Grand Forks herald., 1917-03-26

are other things have seen which
are not pardonable, even Of that
damnable code of morality. In Ba-
paume and Peronne. in Roye~ and
places over a wide area the German
soldiers not only blew out the fronts
of houses, but with picks and axes
smashed mirrors and furniture and
picture frames. AS friend Of mine
said. cheapjack would not give
four-pence for anything left in Pc
rome and that is strictly true, also
of Bapaume. There is nothing but filth
in those two towns. Family portraits
have been kicked into the cutters.
Black bonnets of old women who
once lived in those houses lie about
the rubbish heaps and by some
strange freak these are almost the on
~ signs left Of the inhabitants who
lived here before thesGermans wreck
ed their houses.
The ruins of houses are bad to see
when done deliberately, even when
shellf!re spared them in the war
zone, but worse than that is the ruin
of women and children and living
flesh. say that ruin today in Roye
and Nesle. I was at first rejoiced to
see how the first inhabitants were
liberated after being so long in hos
tile lines. I approached them with a
stop with them, but instantly when I
saw those women and children in the
streets and staring at me out Of win
dows was struck with the chill Of
horror. The women's faces were dead
faces, shallow and masklike and
branded with the memory Of great
agonies. The children were white and
thin. SO thin that the cheek-bones
protruded and many of them seemed
to me idiot children. Hunger and fear
had been with them too long.
The mayor of Nesle told me that
after the first entry Of the Germans
on Aug. 20, 1914. and after the first
brutalities the soldiers had behaved
well. generally speaking. They were
we'll disciplined and lived on good
terms with the people as far as possi-
and I believe him. but the women
with whom I spoke were passionate
and hysterical and told me horrible
stories, not to be retold here.
I believe them, too. because these
women, who are French. had to live
with men who were killing their hus-
bands and brothers. and that is the
great horror. They had to submit to
the daily moods Of the men. who
We're sometimes sulky and sometimes
drunk. The officers, they tell me. were
often drunk The captives had to see
their children go hungry, for al
though the Germans gave them po-
tatoes sometimes they took away hens,
so that there were no eggs. and cows,
so that there was no milk The chill
dren suffered and were thin.
On Oct. S, 1914, the kaiser came to
Nesle with an escort of five motor
cars. and the soldiers lined the square
and cheered him, but the women and
children stared and were silent and
hated that white-haired man with a
spiked hat.
During the battles Of the somme
many wounded passed through the
town and others came with awful
stories of the slaughter and fierce
words against the English.
Once twenty men of the 173d regi-
ment came in. They were half mad.
weeping and cursing, and said they
were the sole survivors of their regi-
ment. Then quite recently there came
rumors of the German retreat. On
THURSDAY, March IS, the German
commandant sent for the mayor and
announced the news. He gave orders
for the Inhabitants to leave their
houses at $3.50 o'clock and assemble in
the streets while certain houses and
streets We're to be destroyed.
The German commandant, whose
name was Herwaardt, said he greatly
regretted this necessity. The work was
to be carried out by Oberlieutenant
Baarth. The people wept at the de-
struction Of their homes, although
some of the houses in Nesle were
spared, but they were comforted by
the promise Of liberation. For a week
previously the Germans had been
withdrawing their stores. The garri-
son consisted of about 500 to 1000
men of the Thirty eighth regiment of
chasseurs and cyclists.
The gunners were the last to leave