Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-07-02

fire and ribbed with deep trenches,
now crumblin9. Countless yards of
barred wire lay in tangled skeins every
where. Once the land was foreSted
but now only the splintered trunks
Of the largest trees remained, the rest
having been destroyed by the bonn
bardment. In the former No Mans
Land was an immense mine crater
fully $50 feet across and deep enough
to dump several good sized houses
INTO. All about were rusty pieces OF
equipment and occasionally one
found the scattered bonca of some
unfortunate. 1t was here that the
nth division jumped off on Septem-
Der Goth.
Following the line on which the
American troops went over ut the
commencement of the Argonne-
Mouse offensive, we came to the hill
on which had once stood the little vii
lage of Vauquois. Had | not been
told that on top of this hill there was
once village OF few hundred in
habitants | surely never would have
suspected it. Nothing, save perhaps
fe wsmall fragments of the red roof
tiles remained. Instead, where the
village stood, was great rift easily
over 100 feet wide, caused by mine
explosions, across which the Ger
mans and French had looked at each
other, for that marked No Mans
Land. The top OF the hill had viz
tually been blown away.
Through Varennes and Cheppy we
travelled to Montfaucon. 1t was
from a specially constructed house
here that the Grown Prince watched
his troops make the assault of YER
dun IN 1916. All the buildings in the
village were destroyed save one, and
that, now, has a big hole in it..
Whether they were damaged during
the battle Of Vcrdun or not, do not
know. But the Crown Prince took no
chances. The walls and floors of this
particular house were reinforced
throughout with concrete, while in the
cellar was reinforced concrete dug
out from which pcriscope arrange
ment extended to the roof and there
connected with a large telescope. BY
this means the Crown Prince was
able to watch the fearful struggle in
which he threw thousands of troops
against the forts about Vcrdun in a
futile effort to break through. But if
all this I shall speak later in telling of
our visit to Verdun itself.
ROMANCE, where great American
cemetery is being made, when COM
pletcd will contain about 10000
graves, was our next objective. Our
route lay over the country which was
the scene of some of the hardest
fighting by our forces. The price
that was paid is indicated by the
hundreds of graves which we passed.
The Graves Registration Service has
big organization here and has al
ready brought over G,000 bodies from
the more remote sections. A simple
white cross marks each grave. While
walking about there | happened upon
a carved hcadstone bearing the name
of First Lieutenant Hinkley, 10th
Engineers. He was my top Sergeant
when l was with the regiment and
was killed on November LIST. The
stone had evidently been provided by
the regiment and was cast aside when
the body was removed to the Gene
terry.
After leaving ROMANCE, we passed
through a number of small villages all
in ruins and largely deserted, stop
ping next at Grand Pre- on the edge
of the Argonnc forest, on the line
where our troops emerged after nut
ting behind them the strongest of the
German defences and where they
halted for a time until beginning the
second phase of the Argonne- Mouse
battle of November list.
At Buzancy, perhaps 10 kilometcrs
to the north, which was taken on
November I'd, we stopped and ms
pected the Chateau that until Octo-
Der was the headquarters of General
Won der Marwitz, who commanded
the German forces opposing the
Americans. He had provided himself
with an elaborate dugout with panel
ed walls and ceiling and was in q
position to direct operations in
safety behind the lines.
We arrived at Dun-sur Mouse at
700 p. M, after making wide circuit
through Nourat and Stenay. Our
train had in the meanwhile been NOV
ed to Dun and here we spent the
night. Starting out again the next
morning we stopped for time at
Staney, where all inspected the Cha
teau that for 80 months was the head
quarters of the Crown Prince. 1t is
all just as it was during his occupa-
ton of the place. Again we found
evidence of his apparent fear. Not
only did he have one ordinary dugout
but sub-dugout below the first.
Both were fitted up for storing food
and all provisions made for the COM
fort in case of the need for moro
protracted stay.
First Case of Paralysis in State