The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-03-28
1)vN OF pER0NNE
MODERN pOMPEII;
NOTHING TO BURN
German Reports Of British De-
Structlon Called Untrue,
BY GEORGE 7. BYE.
lRseiproeAl New SeTYice.l

IONDONf MafNn Gui-A beIntn
official bulletin says the English are
burning French villages before moving
out OF them. There was nothing the
Germans left that was worth destroy
ing in all this great area after their
retreat Of 1917
have just returned from a tour Of
the whole country between Arras and
peronne, including the British Hnden-
burg line al Croisilles the British bat.
tie positions close TO ST. Quentin, and
The prepared positions in the rear
where the Hun is now getting his pun
ishment-and the only lnilammable
structures saw in ali this grisly eoun-
try were some temporary huts occupied
by American engineers
German CHASTITY Joke.
II Is one Of the ghasily Jokes of the
Germans 10 refer 10 these French vii
lagos as II II were possible for the
British to level them any lower into
the dust than German clock-mines and
torches had long ago reduced them
with Characteristic thoroughneu. This
is.a corpse country villages arc moth
ing more than a continuation OF the
havoc that meets your eyes for miles
There are no walls standing. Those
points that are named on military maps
are nothing more than former loca-
tons and you would not know you were
passing a village Of the past but for a
sign post that helps to give direction to
military travellers. ! should have in.
cluded these sign posts among the In
flammable material. also the thousands
and thousands OF crosses that mark the
graves, white for British and black for
the Germans. II is terrible resur-
rection that has come over this awful
region, q raging new battle on the field
OF the old, not yet old enough to have
affected lis skeletons The Germans
laid away their dead >under black
crosses bearing "Rest in Peace now
their shells are ripping up these bat
tie graves, busting the faces Of the
freshly killed with the pulveriIed decay |
OF the sacrifices Of last year.
e. Psronne Not Worth Burning.
Peronne Is not burnable, at least the
few fragments Of wood in Il, tumbled
wreckage are not worth burning. 1t is
splendid example Of German fright
fulness Once beautiful Peronne is
now only the shell Of a town. A COM
pact sblidly built place Of about
5000 inhabitants before the war, 7
found il provided shelter only in its
cellar vaults. There was not house
in Peronne that escaped the demoniacal
destruction OF the Huns.
None Of Town Rebuilt.
None OF It has been rebuilt unless
you can call II reconstruction 10 board
up the sides of two demolished houses
10 provide club and rest quarters for
british officers. There was also some
repair to the ancient citadel. A Ger.
man shell had wrecked a tower Of the
old fort and some OF the brick occa-
,ionally Tell down into the entrance arch
,f tho citadel. This had been re-
paired by road workers during rainy
iays--the fort is OF no value In a mill
fary way; the British used its ancient
assembly halls and even bake ovens
Tor sleeping quarters, and | believe
here was a blacksmith shop off one
corner OF an irregular inner court. The
noat around the citadel, formerly fed
~ the Somme has been drained for
years. A few Tommes were down in
The reservoir at practice when was
there.
Needs No Exhuming.
From the parapet on top the walls
curiously left intact as the German
war lord held all things military to be
sacred, one has a good panorama of
this relic OF city, this Pompeii, that
needs no exhuming to revert its wasted
form, standing out in the twentieth
century asa monumental victim Of the
devil In man
Almost due east OF Peronne Is Roisel
II You read Of the fierce fighting there
Saturday and Sunday you probably
had vision OF the enemy sending his
masses into streets flanked by houses.
Roisel Is In rather large type on the
war map. When | was in Roisel
Roisei was not there, not even its
street There was an unbroken series
OF shell eraters, many of them linked |
together. An aerial photograph Of |
Roisel would compare favorably with
teieseopic photograph OF the moon. | |
went to Rcisei because II was the sta
tion OF some American engineers, Their
dugouts were in the lee OF a little bill,
at the edge Of which were fragments Of