New Britain herald., 1918-10-07
AN APPEAL FROM ST. liIHIEL. HELP TO MAKE COMPLETE THE FIRST ALL
 AMERICAN VICTORY IN FRANCE.

"Tnirty-six hours of fighting netted mately 1855 square miles of territory in the St. Mihiel salient which had been in German hands since the au- tumn of 1914"
 The foregoing paragraph was con- tained in the first cable message sent by the Associated Press correspond ent who accompanied General Persh- ings troops in the first a1l-American victory in France These few words tell a wonderful, if heert-rending story of release from four years of atrocity and persecution, of relief from suffering such as only the Ger mans or their Allies can inf1ict.
 It was pitiful groups of people that the victorious Americans liberated in St. Mihiel and the other recap tured towns. It was not men they rescued, but women, children and aged people. The men from that sec tion today are fighting with the armies of France CT have fallen in battle. All boys from ten to sixteen years of age had been taken prisoners by the Germans and deported to Ger man concentration camps. It was women, children and aged people who were set free by our soldiers; inno- cent and defenceless war victims who had felt the heavy hand of German oppression for four long years.
 Children, who through misery and suffering had grown old and serious beyond their years, seemed at first not able to realize the glad situation, then joined their elders in shoWering frantic welcome upon the rescuing army. Women, whose torture-ined faces and staring eyes told a story too horrible for words, Wept and knelt in gratitude as they tried to kiss the hands of our soldiers. The aged and inf1rm who had been made to work for their comquerors also wept in si- lent than kfulness.
 The gratitude to the Americans of all who had survived the four-year reign of German "kultur", was boundless. They were at last free to live as human beings; free to speak without fear of vengeance from the tyrants who had ruled over them. They laughed and wept, then told their stories of long years of German control which had isolated them from news of relatives and world happen ings, and had placed a blight upon them that God alone knows how they endured.
 These are plain, unvarnished acts. The picture is not overdrawn. We quote from those who were on the ground. who saw with their own eyes and know whereof they speak And the facts are such as to stir the very soul of any honest, right-thinking man or woman.
 What we want to do now is to fol- low in the footsteps of our victorious Americans with relief from destitu- ton and suffering as our purpose. 1 Our soldiers fought their way through and rescued these war victims of l France This has opened for us the i, opportunity to send them the neces- ] sites and comforts of life and help 1 restore them to normal living.
 Some parts of the reclaimed sec l tion had been laid waste by the re- 1 treating vandals. Other parts how l ever, had escaped damage as the at 1 tack was such a surprise that the l enemy was unable to undertake his 1 usual work of wreckage. He had laid 1 hands, though. on everything he could i, carry away and also had destroyed 1 large quantities of goods actually