The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-08-23
Copyright by Detroit FREQ Press
CHAPTER xvI-continued.

Home again for few hours: then
away, prisoner! At least he would
be able to get word to his wife by
letter through the field posts.
Finally he said good-by. His wife
had nothing to give him, no laundry,
no food.
Everything had been lost and she
lived on the soldiers bounty. She gave
him her last money and he refused to
take it. She accepted the money back.
1t consisted of few 5 and 10 pfen-
mig pieces and some coppers, all she
had.
Unable to endure this we took a col
lection among ourselves. We made up
more than 10 marks, which we gave
TO the young woman. She refused it It
first, then looking at her husband, she
took 1T and tried to kiss our hands.
When we refused to let her do this
she ran to store nearby and returned
with cigars, tobacco, matches and sau-
sage, which she gave to her husband.
She smiled perhaps for the first time
In long while.
The children were with their father
and they kissed him as he left. He had
one child on each arm and his wife
carried the third.
With the greatest happiness the
family walked along between the two
armed soldiers. When the moment of
parting came all began to cry.
This was the fate of thousands Of
poor French and Belgian men and
women, quartered near their homes
yet unable to know who was dead or
alive.
While we stood at the depot ten Ger
man soldiers arrived with fixed bayO.
nets. Between them were three French
citizens in civilian clothing, whom they
escorted. All were elderly men. We
. asked an old Frenchman what this was
about and he said:
"We receive our food from the Ger
man military officials but it is not suf-
ficient to live on. The people have
nothing left. All stock and food had
been seized. These three men refused
to work any longer for the German
military officials because they could
not live on what they received.
"They were arrested and are. being
sent to Germany. No one knows what
their fate would be there. The men
were being taken away by the Ger
mans and interned in Germany"
We received orders to march to
Varennes and left the next morning.
AS we reached the heights Of Varennes
about noon we saw the wide country
before us and the city nesting in the
valley. Farther up on the heights was
Vauquois. Nothing could be seen of
any houses but through our field glasses
we could make out an enormous ash
heap. Shells fell there continuously
and we were frightened Mt the pros
pect of having to go to that spot.
Scarcely had we crossed the heights
when some shells burst behind us. The
French artillery even singled out indi-
viduals. While Vauquois was in their
possession they could coordinate the
entire neighborhood. We understood
now why this ash heap had been con-
tested for so bitterly.
We ran down hill till we came to
Varennes. The southern section Of the
town had been wrecked by shells and
fire. Many chimneys were all that was
left standing of whole rows OF
houses. Soldiers everywhere collected
scraps of metal which were transport
ed to Germany. The church bells were
loaded on wagons and sent away. All
the copper, tin. brass and nickel which
could be found was gathered.
The next morning we went into the
trenches. We had to reach our posi-
ton before daybreak, for with daylight
the French kept all the approaches un-
der fire. There was not much or
trench i'm Vauquois. All that could be
seen was a single stone pile. Literally,
there was not, in this town, one stone
left upon another. The ruins or this
village had changed hands more
than fifteen times. When we arrived
One-half of Vauquois was In German
hands. The French were In possession
of the highest points from which they
could overlook the country for many
miles.
In default Of trench we sought
cover behind the stones, for 1t was I'M
possible 10 dig trenches here, as the ar
tillery leveled everything. The soldiers
concealed themselves behind stone
walls and fired. Artillery of all call
Der covered these ruins. Amid all this
destruction lay an army of corpses,
mostly German.