The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-06-27

french DullC 1OrC on Cne remains OF
old Roman Notifications, hence the
name. The Germans were finally en-
| trenched here and had materially
strengthened the defences. Being on
the tip of the salient, the fort was
simply evacuated, when communica-
ton to the north was cut off. 1t was
! late in the afternoon when our long
train of trucks finally negotiated the
steep road which led to the top ant.
the Meuse river looked particularly
! beautiful as it curved to the north.
Leaving the fort, we proceeded to
Commercy, several kilometers distant,
where our train awaited US, having
covered approximately As miles dur
ing the days journey.
During the night our train was pull
led up to Observation-Disclosures,
where we again met by trucks on the
morning of the Oath. Our first stop
was at LIE -Four de Paris, which, liter
ally translated means the furnace Of
Paris. Whether the place was SO
named before the war l cannot say
but in any event all evidence indicates
that the name has not been misap-
piled. For four years this particula,
region was the scene of hard fighting
and must have been vertible furnace
ut times. The ground was every
where plowed and furrowed by shell
fire and ribbed with deep trenches,
now crumbling. 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 bones of some
unfortunate. 1t was here that the
77th division jumped off onnSeptem-
Der Goth. .1naH sl'
Following the line on which the
American troops went over at the
commencement of the Argonne-
Mouse offensive, we came to the hill
on which had once stood the little vii
lage of Vauquois. Had l not been
told that on top of this hill there was
once village of a few hundred in
habitants l surely never would have
suspected it. Nothing, save perhaps
a 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 vir-
tually been blown away.
Through Varennes and Cheppy we
travelled to Montfaucon. 1t was
from a specially constructed house
here that the Crown Prince watched
his troops make the assault of Yer
dun in 1916. All the buildings in the
village were destroyed save o. e, and
that, now, has a big hole in it.
Whether they were damaged during
the battle of Ferdun or not, l 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 a periscope arrange
ment extended to the roof and there
connected with 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 Verdun in a
futile effort to break through. But if |
all this shall speak later in telling of
our visit to Verdun itself.
ROMANCE, where a great American
cemetery is being made, when COM
pleted 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
a big organization here and has al
ready brought over 5000 bodies from
the more remote sections. A simple
white cross marks each grave. While
walking about there l happened upon
carved headstone bearing tie 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 Regiments and was cast aside when
the body was removed to the ceme-
terry.
After leaving ROMANCE, we. passed
through a number of small villages all