New-York tribune., 1918-05-05
Smith College Unit
Faced I e,ltog2 Gums
To Rescue Peasants
Women Forced to Flee Vii
lagos on Somme When
Enemy Advanced

Letters just received from members
of the Smith College relief unit, sta
toned in the Somme district, have
reached this country The American
women worked for two days and nights
assisting the French peasants in leav
reaching places of safety. During most
of this time they were under shell fire.
Members of the unit at times were
less than five miles from the advanc-
ing Germans. They were warned to
flee, but refused to leave the struggling
refugees. The college women, when
they did leave, helped drive the cows,
goats, sheep and other domestic stock
toward the rear.
owe were just ten miles from the
line when the offensive started" writes
Miss Elizabeth Bliss, Of New York
City, "and you cannot dream of the
sound. Suddenly through wonderful,
the shrek of a thousand guns. We
all knew what it meant. Though we
had feared it for days, it was no less
terrible for that. By afternoon we
knew that the Germans had broken our
line.
Ordered to Leave Village
"Orders were rushed for us to evac-
uate our village at once. Two of us
started out in car to carry refugees
from one village to another further
from the line. Never can l forget that
sight. Old women with their possess
sions on wheelbarrows, trudging along
the road, little children dragged by
their terrified mothers, every one with
livestock, dogs, cats, rabbits and
chickens, driving their cows and goats
before them, all rushing madly away
from the food Of destruction pouring
down upon them.
"Shells were bursting all around and
air battles were constant. When morn
ing came the Boches were only five
miles away, and we were warned to
move at once, but somehow we could
not desert our villagers. We could not
leave until every soul was out. It
was the most sickening sight you can
imagine. The roads were choked, part
OF the army in retreat, reinforcements
coming up everywhere. We rode up
between the heavy English artillery
and The Germans. English shells were
Whlzzing over our heads all the time"
Food Served to Soldiers
The Smith women reached their
camp at II o'clock at night, to find 200
British soldiers quartered there, so
they took command of the canteen and
served the soldiers with coffee and
food. There was an nti-aircraft gun
near the Smith unit shack, and every
now and then it would break into a
fit of coughing. The collegians took
great pleasure in seeing one German
airplane shot down.
The Smith College unit is in charge
OF Mrs. Hannah Dunlop Andrews,
BronXville, N. Y, and Miss Marie
Wolfes, Newark, N. j. The others are:
Catherine Hooper, II, Montclair. N j.:
Lacy Mather, 'os, Hartford, Conn:
Elizabeth Bliss, '08, New York CITY;
Millicent Lewis, '01, Irvington-on-Hud-
son, N: Y; Margaret Wood, '12, Pasa
dena, Cal; Alice Leavens, '02, Jamaica
Plain, Mass; Marion Bennett. 'O6.
Tyngsboro, Mass; Ruth Joslin, ~
Chicago; Frances Valentine, 'o2, West,
erly, R. L.; DR.. Clara Greenough. '94.
Greenfield, Mass; Marjorie Talbot. TO-
Brookline, Mass; Dorothy Brown, 13.
Montcla1G, n. j.; Elizabeth Riddle
combe, '04, Newport, N H., and Anne
Chaplin, '04, Springfield, Mass.