citv of Ypres except
heaps of dust and broken stones. AL
though stu within the range of Ger
man artillery, the city may be visited
ia comparative safety as it is too far
end the lines to offer a certain
target for continuous bombardment.
Ypres is 600 years old and carried
with it before the war. the impress
of an honorable past. In the middle
ages when the Flemish merchants
were the great traders of Europe,
the city was fabulously wealthy. be-
ing for many years the center Of the
passed it would have become OBJ
scure but for the Cathedral, and
Cloth Hall, where the wool mer-
chants once had met. These two
monuments were remarkable exam
pies of the architecture of their time
and for hundred years had made
Ypres known and visited by the world
1t remained for the Germans to
turn to ashes what had been place
of beauty for 500 years. The first
bornbardment of Ypres came on No
ver1ber i, 1914. The town was then
full Of wounded soldiers, and peasant
refugees from the surrounding coun-
try. They were crowded principally
IN the Cathedral and the Church of
st. Nicholas; in the vain belief thai
these sanctnaries at least would be
spared by the invader.
The battle on the hills around
Yp-es ended seventeen days later. |
The Germans failed to break through !;
tie Bfit.sh line, but the bombardSnent
of the town, instead of waning. grew |
more intense. The Germans, foiled |
in their attempt to capture Ypres. de- |
stroy it. For a long period, heavy |
shells fell into the town at the rate |.
of fifteen a minute. The sound of
the continuous destruction could be
heard fifty miles away.
Tire inhabitants of the town most
ly fled soon after the bombardment
sta, ted. When it was over, they re-
turned to find the beauty of their
town well nigh gone. The famous
rcofless skeleton; only its cellars
were intact. The Great Square in
front of it was heaped with broken
stones and charred wood, and nearby
lay the broken-bells, the famous bells
of Ypres which for six hundred years
had sounded every hour across the
level fields of Belgium.
AS for the Cathedral one could
stand inside and look up at roof
which was like a sieve, while the in
ter or was filled with stones, frag- !
ments of marble statues from the
tombs, charred wood that once been
the wonderful carved roof, rags of
burnt canvas that had been beautiful
pictures, broken glass of wonderful
color that had been the famous
painted windows.
Such was Yp-es after the first
honbardment Whole streets had
feon DESTROYED. vet there were still
houses where people could live; there
WIS still broken skeleton of what
had been town.
For six months Ypres was left in
comparative peace; shells stil' fell in
the town at IRREGULAR intervals. but
it was possible for people to live
there and to open shops for the
troops that passed through to the
battle line.
The second bombardment beran
without warning on April 20, 1915.
The first shell fell IN the "Great
Place" when it was filled with peo-
PIE. IL Is lmpoSSlhle today to get
any accurate estimate of the loss Of
life caused by that first she'll, but
those who saw it still blanch and
tremhle with the mere memory of it.
1t was heavier shell than any that
had been used in the first lombard
ment, coming from one of the giant
siege guns. 1t could be heard for
ten seconds in the air, the noise of it
growing as it came, Ike the sound
of an express train. When it fell
the thick smoke of it's explosion rose /
200 feet high.
The full storm of the bombardment !
burst As hours later, accompanied by !
the first waves IF poisoned gas used
against the French and British lines.
Day and night for a long period the
great shells poured into the town il
a steady stream while above streets
and squares and fields hung a sinis-
ter cloud, gas and smoke and dust.
When this bomhardment ceased, 1t
was hardly possible to find ones
way through the town. Houses and
streets had all melted together in
heaps of rubbish. The one or two
wells which still stood only served to i
emphasize the dssolation. few frag> |
..ro~Aanuo6 cp poDc ThraoN