The Natchitoches enterprise., 1918-12-26

after-the-War conditions i" lfaac',
and will be Of general interest 10
our readers
DUGNY, France, Nov. p, 1919.
My Dear Auntie
This will DE your regular Sunday ct
ter, but it won't be a veg ,oag ore,
because am just about 10 leave Ma a
short trip to Chaumont and LaEr-,s-
Cbaumont is where the General lead
quarters &C. H. O. Of tire Amerc&n
E F. is located, and about which have
written SO often. | want u 20 Gown
to have a talk with my boss, General
Bethel. about the work p France IN
der present conditions. E@ge 2-e" t-y-
ing to get down for sun2 t,ag' but
have not had the time cr ta~ agHo. tyhl-
tv. Expect to return t." rry" .--a..
! Am going down with another ol4cer II
an auto, and as it's a long. long "Trip
about ninety miles-cXpcc, to nave
cold ride of it. Tut am sure It VA
be well worth the trip. an &. gong
down to Langres, fifteen mis- lie.
Chaumont, to see Wright, mr. s%-~5-
sistant, about some ToTs "-ilH -s --"
gan and was unable III ca". ---t ..r
me. am waiting for the car n." nd
will have to cut this short jas. ~ soon
as it comes. Il don't get No "..-e
real letter today I viii jusr as =-oa Us
| return from my trip,
! | believe ] have ALREADY yr..-.a "A
that | was located at tEe ao,.- .---d
place. 1t is mo terribly -.., ~t ana
being a rather large town. r. +, i al
the worse. have had ~ -p. -t,Sa.5y
to get around it several times la.aly,
and never tire in doing SO.
Yesterday four officers, including my
self, visited the MOntfaucon battlefield,
which is the first show our division
1 went into. 1t is Slightly northwest of
Verdun, and the highest spot between
the Mouse river and the Argonne For
est. 1t was some show that the division
had the latter part of September, and
we took the village, at a very heavy
cost, in two days. Our trip yesterday
was to traverse the scenes - tIe .i8a:.
The town since we took i hes 0-en -
ribly shot up by the Bochcs, who ai.er
retreating, proceeded to bomb it with
all their might. 1t was from this high
spot, in a tower cons tru~tea in 9 cha
teau, that the Crown Prince watched
the battle OF Verduh Ii 1915, ewing
it thru wonderful telescope, which
telescope we captured il our drive. cur
division engraved its name On the thing
before it was turned over 10 the En-
gineers. The church, Of course, is
totally wrecked, and right in the center
is strong pill box, ," OF machine gun
nest, erected by the Boches. The Gav
lis made a speciality of destroying
churches, and have yet to vista town
where the church is anywhere near
whole. Every house in Montfauc0n had
strongly constructed cave, and almost
everyone had a "pill box" also. On
the way up and back we passed village
after village, which, to use a French
mans phrase, was only "a stained spot
on the ground" They were absolutely
destroyed, and not even part Of a wall
or chimney standing to show lat there
there had been houses. Wepassed thru
miles and miles Of country in which not
a single square foot Of ground had es-
capped being hot up by heavy artillery.
1t cannot be used again for hundreds
of years, in my opinion. In one spot
we saw where some Of our artillery had
made direct hit on three large Boche
cannon, completely destroying all three,
blowing the houses and men to pieces
and we could find piece Of man here
and there.
We went out to look for the grave of
a young officer, who was killed, and
after searching two hours, discovered
it in the edge of a wood, where he had
been buried in a shell hole with two
privates. We took pictures of the place
and marked it on a map, so as to give
his family a definite idea as to where
to find the grave in the event they ever
want to visit it over here.
We had taken lunch with US and ate
it along side of the road, using Doche
powder boxes as our dining tables. Lad
a very good feed, and as it was late be-
fore we got to eat, we Were ravenou5.
Did not get back until nearly six last
night.
We are still located in and around
Verdun, waiting for orders to move.
We shall probably be sent forward to the
borders of Germany, or into the wes-
tern edge of that country within few
days now. We are getting replace
ments and new equipment right along
these days, and as soon as we are lied
up am sure we will move. Everybody
is anxious to move, because We want to
get out of this awfully war-torn and
shot up country. There is some talk
of our going to the border Of LuXelm-
bourg, but | doubt if we will be station
ed in that country at ALL inasmuch as
tits supposed to beneutral. Of course,