The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-11-15

that a dugout Of that size was used
TO accommodate FIVE men during a
bombardment or barrage. When the
barrage was lifted the men would
come out and go to work again with
their machine guns.
We saw lots Of dugouts, however,
from which the Germans never
emerged. The opening had been filled
up with earth from exploding shells
and the sanitary troops that came
through after the battle were spared
the trouble of burying those men.
Many of the shell holes had a sickly
greenish hue, the mark OF gas which
poisons even the earth, and around
others were mounds of empty car
tridges showing they had been used as
s~emiprotection for machine gunners.
Wrote Themselves Into Fame.
When the Germans entered Chateau
Thlerry in June, they reached the apex
of n triangle, the other ends Of which
were OF Scissors and Reims. They
held the city for 81 days and were so
strongly intrenched that the French
and American troops who retook the
city did 1t by outfanking movements
instead of a direct drive which would
have cost many times as many lives.
The marines of the American divi-
si0ns which turned the scale of the
fighting, wrote themselves into fame
by taking Belleau woods. The other
troops of the divisions, eager for a
similar chance of distinguished serv-
Ice. were allowed" to take Vaux, di-
rectly to the west of Chateau-T hierry,
which became the pivot point for the
scissors that squeezed the Huns from
the city. American artillery battered
the village to bits and then the infan-
trymen, armed with maps which had
been drawn by an old stone mason of
the village. marched In and corralled
the Germans who had taken refuge in
the cellars.
The mason knew just where the Gel
lars of the village were located be-
cause he had built them. so that the
cleanup" after the artillery prepa-
ration was quickly done. And the lit
tie town is now rebuilding with equal
rapidity. 1t lies on the main road
from La Fere to Chateau-Thierry Sc
the people are drifting back, and as
we passed through i saw carpenters
and plasterers at work making houses
habitable. A group of red-fezzed Mo-
roccan soldiers were clearing out o
courtyard, and further down the road
were Italians repairing shell holes.
Another turn and we were In the
city itself, crossing the substitute fol
the famous stone bridge over the
Marine that the French were ten years
in the building, but which the Ameri
cans blew up In ten minutes to hin
der the German advance last June
We climbed on up to a hilltop from
which we overlooked the river ani
the city.
Malicious Destruction.
The towering cathedral steeple hat
offered a gunner's mark which hat
not been overlooked. The spire of the
Hotel de Vile also had been shot ant
the weathercock hung at half-mast. In
the square about the city hall Tho
houses had been shelled to ruin. A
radiator stood out In midair from ont
of them. On the second story wal
of another hung a large portrait of Z
girl. Bombs and shells had torn theil
way through roofs and afterwart
when I walked through the city street.
I realized that the work Of destruction
had been completed by malicious
hands. Furniture had been smashed
and thrown into yards and streets. pic
lures had been ripped from frames
and even kitchen utensils had beer
thrown out to rust.
A large part of the loot Of the cit.
was recovered when the GermanI
were hurriedly forced out, and a nurs'
In an American Red Cross hospita
which followed the allied troops int,
Chateau-Thierry told me of seeing
great sacks filed with gold and silve
cups, candlesticks, tableware and or
naments of every description which
had been stored there In the hospita
and left In the retreat. The hospital
originally for French civilians, ha
changed hands five times and was Il
such a state of ~unspeakable filth whel
the Americans took 1t " from tn
Boches that It took ten days to cleal
1t out.
Up back Of the hospital are tn
grounds Of the ancient chateau 70
which the city was named. They ono
belonged to the duke of Thierry, VIII
was one of the famous seigneurs o
the early eighth century. I CLIMBS
through subterranean passages Their
which We're built by his vassals tina
he might escape to the other side O
the Marine whenever his enemie
pressed him too closely, but whicI
recently have been used by Boches q
protection during air raids fror
French planes. The openings are pal
tally filed up now so that they n
longer AFFORD passage under the rivel
but they offer adequate protectiO
against bombs. There are deep bull
wine cellars with thousands Of bottle
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