Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-07
Germans Retire
Beyond Meuse

/ Continued from Page One
else gives way. We have the boche
beaten. and the rcarguard efforts he puts
/ up melt quickly after we have them.
Six kilometcrs was the measure Of our
/ advance yesterday just west of the
Meusc. With the French Fourth Army
7mashing across the Aisne at many
points coming up on our left, Petain is
/ pushing up toward Mezieres and Charlie
I Vile.
General Fochs message to General
pershing gives big importance to our
! victory.
Reports have just come in that Stenay
has been evacuated by the Germans.
| Word has been sent to American COM
mandcrs that $50 civilians remain in the
town. Reports also say that the civilian
population Of Montmedy has been evacu-
| atcd and the population of Sedan has
| been told to get ready to move.
This indicates that the Germans will
| attempt to defend Montmedy and Sedan,
while giving up their purpose to make a
stand for Stenay They have sent to
the Americans a list of villages with
civilians, presumably to avert lombard
rnent Laneuville. where 2Io civilians
were left by the enemy. was shelled Be-
cause Of this hochc warfare. the Amer
leans wcr forced 70 take these people
back to safety
Americans at Laucuyiie received n
message brought from Stenay asking
| that our men reach the people there
soon with something to eat and also get
them from under the German shell fire
The Germans are able to see from the
nils that We have not occupied this
town, but they keep shelling il. In
near lIaneuviile / met what looked like
a picnic. II was two hundred and more
civilians who We're being taken from
their homes at Laneuyille. where they
mad Ired in bondage for four years.
asked for the Mayor. but was tola
| that NJ Henri had said that he bao
STUCK to the town for four years ana
was not going to leave it now. The
Americans fixed him up dugout ana
Ieft him. Others were glad TO get from
under the hell of shell fire.
Jean Baptiste Verne told me much OF
the TOUR years story. He said the Ger
man had stripped the village, paying for
property with German scrip. He hso
worked four years for Germans, but hao
been we'll paid, he added With tears
IN his eyes he asked me to thank the
Americans for the food his toWnsmen
had received through the lean war wears
Verne said the Germans had left at
O'Clock on Sunday afternoon and the
Americans, but expressed regret at hay-
Old Women's Proud Boast
Two old women who lived on the out
skirts proudly boasted that they were
tho first to sec our doughboys coming
down the hill. Scenes in Beaumont
Letanne and Lancuvlle will live forever
in the memories of the doughboys who
rescued the French. weary and hungry
and broken in all but spirit
Folks from all these towns agreed thar
the boche had left nothing behind. They
said that for the last six months thr
Germans had consistently taken from
them white -four furnished by the Amer
lean relief workers and given them black
bread instead.
| was impressed to find that most OF
the children had learned to speak some
German, but without exception the older
folk questioned declared they knew no
word nor wanted to. All praised the
Americans but erpessed regret at hav-
ing to leave their homes with peace
seeming so near.
The American cavalry is doing Erear
scout work in cleaning up the woods
lying west Of the Meuse. One lieuten.
ant with sixteen men spent seven hours
in the task Of discovering machine-glIn
nests ahead of the infantry by drawing
their fire. As soon as a German maxim
opened up they would gallop back to ten
the infantry The lieutenant and two
men were slightly wounded in the cap
ture Of eighty-one machine guns.
In a district near Stenay we have
| found n large number of boxes labeled
| look out; infectious material" These
are believed to contain bacilli which are
| being examined at our laboratories In
| efforts to discover what the German.
! intended to do with them. Warninos
| have been issued to look out for little
tubes in which germs have been placed
Cloudy weather again hindered al,
| activity. The air victories in recen,
! fighting add two names to the list OF
American aces-Lieutenant r. p. Curtis
of Rochester, n. Y, and Lieutenant j
| Healey, Of Jersey City. n. J.