The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-23
FRENCH JOIN HUNS
 CARING FOR OPPAU EXPLOSION WOUNDS
German Town of $500 Is Wrecked By Chemical Burst = PoiIus Aid
 Rescue Work
By Associated Press

OCPtcihbcl Desolation and ruins alone remain of what was once the flourishing town of Oppau. The town had $500 residents, of which a majority of the men engaged in the chemical works were killed or wounded. Soldiers in French uniforms are clearing away the wreckage, picking up the dead and injured as after a big battle.
 Eleven hundred dead and 1000 in- jUred Is the latest estimate of the disaster yesterday, which caused a greater number of casualties in the Mannheim m-Ludwigshafen district than the four years of the war. The desolation around Oppau equals any thing seen at Verdun or in Flanders over a similar area. Hundreds of persons are digging in the ruins for the bodies of relatives or friends. nearly thousand of which have been recovered.
 Stfll Hear Moans
 Thirty-six hours after the expio- sion. from the gaping. funnel-Iike hole where the Badische works for merly stood, still may be heard moan ings and cries of the wounded while the soldiers search for possible sur vivors. Twenty five hundred of the injured are reported to have passed through the hospitals of the sur rounding cities.
 The vast crater is slowly filling with water and it may never be known how many victims found a grave there. All mutilated but stiii living animals crawling amidst the twisted girders and blocks of con crete are being put out of their misery. The firemen and relief work CTS have not yet been able to discard their gas masks.
 The Thirty y-second army corps of the French army is in complete charge of the area and every avail able French medical officer had ar rived early this morning to co -op- crate with the German physicians and surgeons. The French and German Red Cross are cooperating and a 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.
 The French high commissioner on the Rhine. M. Tirard and his entire staff took charge of the relief work. The members of his staff were sent 10 all the surrounding towns to en- list the mayors and people in the re- lief plan. in which the labor unions are uniting. Several of the funds already assumed large proportions
 Many Bandaged Heads
 From Frankenthai. four miles away there was steady exodus of the population In which bandaged heads and arms in slings were conspicu ous. The village of Edigheim was badly wrecked and 1t has not yet been possible to rescue some of the victims who are known to be under the debris.
 At Oppau, whole families were completely wiped out. about 800 bod ies already having been placed in the adjoining cemetery waiting 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 forcs or the Oppau explosion wrecked the french barracks at Eisenhein,. A .t" "Hteii Hdu Just left That sta tion was blown off the tracks. blow ing through wooden sheds where French soldiers of occupation were quartered
 General DeGoutte personally dec orated a Moroccan soldier whc res cued II wounded from the wreck age. the African being severeiv burned about the hands and neck.
 The experts who are inquirInc 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 wera in sufficiently known.
 Primarily. 1t is reported. the disas- ter was caused by the explosion O. Is tons of ammonium suIphate in q. preparation of a new gas in which the pressure of 300 atmospheres and temperature of between 500 and zoo degrees centrigrade were needed.