Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-20
Special Gable TO Erenins Public Ledger

Special Gable TO Erening Public Ledger
Copyright, 1918, By Nco York Times Co.
with the American Army OF Occupation,
Nov. 20.
A FTER a successful twoday march
4 toward the Rhine the American
Third Army yesterday began organizing
its systems of communications and sup
plies, doing everything on a strictly war
basis.
The army is being operated on full
schedule of corps and divisions, entail
ing an enormous amount of signal corps
and engineer work, not only for today's
needs. but in building the foundation ofa
system to extend into Prussia. Each
days progress, of course. will ada to the
task of supplying the 100000 men COM
posing our army Of liberty.
Monday night when we halted, our
outposts were close to the borders of
Luxembourg and Lorraine. where we
stopped to await further orders.
In the snow civilians and released
prisoners continue to pour through our
lines. The Third Army is doing a great
emergency work in feeding and caring
for these people, many Of whom are In
bad physical condition from lack of food.
In our march we have so far liberated
some 200 French and Belgian towns and
villages and more than 100, 900 civilians
Nirton. Belgium, Nov. IS (delayed) -
This pretty little city of Belgium belongs
TO the Americans tonight--it and every
thing in 1.-THE willing gift of 1000 in
habitants to whom the doughboy from
America today brought deliverance after
fifty months under the yoke of the
boches, who left 1t SO little ahead of
hn tr,,n nrt me- a,,t, l,,t .,ft
were overtaken.
Truly. to those Belgians. America is
Gods country, for it represents to them
not only their saviors, their rescuers. but
the nation which has fed them for four
years. With tears in their eyes they
assured me today that they would have
starved had 1t not been for America, and
in their enthusiastic joy they declared
they would still be slaves of the Hun if
it had not been for the Americans.
Homemade L. s. Flags Flying
They meant what they said, for by
the side of the yellow, black and red of
Belgium's noble flag waved the stars
and Stripes everywhere. Let America
take to heart the fact that those Ameri
can flags are home made. Some had not
enough stripes and none had enough
stars-some had only five or sX-but
their uneven stripes and Jagged stars
lost none of their glory because loving
hands had wrought them rather than
machines of steel in flag factory back
home. The Belgian flags had been hid
den for four years. and ] am told that
for three weeks the women of the city
had been making American flags against
the coming of this glorious day.
I picked Nirton to see the American
| I'D, tnIn ht,t : 70 t,A
most happy place to observe the recep-
tion of the Americans. Our soldiers
pushed on. reaching the woods south of
Etalle and the town Of st. Leger, and
further south passing Longuoyon. and
on to Longwy. Audon-le le- Roman and
| Briey. which also was occupied. bring
ing our front virtually up to Luxembourg
and the Lorraine border.
A few moments after my arrival at
Nirton | saw German major and three
lieutenants walking nonchantly up the
street. The Americans who saw them
gasped and grasped their rifles. until
their commander told them that German
surgeons had been left behind by agree
ment with the American commander.
I spoke to the German major who in
vited me to visit the hospital, where he
said there were some Americans. He
led me to St. Joseph's College, which had
been converted into a vast German laZa-
rette. To my surprise, / found corridor
after corridor filled with German wound
ed and men too bad off to be moved.
In two corridors | round nine Americans
wounded the last day of the fighting.
All were sbrave and cheerful and de-
lighted to see the first American since
their capture. They said they had been
treated"well by the Germans.
Town Untouched by War
1t is fair to state that Nirton is in
excellent condition. 1t is untouched by
the ravages of war. No shell holes, no
bomb craters. no burned houses were
seen. The little city looked beautiful in
the clear sunshine. IT has as many resi-
dents as before the war. But they tell
bad tales of the boche. They say that
he kept the city in good shape because
he had many headquarters there and did
not expect to leave SO soon.
could not help comparing Nirton with
pillaged Montmedy, which I saw yester-
day, where everything worth looting had
been stolen. In Nirton the shops were
we'll stocked with German and Dutch
goods, and | actually went into a hotel
ordered lunch and had an excellent meal
They had bread left by the Germans