The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-08-16
WAR RUINED SECTIONS
OF FRANCE ARE ONLY
PARTIALLY RECLAIMED
BY JUNE ROBINSON

PARIS, July % (By mail to the Pal
ladlum) The war-ruined regions of
France have only been partially re-
claimed in three years of endless pa
tient labor so great was the destruc
ton wrought over vest regions of the
country. In two days of continuous
motoring we only passed through a
small part of the devastated land. The
burden OF reconstruction is a heavy
and discouraging one for the French
people and one which must be carried
for many years.
Much territory has been again cul-
lvated and many towns have been
rebuilt on their former sites, but there
are still long stretches of fields full of
barbed wire, bodies, unexpIoded shells
and the branchless hulks of trees.
Our drive started from Paris to
scissors along the road taken by the /
American troops to the battle front by
way of Villes wood an important !
American sector-the one on which |
the Rainbow division made its stand. |
Acres of ground are covered by the |
remains of the once thick forest where
the Americans made such a Heroic |
stand. The woods which were the /
scene of much hand-to-hand fighting !
suffered great destruction from she'll !
and gas.
Many of the trees have been blown !
in pieces by explosions while scores |
were killed by the poisonous gases |
Terrible Spectacle
scissors is still a terrible spectacle !
of the devastation wrought there !
Some streets have been cleared and
some houses restored. Other streets
are blocked with stone and other
building materials and houses have
either shell torn walls or are reduced
to heaps of ruins.
On from scissors dead trees gassed
or remains of trees torn by exploding
shells line the roads and fields as far
as the eye can see. Cleared land with
its cultivated fields is broken by enor
nous piles of barbed wire and many
plots with row upon row of white
crosses. The American dead are
cared for in six cemeteries, while even
more are filled with the British, Ital-
ian and French. The French respect
the dead and have buried German
soldiers in their cemeteries, their
graves being marked by black crosses
bearing their Identification numbers
Uncleared land is netted with barb
ed wire filed with shell holes AMI
undermined with trenches. No grass
grows where shells have exploded.
Here and there white flags wave warn
ings of unexploded shells which it is
impossible to remove.
Still Removing Remains
In many places remains of the dead
are still being removed from battle
fields to the cemeteries. One of the
interesting points along the road was
a house-La Belle Porte-at Vailly-
sur-Aisne 1t was built in 1910 burned
by the Cossacks in 1915, piIlaged by
the Prussians in 1916, rebuilt in 1910;
pillaged again by Prussians and Ba-
varians in 1870 and 1872, pillaged and
RACED by the Germans in 1914 and re-
built in 1921.
Miles upon miles past this village
are desolate stretches of barbed wire
and skeleton trees The village of
Craonne, key of the Aisne valley, is
only a powdered mass of dust and
stone OvergrOwn with weeds and
brush. Taken by the Germans in April
1917, and re-taken by the French in
September 1917, only to go into the
hands of the Germans again two
months later, it was the scene of some
Of the fiercest fighting. 1t was here
that over 100 French tanks caught fire
resulting in great loss of life at the
beginning of an attack. The official
list of dead for this one site is 1000
National Monument
Hill los. one of the important points
Of the war has been taken by the
French government as a national
monument, as it has been ruined by
shell past all possibility of cultiva
ion. 1t was here that the Germans
exploded ton Of dynamite under
ground, killing 500 French marine,
ambushed for an attack on the hill.
The French vengeance was in The
form of such an explosion little
later in which over 1000 Germans
were killed. The ground is to be pre-
served as a cemetery because of The
hundreds of bodies buried by the ex
plosions, which have left great crater.
hundreds of feet in circumference a
he base of the hill. On this hill fol
one hour every evening shells ar,
touched off, which soldiers and peas
ants clearing nearby land have discov
cred.
Rheims in Ruins
Rheims is still little more thar
ruins. Before the war her populatio,
was about 125,000; now it is only be
tween 10000 and $4,000. The govern
nent encourages the people to return
% their old home sites by offering
certain amount Of money for rebuild
ng on old sites, and only half a
much for building on new sites.
Hundreds have returned to the ruin