Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-15
0VERPATH0F RUIN
CUT BY FLYING HUN
American Troops, Loaned to
French, Follow Close After
Retreating Germans.
BY GORDON STILES.

nCli CdlIII0 OCl IJl0IlSs
BY GORDON STILES.
Especial Correspondence of The sum
day Star and Chicago Daily News.)
LONDON, England. November 90
He was standing in the middle Of the
street just at one end of q precarious
looking bridge which the French en-
gineers had thrown across the River
Lys. in a town called Deynze. I don't
suppose he had ever heard Of Deynze
before he arrived there. hadn't
But Deynze is an important place, in
its own way, being the only large
town between Coutrai and Client and
on the main road.
At any rate, he stood there with
his khaki collar turned up against
the driving rain, his jaunty cap sod
den. complete with a perfect U. S. A.
crouch written all over him. I had
stopped to ask him the way.
He gave me few directions. add
ing: That's as much as I can tell
you. I've been here only two days.
the French, and they have got me
stuck by this bridge directing peo-
pie who know a lot more about 1t
than I do
: His job was unpleasant enough.
He was neither fighting nor COM
I soon discovered that his crouch
was due to another trouble entirely.
learning for Smoke.
"sir," he said. "can you tell me If
there is Y. NJ. c. A canteen any
where around here?"
Light came to me quickly.
Il don't know" I said. What do
you want, cigarettes"'
"I sure do. I haven't had ono for
three days"
1 believed him. having had some
difficulty in that line myself. There
was a tin of fifty in my haversack
and he Mad it in about a second.
'Fervent" would be the best word
with which to describe his thanks:
He ended with: Gosh. what luck!
I'll split these up with the other
fellows"
1 don't know his name. He told me
he came from Chicago and was clerk
in private life. And there he was. two
days behind the fleeing Huns. con
trolling traffic" The fifty cigarettes
would tide him over easily, he said
until supplies came through. One
thing 1 am sure of: He will carry
away from that town of Deynze mem
cries which will not pass.
1t has been my lot to loiter in many
ruined town. There Is Ypres. eerie
and dismal and forsaken, with Its
jagged pinnacles of crumbling ma
city. There are Arras. Courtraf and
Lille, badly knocked about, but still
preserving the spirit of a living town
But about Deynze there is something
indefinable; something that gets un-
der your skin and makes you feel
hopeless; town alive. yet dead.
Grim Relics Of Fighting.
When I first approached the place
it looked. from a distance, to be fairly
intact. The Germans had just left and
there were plenty Of signs of fighting
Open warfare has done away with the
trench system and along the bitches
which separate the inevitable turnfp
fields from the roads rifle pits had
been dug. while every form OF natural
had been utilized for ma
chine gun emplacements.
Field guns in grim rows: with
scarcely any camounage' nae peen
abandoned and were still pointing In
the direction whence the allied FORCES
had approached. Rifles. machine guns.
ammunition, water TASKS, helmets,
shoes and every possible form OF
equipment were strewn about the fields
and along the roads.
In Desolation Complete.
The worst shock came with the en-
try into the town proper. Most OF the
dead who had fallen in the street
RI re
adjacent fields and lay in uncouth
heaps with the rain drizzling over
their soaked clothing. There had been
a disorganized attempt to clean up
the debris in the streets and nonde-
script piles of rubbish lined the curb.
Misery of the Children.
At one of the main street corners
French soldiers were distributing
such food as they had been able 70
bring up over f1imsy bridges and
along shell torn roads. greasy with
mud And a struggling queue OF un-
kempt figures snatched wolhstly at
the bits of canned corned beer and
bread which were handed out.
l never have seen anything SO pitt
full as the faces of the children. Mites
of five and six had the features of
old men and women. They were all
eyes-old. troubled eyes. Their flesh
was drawn and pasty. And all stood
in the soaking downpour awaiting
their turn.
Enduring Scars Of War.
That the Germans intended to hold
the occupied Belgian towns Is evil
denced in more ways than one. In
such places as Coutrai, Halluin and
Bruges the houses had been carefully
remembered with systematic German
thoroughness. The names of the
streets had been changed to Kaiser
strasse, Lillerstrasse, etc. And the
new street signs which had been put
up were no makeshifts. They were
solidly made and neat and screwed to
the buildings in a manner that be-
tokened permanency. In many towns
these signs suffered severely at the
hands of the populace ten minutes
after the Huns had fled.
When it became known that the in
vaders were actually going, hun
dreds of cattle and pigs were STAN
peded by the people at the risk Of a
German bullet and later were recov-
cred from the woods into which they
had been driven. Chickens were hid
den in beds. wells and washtubs.
Taken on the whole, the crops are
unchanged and this will materially
aid those who will have to deal with
the feeding problem,