Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-17
FRENCH DRIVE FOE
FROM 2 VILLAGES
Re.establish Lines Between
Aisne and Marine by
Local Actions
OTHER SECTIONS QUIET
By C.. H. PERRIS
Special Gable to Euening Public Ledger
Copyrioht. 1918. BIZ Nee York Times Co.
With the French Armies. June IL

with the French Armies. June II.
Looking from the high ground south
of the Aronde Valley toward the long
ridge that closes the horizon on the
north under the rather chill sunshine
of Saturday 1t was strange, almost
shocking, to remark the quiet beauty
of the scene so filed with horror dur
ing the last week.
Green wheat fields slope gently down
and away, broken by patches of olive
woodland. and rise again more Sharply
to the purple line Of the Merry and
Relloy hills. Many French observa-
tion balloons floated overhead and
| like a series of German "sausages."
helped to mark the irregular course
of the front.
AS usual, not man of the hosts
watching each other with murderous
eyes was visible at little distance
but the boom of guns and the crash
| of heavy shells, followed by spouts and
hanging clouds of smoke and dust
about Courcelles. Merry, ST. Maur and
| the hamlets Of the Matz Valley,
| shouted the ugly truth against all the
bright camouflage of summer time.
This countryside like so many
others, has been deserted by most Of
its inhabitants. A few remain. how.
ever. and there are men and women
bent at field work within the range Of
the enemy's guns as though they
could not tear themselves away from
the land that is all to them. or could
not believe that the tide Of invasion
would reach further. Perhaps they are
too poor, too old or too helpless to be
able to face the search for new homes.
Battle Made Many Changes
The battle Is lost and won; the
pressure on ambulance cars and hos
pital trains in relaxed: 'he process.
sions of refugees have passed away to
the south In this interval, moving
| about behind the French lines. it
| comes home to me once more what a
world of suffering an invasion makes
apart from the direct wounds of bat
tie. In the three weeks since this
phase of the offensive began several
large towns, especially Compeigne and
Soissons. have been destroyed: others,
| like Chateau-Thierry and Nillers-C Cot
terets, greately damaged. and in wide
stretches of the country the few folk
who did not get away are now under
| the enemy. subject to real servitude.
| From long living in some OF these
places and constantly passing across
1t from one part of the front to an.
other, the whole region is very famil
lar to me. thousand strange expe-
riences in these four heavy years have
etched upon my mind the picture Of
It's desolate streets and fields. it's once
lovely old churches and farm houses
now shattered; the majestic sweep of
it's landscapes and the dignity and en-.
ergy of laborious population. 1t is
all gone. 1t will never be the same
again and many years must pass be-
fore life renews itself in forms at
which we can hardly guess. It is so
long since war has ravaged British
homes that Britons may sometimes
forget the bitter injury Of France
which they do not share as they share
her more evident daily sacrifices.
Fortitude and Confidence
As to the army, its spirit, even more
| distinctly as one approaches the firing
line. Is one of cheerful fortitude, sup
ported by confidence, confirmed on many
a stricken field that its quality is. worthy
of its cause. There is no touch of boast
fulness or flamboyancc about it. Lads
| with whom ] was yesterday were la
| mentally unable to give me the story OF
what they had been through. Every
| separate detail had to be wrung out of
| them, and they had the air of wondering
why an emissary of distant paper
should trouble to rout them out of their
rest holes and fuss about what was all
| In the days work.
| The only sectors of the French front
| that have been troubled in the last two
days are those lying between the Aisne
and the Marne on either side of the
| Ourcq, and in both it had been in our
initiative and to our advantage. In the
north the villages OF the Couvre and
Valsy were yesterday cleared of the
enemy and the ravine boundary was re-
established. On the south. in the Gig
non aVlley French and American troops
continue by small operations to keep up
the pressure that the German command
must flnd as annoying as 1t was unex-
pected.
| Reaction Inspired Germans
When on June Won Boehm's advance
guards pushed south and west across
the Clignon. occupying the village of the
valley, they actually reached the point
of their front nearest to Paris, and
doubtless thought the road to the capital
would soon open before them. Belleau
wood, which is mile and a half wide
and half mile deep, became sub
stantial base for further progress, and
! was occupied by a large garrison and
we'll defended by machine-gun posts
The Franco-American reaction which
began June was q great surprise, On