South Bend news-times., 1918-10-04
.GE ERMANS LEAVE
UTTER DESOLATION
AS THEY RETREAT
Americans Occupy Territory
Scared by Years of Ter
rifle Fighting.
BY BERT FORD.
International News Service.


WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY
on THE BRITISH FRONT (nighD.
Oct. 3.-As New York state troops,
that are fighting with the British
fourth army on the Cam brai-St.
Quentin front moved up through the
war-ridden country to the front
line. they gazed with much interest
on a red brick house. known as
Kaiser Bin's Castle" 1t stands in
a patch of woods now thinned by
artillery fire and was built by the
Germans for safe observation
shelter for the kaiser when he visit
ed the Somme front. At that time
il was behind the German lines;
now it is far behind the British
front.
The New York troops hiked
through a scared and uncanny coun-
try on their way TO the memorable
battle for the Hindenburg line. They
tramped for miles over the old SOM
me battle field and through a SEEM
ingly unending desert of war.
Live Midst Utter Ruin.
There is nothing but ruin every
where The men bivouacked in aban-
dOned German trenches, dugouts,
cellars and demolished villages.
Amidst this world of fury and death
they ate. slept. joked, played cards
and rolled dice.
Words fail TO give more than the
slightest conception of the utter
desolation and woe amidst which
the men from New York city,
Brooklyn and upstate lived for
days. The picture can never be ef-
fected from the human memory.
One can motor for hours and see
nothing but a blighted landscape
torn by mines and shells and re-
semi bling in many places a storm
tossed ocean. There are gaunt,
blackened remnants OF trees and the
jagged ruins of churches, factories
and dwellings. all reduced 10 heaps
of splinters wood and powdered
brick and mortar.
Weaves Spell OF Weirdness.
Dark DAYS and moonlit nights and
varying degrees of weirdness to the
environment which automatically
and unconsciously affect the
thoughts and emotions.
Americans slept in spOoky, rat
ridden hooks. and beside ancient
cemeteries. defaced and upheaved
BY the tornadoes of modern war
They tramped over roads pitted by
mines and shells and graves of hun
dreds Of men who fell as the tide OF
battle ebbed and flowed for four
years.
There were clumsy crosses in the
German cemeteries. which adjoined
the burial grounds for the French
and British.
As the men approached the firing
line they passed through battle
wrecked buildings which the Brit
/ ish had but recently taken in bloody
hand 70 hand fighting.
Stacks of Equipment.
The Americans saw stacks OF cap
tured German equipment along the
roadside. There were helmets. rifles
| overcoats. kuapsacks, ammunition,
old boots. harness and so on, which
the Tommies had harvested in the
/ German dugouts.
/ Also they saw many German
/ graves skirting the roads Each
grave had a musket stuck in II
/ bavonet down, with a helmet on the
butt Some OF the German crosses
bore inscriptions, proclaiming the
} buried man as a hero and setting
forth mis- deeds In case Of rank
there were decorations, such as q
line Of empty shell-jackets around
the mound.
The Americans took a deep in
/ terest in the elaborate system Of
! German dugouts. often they wer'
; so feet deep and reached to th'
/ advanced positions.