The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1918-03-12
WkSTA(.:: Tells
TRAGEDY OF WAR
Daily Eight Trains Bring Soldiers
Ruined Equipment to lie
Mans From Front.
5000 MAKE '*.ER :R GARMENTS
French Redeem 10000 Pairs Of
Trench Boots a,-G 3 900 Pieces os
Outer Clothing Monthly-Ger-
man War Prisoners Work.

Le Mans. DcnH"tment Of the SarIAe,
France.-On an average eight trasns
day are bringing to LIE Mans the
wastage at the battle front, consisting
Of thousands of tons of damaged var
material and soldiers ruined equip
ment. There have been as many as
Il trains a day heavily loaded with
this material picked up on battlefieids
and around camps LIE Mans would be
the paradise of ragmen and dealers in
secondhand goods were it not for
the fact that the French army is find
ing its own use for such of the mate
rial as it is ab!2 to recuperate or re-
pair.
Establishments located here by the
quarternaster department recuper-
ates monthly $4,000 outer garments,
725,0O0 undergarments, $500 pairs OF
shoes, 10000 pairs of trench boots, 25,-
600 steel helmets, 10000 sheepskin
eapes and 10000 pieces Of equipment.
These articles are made ready FOR
use again by dsinfection, renovation
and repairs there are in addition,
made each month from pieces of cloth
ing that are not repaired, 100000
pairs of slippers. 10000 cases for sol
diers' canteens. $4,000 forage caps,
75,0OO shoe laces, 10000 cloth cases
for bread loaves, and 10000 wash
rags.
5000 in Repair Shops.
The Tecuperation and repair of worn
and damaged articles began in the
spring of 1916 in vast warehouses and
repair shops in which 5000 persons.
including 1000 refugees, mostly woln~
en-, are employed.
Here and at Les Murlins, northwest
of Orleons, among the quays from
which the modified men of the fifth
military region went Off to war ID
August, 1914, German prisoners OF
war now line up in front Of incoming
freight trains and unload quantities
of great sacks that look like the prod
uct Of gigantic ragman's shop.
The indescribable mass invokeS the
confusion as well as the tragedy Of
The battlefield. There are pierced and
dented ,,lmets, worn and stained
pieces of uniform, f3rage caps, great
coats, leggings. army shoes and trench
boots, some OF them pierced by bullets,
some torn by shrapnel and others
shredded by violent contact with
barbed wire.
All of them are covered with layers
of mud of varying thicknesses and
not infrequentIy garment presents
a stain of an indefnable color, always
easily recognized but got rid of with
difficulty. These garments receive
special treatment. They are first
thrown into a receptacle which they
go through a long and thorough cleans
ing before being treated as other gar
ments.
Leather, Metal and Cloth.
The first operation on the arrival OF
a traIc is the sorting Of the load into
three piles, leather, metal and cloth.
The cloth and canvas go at once into
immense disinfecting tanks that are
in operation night and day, and from
there to the laundry. Then they go TO
another warehouse, where they ars
separated into repairable and unre-
parable; here there is great deal OF
ripping to separate trimmings from
garments and to divide the garments
themselves into pieces Of as nearly ulii- |
form size as possible to facilitate their
transformation into comfortable slip-:3
pers. I
The sheep skins are purified BY q
sulphur application in the abandoned
vault of an old cemetery near by,
where 5000 of them are treated eaca
day, after which they are made plia-
Bile and ready for wear again by oeaI-
ing machine. Some of them are able
to take another turn at the front, but
the most of them, along with pieces OK
uniform, are distributed among the as
sembling stations at the rear for the
equipment Of auxiliaries and among
the hospitals for the clothing Of con-
valescentS.
Rags are sold here at the rate OF
q hundred bales per day, weighing in
the aggregate about II tons. This rep
resents the wear and wastage Of cloth
Ing received at LIE Mans atone; an
equal quantity is received ut Les Muir
Inns.
Kettles, braziers, lanterns, drums,
musical instruments and all kinds OF
tools also pass through here on their
way to Rennes to be dealt with by spe- !.
cial establishments where the per-
centage of recuperation is said to be
very slight.