New-York tribune., 1921-09-23
Ruins Of Oppau
Equal Verdun; ;
|1,1OO Are Dead
1900 Injured in Hospitals
or Debris of German
Town Blown Away in
Secret Tests of New Gas
War Casualties Exceeded
French Troops, i'm Charge,
DO Heroic Rescue Work i;
Loss Is $50 Million Marks


runs alone remain of what was ono,
the hourishing town Of Oppau. Th,
town had $500 residents, of which s
majority of the men engaged in the
chemical works were killed or wounded
Soldiers in French uniforms are clear
ing away the wreckage, picking up the
dead and injured as after big battle
According to latest estimates, 1,10C
were killed and 1000 injured in the
explosion yesterday. which destroyed
the Badische Aniline Company's plant
The blast caused greater number
Of casualties in the Mannheim -Lud-
wigshaten district than the four years
of the war. The desolation around
Oppau equals anything seen at Verdun
or in Flanders over similar area
Hundreds of persons are digging in the
ruins for the bodies Of relatives or
friends, nearly q thousand of which
have been recovered thus far.
Cries Still Heard in Debris
Thirty-six hours after the explosion,
from the gaping, tunnel-like hole where
the Badische Works formerly stood,
there are still to be heard moaning and
cries of the wounded, while the soldiers
search for possible survivors. Twenty
five hundred of the injured are reported
to have passed through the hospitals
Of the surrounding cities.
The vast crater is slowly filing with
water, and it may never be known how
many victims found grave there. All
mutilated but still living animals
crawling amidst the twisted girders
and blocks of concrete are being put
out of their misery. The fremen and
rellef workers have not yet been able
to discard their gas masks.
The 32d Army Corps of the French
army is in complete charge of the area,
and every available French and medi-
cal officer had arrived early this morn
ing to cooperate with Che German ply
slclans and surgeons. The French and
German Red Cross are cooperating and
q big German sanitary train has brought
large quantities Of medical supplies.
The German officials thanked General
Degoutte for the prompt manner in
which the French army came to the
assistance of the victims.
French Staff in Charge
The French High Commissioner on
the Rhine, M. Tirard, and his entire
Il.
The members of his staff were sent to
all surrounding towns to enlist the
mayors and people in the relief plan, in
which the labor unions are uniting.
Several of the funds have already as
sumed large proportions.
From FranKenthal, four miles away,
there was steady exodus of the pop
in which bandaged heads and
arms in slings we're conspicuous. The
village of Edigheim was badly wrecked,
and it has not yet been possible to
rescue some Of the victims who are
known to be under the debris.
AT Oppau whole families were COM
pletely wiped out. About 800 bodies
have already been placed in the ad-
Joining cemetery awaiting burial. The
Mannheim hospitals are crowded with
injured, more than 400 persons having
suffered from the explosion in this city.
Several French soldiers were killed
and many wounded when the force of
the Oppau explosion wrecked the
French barracks at Eisenheim. A train
which had just left that station was
blown off the tracks, blowing through
the wooden sheds where French SOL
diers of occupation were CHARTERED.
Moroccan Hero Saves Eleven
General Degoutte personally deco
rated a Moroccan soldier who rescued
eleven wounded from the wreckage.
the African being severely burned
about the hands and neck.
The experts who are inquiring into
the. cause said that the explosion
probably occurred in the course Of
tests of the compression of a new gas,
the properties of which were insufi-
GENTLY known
Primarily. it is reported. the dis
aster was caused by the explosion of
fifteen tons Of ammonium sulphate in
the preparation of new gas, in which
the pressure Of 800 atmospheres and
temperature Of between 500 and 700
degrees centigrade were needed.
AMSTERDAM, Sept. % (By The AS
ssociated Press).-.The total damage
from the explosion in the Badische
Aniline Company's chemical plant at
Oppau yesterday is estimated at 150,-
0oo,Oo0 marks, according to Berlin ad-
vices received here to-day.