The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-08-02

1 Ceurcelies, Treloup, Chassin and vid
 celles on the north bank
 Not Q single house in any of the5
 towns and villages is intact-not one tha | may be repaired and made fit for hlI
 mar habitation. All the walls standinl
 must be pulled down and the house
 entirely rebuilt The orchards and wood have been hewn down by shells. Th sight of all this deliberate devastated
 made one rejoice to see the roads line
 with the enemy dead. The crown princef soldiers lie where they fell in the whea fields. vineyards and orchards, whit
 strewn everywhere are the carcasses the poor, slain horbes.
 Here and there horse and rider hal fallen together. I noticed full grow fox which a shell had hurled from l thicket into the road. Vast quantitid ot steel helmets and other parts q equipment were scattered about. We cross the Marne where the fighi ing had been the bitterest. Here th river is narrow, deep and steep banked
 boat bridge was in use at this poini Elsewhere the river is crossed by meaH Iof ferryboats captured from the GermaH
 and which are pulled back and fort i, along steel cables. Camouflaged pontooI boats abandoned by the Germans wet plentiful, as also were wagons, cart anc motor trucks. The French companies who on tf5 of Ii1I1r cvct,, tho Marpa ,i
 barrels, entered Passy and won fool
 hold in Rig forest, did wonderful thinS
 The Rig forest is upon plateau wei back from the steep slopes, covered wit
 wheat fields and vineyards which aseens to it. The fields abounded in machir gun posts in well defended positions
 The French assault was preceded by vigorous shelling from the south banl The Germans resisted valiantly to til last man. At one machine gun nest < gunners lay dead beside their pieces. Vincelles, which the enemy release
 only Saturday, was the scene of a paf l ticularly violent defense. In the streef
 and cellars were the bodies of more tha. 400 sturdy sons of the fatherland, sacrs feed by the crown prince. On Satus
 day the Germans held more than 14 kild meters (eight miles) of the Marne banks or Sunday they were nowhere withl eight kilometers (4.S miles) of the stream. All day Sunday the struggle continued the French shelling the retreating Gel mans ceaselessly while the enemy wal opposing mostly by means of machirs
 gun fire. The few shells falling near tnA
 Marne in the afternoon appeared breath less," indicating that the Germans wei
 moving their batteries farther back.
 talked to the French divisional genera
 commanding the pursuit. My troops, he said have been al
 tacking the enemy daily since July \ and gaining ground daily. The more the advance the better their morale becomei l They are enthused by the victory" l Stretcher bearers were carrying wound ed down from the Meunier wood comba One crew halted and carefully deposite
 the stretcher to take breath. "Is he badly wounded?" asked an oil ficer with me. Before the Red Cross man could repf the waInded poilu raised himself slightly "It is nothing,' he whispered weakly Nous les avons." We have them
 The gallant boy-for he was not mod than 22-relapsed and tainted. he h3 z received bullet full through the chAH and was labeled for the grave By even suffering, and perhaps at deatl door. his spirit remained that whioi
 brings France victory.