Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-14
|ME FRENCH VILLAGES !.
!. ENTIRELY 0BL|TERATED
houses, and Even Walls, Left
Standing in Grim Wake
Of War.
SCENE OF DEsoLATIoN
rler Believes That Hamicts Will
DO Rebuilt in Future Years, AL.
though No Trace OF Them Is to
&c Seen Now.
ny CAprAIN n. a. = po,,.un

DcICulOCI d. marked
on r some Of the recent military maps
mas village names, and after them
Jackets the words "site OF -"
t ,s ne ans that the village has been
". The, roads that led into Il re-
YIN marked upon tho map: indeed,
t ayy, are In daily use. but the village
,W S.i mas disappeared.
i me- map. one sees sometimes a name
'' nc type. Reference to the legend
a, '"e bottom of the map tells you
iiE those Of an old Roman city. We
nm Novodunum. these are vanish ed
les indeed, and green rolling hills
st founda, oaks stand high upon their
4 more vanished than some little
.IaSes OF Northern France.
me towns and cities that have crum-
ue a"ay beneath the tide Of war will
gard 10 roads and waterways in
res their resurrection. But these
ance hamlcts. little Old World VIII
s.es that rosc.. perhaps. from some
~ they ever come 10 life again? liz
ere enough vitality left for them to
70 phoeniH-wisc from out their poi
ned ishes?
II OF France where the allied front
le recently ran a mile beyond the
reg or entrenched positions held by
onE ths hrb 'o eres, d9ng two yesrS
retches the main Arras- DouIlens
ad. II Is one OF those long, poplar
, .hsed military. roads that seem to
ry r a1a all amid .ims Tho Here arc dsor
ees cut off at short length into a
intered tu!.-the work OF flying
Side roada branch OF at Intervals.
"a human 1it- n 1,o
caii AT crossroads. The remains OF
estaminets. or little cafes. are still
ere. put there is not one that has
Gaped wreckage by she!l-fre. The
valley, where parallel ridge rises
ain Long gray ribbons on its sur
ce mark the scars of the trench sys-
M, and even the growth OF summer
lie map tells one that half a dozen
.mlets lie down there I'm the valley,
u NOT church spire nor red roof
10. 70 De seen. and the country is omin-
Deep cut in the chalk. the by-road
andeTs down. shut In by high banks
owned with waving grasses. corn and
a3!ng poppies. The fields arc drowsy
10 honorous with the buzz Of insect
J., yet never human voice echoes
huseandman's implement clinks on
sual stone. A curious high-tufted
ism strikes the eye. and strays n
IL
led mass OF barbcd wire overgrown
18th bramble sand climbing bind
'eeds Deep In the center few rags
faded field grey still hu,ter on the
,rbs.
Here at the forking of the road. so
ys the map. the houses should begin.
square depression. breast high in
M nettlcs. the line OF foundatio
iderfoot, the harsh crumpling feel OF
iards OF tile, indicate all that is left
n farm house. Further afeld a.
oxen sum bleached wheel or two. a
nEle red Iron that might have been
seeder or plough; Some half char
I'd beams and a broken single
low that here stood the barn and
an-to's Of the buildings. Already the
rces OF nature are sweeping over
ejse remains. to hide in shame-faccd
Gen the scars that men have made.
Two fields away one comes across
te trench line. now fallen in. Here
I'D there parapet and parados have
osed together. leaving great cracks
Ill there, dark. sinister earth
,ented tunnels, ose-framed in rottinE
'ood. Curious lengths OF iron. broken
lie butts. bent barrels-the dangerous
re green white fallen chalk. Every
here the rotten sandbags have burst,
nd creeping green things sprout from
iery nook and Granny. The long
laUOWS IAN ENIlIy tCTOSS inc
ouths. and the high field growth of
aving grass and wastrel corn seems
> whisper frightening things.
OLSON SIGN IS
PLACED OVER WELL
So one goes on through the hamlet
ere wall still stands, and there
wing trce stump, sending up q few
:raight shoots OF new growth, and a
irrant bush going back to the wild
IT want OF care. In one tumbled cor
er a battered notice board stuck in
lie coamings OF a we'll shaft reads In
lded letters. Unfit for drinking pur-
oses," with the word Poison" added
/ warning crimson. A faint metallic
nell of sheepdip still seems TO cling
ound the fount.
OF the village on the map not sign
left: even the bricks seem to have
INK into the earth. The unsubdued
orces OF nature are at work, and were
ne war TO last few more years
nickets and young forests might well
prout where stood wide fields of wav-
lg corn.
viii they ever be rebuilt. these ham
IT'S of murdered France? For myself,
think that they Will, knowing the
rim. indomitnble peasantry OF the
and. Some day the survivors OF the
blk OF these dead ruins will come back
-gnarled bent old folk. children bred
n exile. old hands and new hands.
md once again they will reclaim the
taste that the Germans have made.
Copyright, 1879