Evening star., 1918-02-17
WHERE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE
is LOCATED AND WHY THAT SECTION
WAS SELECTED, TOLD BY MR. SIMONDS

a clear day a very wide countryside is
visible From the old frontier a num-
ber of small ripping streams. little
more than brooks. come down rapidly
to the Meurthe. which flows in a valley
suggestive of the upper Hudson, or the
Merrimac, or, better still. the Connecti-
cut. In places the sky is darkened by
the smoke of furnaces, for all this re-
cion is full of iron and much of French
war material is made here. Yet the
general nature of the country does not
suggest an industrial land. like Pitts
burgh, or the black country" of Eng
land.
Toward the frontier. which for a long
distance follows the little River Seille,
"A stream which falls into the Moselle at
Metz, there arc many forests. forests
famous forever for the desperate fight
the Grand Mont at the southern end of
the Grand Couronne, it is possible to
get an Illusion of looking down into a
real Adirondack forest, with little lakes
scattered through the woodland Look
ing toward Germany, too. the impress
sion, of Wilderness increases. although 1t
is hardly an accurate impression, for
the fields and even the hillsides are
mainly cultivated with that care which
is characteriStically French.
/ do not think the portion of our
American troops who come from New
England. from northern New England,
will feel any great strangeness IN the
landscape in which they are now hVing:
They will find much to remind them OF
home far more than they would find In
Flanders or even in Artois. They Will,
TOO, feel at home. l am sure, beside tue
rapid little rivers. so clear and so Deau-
tifuI Save only in the winter months,
il should be a pleasant sector. so Tar
as climate is concerned. At the south
ern end lie the Vosges. the valleys filled
with towns famous as summer resorts,
but l shall not now discuss TINS Vosses
sector, because l do not beleVe we
shall take it over for many months
Now as to the front between the
Meuse near ST. Mihiel and the Moselle
at ont-a-MousSon, in which the recent
German official statements place the
American troops at the present time.
OF this region 1 shall say but lttie
just now for obvious reasons. II IS d
stretch of some twenty miles on the
south side of the, famous st. Mime!
salient, which represents the fruits OF
the German attack of late september.
1914; when they took Fort camp des
Romans. above st. Mihlel crossed the
Meuse and cut the Nerdun Commerce
railroad, thus partly isolating Verdun.
"A Region of Thick Forests.
1t is a region of thick forests two OF
them. the Forest of Apremont near st.
Mihiel and the Bois de Pretre above
Pont-a- Mousson. the scenes OF some OF
whole Lorraine front in the first half
of 1915, when the French unsuccess-
fully tried to break in the ST. Mihiei
salient from which the Germans not
merely controlled the Commercy-Vsr-
dun railroad but cut by artillery fire
the main railway line from Paris to
Nancy At the Moselle end this line is
within sight of the towers OF Metz.
great forts of Toul. which, with Epinal.
VerduR and Belfort. constituted before
the war the chief defenses of the east
ern frontier of France. SINCE 1919
there has been little active nshtinE
here and any offensive on the part OF
our troops would have the strictly
limite.l purpose of breaking down the
St Mihiel salient which is thorn IN
the side of French communications anu
the single breech the Germans have
thrust through. in the whole Frencn
fortified line from Eerdun to Switzer-
land and any considerable advance
would reach the forts Of the great Ger
man stronghold of Metz and cross the
battlefield of Mars-ia-Tour, the most
oonsidera Bile engagement of the Franco
PruSSian war.
1t remains to say word OF the cities
in this section. Toul, nearest to the 81.
Mihiel sector. is a sleepy little garrison
town in the Moselle valley. where that
river approaches nearest TO the Meuse.
1t is famous in all the military history
of France, has long been Sreckoned one
of the bulwarks of French defense. 1t
is not larger than Ver6un. having about
$4,000 inhabitants. 1t has never been
seriously threatened by the Germans
in the present war. If the German
statements are correct IT is the town
nearest to the present American trench
es. 1t has a notable cathedral. several
fine buildings and it is a prettily sit
uated town. doubtless soon to be de-
scribed in countless soldiers letters.
but Nancy. only twenty miles to the
east, will certainly command more in
terest for our men on leave.
Nancy, Town Worth Knowing.
Nancy. the most considerable, is one
of the half dozen towns of France tina.
are best worth knowing. 1t was once
the capital of a king, oddly enough
king of Poland, and he spent fortune
and a lifetime in beautifying it. 1t is a
city of magnificent squares and broad
parks, with beautiful monuments and
arcades. a city that has the real flavor
of a capital, not merely the rather dull
life of provincial city. Living on the
edge OF an open frontier has served to
give peculiar vitality to the popula-
tion. which today lives and works with
in hearing of the German guns and is
subject to frequent air raids. once the
Germans had guns in position to bonn
board it and few buildings were de-
stroyed. but this danger is passed for
the moment at least.
future a familiar place for many thou
sands of Americans, the town to which
they will go on leave, for Paris is far
away and the railroad journey might
easily put too great a strain upon
French communication, were il to be
permitted for thousands of American
troops. when their free time comes
around.
Even more familiar, l suspect, in the
letters and descriptions of our soldiers
and correspondents will be the town of
Luneville, dozen miles to the south
which has, too, it's own flavor of dig
nifty due to another palace of a royal
family. Luneville is more directly be
hind the point at which the Germans
took their first American prisoners a
number of weeks ago. it is hardly FIVE
miles from the exact place. which was