Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-17
Loss of St. Mihiel Salient
Was a Sad BlOlU TO Huns
Evidence That Permanent Occupancy Was In.
tended---Driuen Out So Quickly, Attempts
to Destroy Failed to Great Extent.
BY JuNIus b. wooD.

10 DeSIIO Huttel
BY JUNIUs b. WOOD.
Cablesram to The Evening Star ana
Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1913
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY AT
THE FRONT. September let will
be weeks before all the mysteries are
uncovered in that st. Mihiel salient.
which for four years, has been closed
pocket in France. In the hours since
Gen. Pershing's first American often
sive wrested 400 square kilometers
(155 square miles) Of territory from
the Germans there has been time to
explore only the high spots, such as
Mont-Sec, which is fortified and pro-
vided with tunnels like another
Gibraltar; st. Mihie, where women,
children and aged men are now seen
with smiles on their faces made bag
gard by four years Of terror; Wig
smaller towns to which the Germans
wantonly. applied the torch after they
had found shelter there for four
years.
Everything in these places indicated
that thousands of soldiers which had
occupied them expected to stay there q
long time. for the Notifications were
immense works of concrete, stone and
steel. Theaters. factories and new
built, the construction all being Of q
permanent character.
Left Villages Burning.
Some Of the villages which were
when made my way across the hast
lily f1lled-fn trenches which q few
hours before had been the boundary
between Germany and civilization.
smells from long range guns far be-
hind the new German lines were fall
tered them Saturday. though Ameri-
can patrols were long ways beyond
them. 1 stood at a crossroad watch
ing supply train approaching when
suddenly cloud Of black smoke en-
veloped one of the wagons. When
the smoke lifted the horses had dis
appeared and soldiers were picking
up the driver.
Yesterday morning I stood on the
heights Of Hattenchatel and watched
columns OF smoke rising from other
burning villages in the direction Of
the distant Hindenburg line. while
nearby a rumble and roar and line
American artillery at Norroy and
Combles was pouring Its projectiles
upon the German trenches. In the
afternoon. as I was writing in a city
far removed from the new front, the
boom of anti-aircraft guns disturbed
back a German airplane which at
tempted to come over and add to the
destruction.
Goes Against Their Grain.
The Germans had been forced to
give up big slice of territory which
they considered theirs, but they were
still swapping like a dog that has
lost bone. Hundreds of Americans,
white and colored. were working on
roads not used in four years. filling
barbed wire and leveling shell holes
when my auto bumped and careened
over the forbidden no mans land.
The sides of the German trenches
facing the allied. lines were lined
with solid masonry and concrete, and
concrete pillboxes. battery emplace-
ments and deep dugouts rooted with
logs. Still the concrete and all the
rest of the defenses were carried in
the first rush last Thursday.
Once behind the old German lines
the roads stretched away smooth as
boulevards. Until ridge, which
made natural defense, was crossed
all were screened with miles Of cam
outage. This was Of all varieties,
but consisted principally Of narrow
lap made in the kaiser's factories.
which the soldiers wove into tap
estries with straw! and twigs. There
were also green growing hedges
which had been planted and cult
vated for years.
Tunneled and Pitted.
Mont Sec. the highest peak in the
ridge. is tunneled and pitted. It con-
tains an underground city not merely
apartments finished in masonry, the
outside facades being ornamented
with heroic-sized iron crosses over
the doors. The hidden city under the
towering hill is large enough to shell
ter brigade. In one Of the most pre-
tentious rooms. which had been used
as headquarters. was found the body
OF a German officer, which the enemy
had not had time to remove during
the retreat.
A stream of blood stretched from the
bunk and covering the face was q
Autograph Of the kaiser which some
Of the fleeing soldiers had torn from
the wall and thrown upon him. A
dead rabbit lay nearby, while q starv-
ms dog covered near the head Of the
dead man growing at anybody who
approached.
When 1 passed a certain building
which bore q sign Of terrifying size
reading "Ortkommandant" (iocal COM
mander) over the door. q crowd was
applauding civilians who were opening
the windows with q crash and break
ing wood inside which caused clouds
Of dust to escape through the open
ings. Elbowing my way through the
crowd, / saw a novel sight. A dozen
men were breaking up pictures Of the
kaiser, Hindenburg, Ludendorf and
other evidences Of German tyranny
over the CITY,.
German signs were less abundant In
st. Mihiel than in the smaller VII
lagos. French signs remained over
the stores which had not been opened
for years, though interlatched barbed
wire across the windows and doors
and endorsements in the streets
showed that 1t had been the intention
of the Germans to mass machine guns
behind the thick stone walls.
Had Intended to Stay.
In vigneulles. in the center Of the
salient, there was abundant evidence
of the expected permanency Of the
German occupation. Every building
more than two stories in height ex-
cept a IRE engine house and another
occupied by a general had been sys-
tematically fred by the Germans in
their spleen at being compelled to
leave the city: Religious services in
yieneulles were had in the audito-
rum Of a church. and there were signs
in German exhorting the soldiers to
worship-strange national mixture
Of religion and berbarism.
II have many things to remem-
har ~ the Germans during the four