The Denver Jewish news., 1919-07-02
crowded streets until we finally land

gotten to sleep, but we took the SUD
way to the Care de l'Est, and after
eating in a little cafe and paying a
half franc for what they marked
service on the check, we registered
out of the station and piled on our
coach for "No-man's Land
After seeing many ruined buildings
and trenches on the way, we reached
Reims at eleven-thirty in the morning,
where we registered for u bed and ate
our dinner consisting of macaroni, eggs,
coffee, bread and butter, and oranges,
and started on our first hike. We be-
gan walking down the street and saw
many buildings practically shot away
We went in one where the entire front
Of the house was completely down,
and, yet, in the small portion of the
second floor remaining, a large bowl,
still standing ON the stove, had not
even been cracked. We found many
papers and souvenirs in our search ana
found couple of thimbles, which we
intend sending our mothers for SOU
venirs.
The Germans tried to destroy Reims.
end tho we started in five different
directions from the YMCA down diff
ferent roads, we never saw single
building standing that had not receiv-
ed some marks of the battle. The ma
jority of the buildings We're absolute
ruins, and conditions seemed terrible.
The streets were filled with the rub
bish taken from the houses, and in the
back yards of many buildings could
be found the graves of the occupants.
We found as many as four graves i'll
one back yard, and are sure that MANY
people are still lying under the ruins
of their homes. A number of the peo-
pie refused to eyacuate their homes,
even tho the Germans threatened them.
and. few are still there to tell the
tale.
When we were there we cOrd not
get in the cathedral because the work
men were tearing down the pieces of
tie building which !ial Lc,o.ne dan ,rr-
Gus to passers-by. Another cathedral.
81 Andrew, was damaged. even still
worse than the large one and pr:lct,c-
ally nothing was left standing. In the
yard was large shell hole with u
piece of steel in it and n sign on II
stick with the official seal. claiming
it to be u mine and warning people of
the danger.
We walked many miles over the
hills which were just II mass of she'll
holes and trenches We found m,tny
unexploded shells but kept away from
them, and also many wires, which we
were careful not to come in contact
with After passing thru .shellci
forest, where many trees were shot
down we came to the first line of dug
outs. Upon entering some. after going
down the steps, we found most of them
consisted of small room aud two
hunks upon which four men cOu.tl Just
about find enough room To sleep. We
then went up to the road and On the
way saw many bones of both horses
and men lying in the open. On. shoe
was in dump with the bones of the foot
still in 1t, and many horses skulls were
on the ground. We went in an under
ground arsenal and found it contained
several shells and explosives.
We found plenty Of American shells
and equipment which proved that the
Americans were an important factor
in keeping the Germans out of the cit!
of Verdun.
We then started to walk down n
once camouflaged road, the camoufia!,:
consisting of miles of poles with can
vas or wire attached and covered with
grass and grain concealing the move
ment of our troops. This camouflnsc
| was towards the enemy about the dis
| tance of the road from the real road
and was about twenty feet high The
soldiers walking close behind this scfn
| cry were carefully hidden from the
aviator's eye as he could see no troops
marching down the real road. As
most of the marching was done at
night. the large cannons could not dc
the damage they are capable of, and
fhe entire work was very scientifically
carried out
There We're many graves scattered
here and there on the battlefield and
many large shell-holes which turned
the earth over again and again. Some
of the graves had cross with Inc
helmet or a shell at the head but tho
majority just had plain wooden cross
We entered many trenches. and cal