Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-09
YAVKSGET HISTORIC.
REL|CS|N GRANDPRE
Town Was Occupied by Gen.
Won MoItke and Bis
marck in 1870.
SCENE OF HARD FIGHTING
BY JUNIUS b. WOOD.
Cablegram to The Evening Star and
Chicago Daily News. Copyright. 1913.


Cablesram to The Evening" Star and
chicago Daily News. Copyright. 1918.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY AT
THE FRONT. November s.-An Amer
lean she'll had made uninhabitable
the house which Gen. Won Mo1tke oc-
cupied in 1870. in Grandpre. While I
stood on one side of the square con-
templating the ruins and watching
confusion of trucks. cannon and
troops moving forward. muddy SOL
der climbed up the front Of the Bis
marck house and tore down this Ger
man memorial sign commemorate
ing his stay in that structure In 1870.
'That will make some souvenir
when it gets back to Hackensack."
he proudly declared.
Grandpre, nesting in an open val:
Icy between the Argonne forest and
the Bots Bourgoyne. was the center
of the crosshre from the artillery OF
the advancing Americans and the re-
treating Germans and scarcely
ern half Of the beautiful antique
church was pierced by big holes. In
q corner near the altar the black
marble sarcophagus Of Claude joy
euse was unscratched by the shells,
though the Germans sent home the
statue which once adorned 1t.
Engraved on the tomb in the years
OF the dim past Is a six-line verse
constituting q mute rebuke to those
who devastate lands and sacrifice
lives in war. It seemed like a silent
voice from the departed Claude. The
thing which men desire on earth
they only gain to lose 1t in the end
q French forerunner of The vanity
of human wishes"
Hospital Supply Center.
Grandpre had been a German hospi-
tai supply center, and half the build
ings contained medical stores of vari-
Gus kinds. There was a big hospital,
ating room. located in Sivry. on the
other side of Buzancy. A soldier
emerging from a house on the main
street Of Grandpre carried a spiked
helmet souvenir in one hand and two
letters In the other.
II found some funny things in this
house." he said.
One Of the letters was in French
and had black borders. It was writ
ten in Baltimore and addressed to the
writer's brother and sister In Grand
pre- on the occasion Of the death of
tHciI IHOSISIs 6CVcH years dkO. / he
other, in red ink. was addressed to
'Mein Lieber Karl" and was from his
wife in West Baden, expressing the
hope that he had escaped death. This
was written seven weeks ago. Such
were the two occupants of the little
American lieutenant moved in.
The fact that Grandpree which the
Germans proudly labeled Occupied in
August, 1870, by the men who founded
the German empire" was given up to
the Americans who are forcing the
dissolution of the same empire seems
q piece OF irony
The Germans did not retire without
q fight. Overlooking the center of
the village is the citadel. with walls
SO thick that shells could scarcely
penetrate them. On the summit were
are still unburied: The Americans
charged the citadel. broke down the
massive eleventh century doors and
continued to hill 204 beyond.
18th and nth in Action.
Taking the city was the task of the
18th Division, on the left flank of
the list American Army.
I'VE could have battered down the
and so the men charged directly"
said Lieut.. F. r. Devereaux Of Utica,
N. z. brigade adjutant. The regiment
under Col. A. D. T. Anderson has
the credit of taking the citadel.
while that under Col. March B. Stokes
took hill 204. Lieut. Charles M But
Ter and Maj. John Mallory led the
men in the bitter fighting in the
streets Of the town after the hill
had been taken. Bots Loges. which
was on one side Of the hill, was at
tackled by other troops from the nth
Division. well, after that it was a
pursuit race"
Every town south of Buzancy is
battered and shell holes pit the roads.
showing the accuracy Of the Ameri-
can aim, while yawning pits around
the houses show how the flying steel
cut of thousands Of Germans in their
retreat. In the bitches along the
roads are tumbled guns of all sizes.
trucks. caissons, dead horses and dead
men in green uniforms and clothing,
forming a regular stream in the direc-
ton Of Germany like a paper trail in
a fox-and-goose chase.