El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-07-22
GERMAN5FEAR
NAME Of YPRES
It Means for Them Terror
and the Certainty Of
Death.
By JOHN /. HaLuEHsTON.


Flanders is horrible beyond the COM
prehension Of those who have not
seen this CHASTITY land During the
British offensive here last summer,
when I was writing stories about the
combats on the AIenin Road and in
Irvernesse copse and by Gheluveit, my
own post Of vantage. on every clear
day, was that commanding the hill
Of KENNEL which is now in enemy
hands. and the center Of the whole
battlefield, and have studied there
with maps and glasses every yard Of
the miles Of battlefield stretching
away to Lille and the untouched cities
Of the Belgian plain and slept on the
slopes Of KENNEL TO watch the ire
mendous and awful spectacle Of a
night bomDardmenL timed just before
the infantry went over at dawn
Dreary Plain Of Flanders.
The fiat plain Of Flanders stretches
away in dreary shell pOcked levels,
pools of stagnant rainwater and
debris covered undulatiOns- From the
German advanced positions almost
due east Of Ypres il is five or six
miles to the foot hills of the KENNEL
ridge, and every foot Of that dis
lance is over old battlefields. Down
IN the dead levels thousands Of armed
men wait in the trenches. Craters
have become fOrtresses bristling with
machine guns, and by night the whole
plain shimmers with the red flashes
Of countless cannon
The Scene Of Npres.
What is left Of Tpres-a mound Of
calcined masonry and pounded bricks
stands as a low rise on the plain
The roads. fringed by shell blasted
trees. snake away into the hay dis
and the WnHHnra rn-nnH narrFFH Of
high bursting shrapnel or the black
smoke column Of distant large cali
Der high explosive shell seem the
only visible signs Of life. The plain
is dead and motinoless. and only muir
murOus with the roll Of artillery fire
and the steady tapping Of mUsketry.
Yet despite its apparent quietness eV-
cry German knows what a vast men
ace hides under the deceptive calm.
To the German, Epres is word
Of fear. The Germans murdered
that city, and no murderer likes
to be confronted with the corpse
OF his victim. 'fWir fahren mach
per"-fhe murmur goes through
the German battalion and men
curse the name Of the i'll Omened
sector.
They may hold the Messines ridge
and look out over the plain. but there
is little comfort in the view. Smoke
wreathed KENNEL Hill shoulders like
a furnace under the steady slaught-
erOus pounding Of tine allied guns.
The German Divisions Die.
Another German division is dying
away there-chocking out its life ia
gas masks, filling the shallow sandy
trenches with its dead and dying
and the great quiet plain Jagged with
dead tree stumps stretches out as a
vast obstacle between the Germans
beyond Tpres. and their comrades to
the south who have a slender footing
on the much desired ridge Of hills.
fpres Area Is Horrible.
The battle area around Xpres IS
horrible everywhere, and everywhere
the same Shells from both sides have
Iallen upon il every day since NoVem-
Der. 1914. with the single exception
Of the first Christmas day. The
shelled area extends for two OF three
miles on each side OF the battle line.
and the fluctuations Of the line have
brought fresh areas on either side
within range Of hostile guns with
every advance the finger OF destruc-
ton reaches deeper into the defence
less countryside.
Messines. Dickebusch. Vlamertingue
the names Of all these villages are
only names. for houses. gardens, Or
chard trees and churches all the signs
OF mans peaceful habitation. have
been swept away.
War At It's Worst.
The German sees before him a pros
pect Of war at its very worst Some
where behind the desOlatfOn are the
channel ports and the rising chalk
downs Of BoulOgne and Calais: be-
youd them across the stretch Of hos
tile invulnerable sea are the cliffs Of
Dover. Germans with memories OF
the first year Of the war do not like
70 hear these old war cries raised.
for they can remember the first
thrust for the sea-the hungry
marches Of the NDres. the floods when
men drowned in flocks like sheep. and
the holocaust around flame girdled
Ypres.
They have heard Of decisive
battles befOre-some OF them sur
vived the failure Of Verdun: and
when the columns entr1fn for
fPress and the pompous hattie
orders are read, those who know
shudder.
From car side OF the lines we see
the same landscape, but from a dir
ferent mental point Of view. Here is
waste ground-miles Of il, ground
that we are prepared to yield il the
Germans viii pay the high value that
we set on II IN lives II it is bought
at our price-and it will never be
yielded for less-Germany viii be
paying bitter interest on the bargain
$50 years from now.
And behind IL are formidable cir
dies Of defences still safeguarding
the ports which they so desire The
name Ypres. whether they win it or
not, viii be found burnt deep into
what heart the Germans may still
have when the war is over. it viii
take generations Of them to forget IL.
PiOneerS' Annual Picnic. Harts
MIL Wednesday, twenty fOurth.-Adv.