Evening star., 1928-05-04
GERMANS RETURN
TO BATTLEFIELDS
Former Fighters Visit Scenes
of Bitter Struggles in
War-0ayS.
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

! NERDUN. May a--Eleven years ago.
; AZ the moment when the battle Of Ner-
: Gun had ended in a triumph for the
: French army. proven by the reconQueSt
/, OF the forts Of Douaunont and Nsux ]
9 visited the latter AT that hour no
!. trenches had yet been constructed TO
= connect the newly regained position
!. with The ole French lines, The journey
: was made III darkness and under fire
: along trail which wound between
= shell holes and through barbe6 wire.
$ Wednesday I made the trip along the
same route But 7 travelled in a motor
, car. alone a fine maca6am road. and
2 when / arriv a at the fort, alongside
: the entrance was a huge sightseeing
: motor bus On the summit Of the works
: Of the fort were not less than 80 Ger
= mans, The eldest of the party, beyond
: disguise 3 former officer. was outlining
. 20 his TeUtonic audience the positions
{ OF the German artillery during the bat
= tle-the position OF his own battery, for
: hs was an artillery officer.
; The guide Of this new German army
of invasion was little French recruit
.sin his blue uniform, who swung kero-
Sene torch before him as he conducted
the German down the staircase where
once the Germans ard French had
) fought with hand gTena0es. the Ger
mans pushing in, the French holding
out inside and below ground. Outside
French chaQffeurS waited placldly for
their ogn British and American visitors
who we're also making the excursion.
Revisit BattIefieIds.
And in this rather astonishing Incl
dent one has a fair idea OF the great
and still recent change which has taken
place III France. 1t IS not merely that
the Germans have come back TO France
to Paris. They have been back for
two years in the capital and at the
recent Easter vacation even American
and British tourists we're outnumbered.
But for the first time the Germans are
. beginning to come back 10 their old
/. batile1lelds
The first 70 come were naturally the
. parents and relatives OF the dead, They
: have taken up the search for their
.cead-SeaVcl1 II most cases doomed to
: disappointment. for the Germans killed
st Feroun numbered nearly a third OF
: million. and fell on ground retaken by
the French. But here and there. no.
Z Tably in the cemetery near Belleau
Woods. in the Chateau Thierry sector.
where q German graveyard almost ad-
> joins the American, one can see the
signs Of care. flowers and Wreaths on
THE German graves. now and then q
~Eto1e replacing the crumbllng wooden
marker
!. Every day. too. new bodies are dis
covered IN the woods ana tangle of
1trenches where thousands Of Poles and
Russians are al work removing the un-
1eyplogied shells. But when one recalls
z1hat Of 10000 who died al Verdun on
77hs German and French sides al least
-&heir scattered bones are being slowly
collected IN the gigantic oSsuary which
-crowrs the heights west Of Duouamont.
st is easy to see how long this period OF
waiting Is likely 10 be.
: Now a Modern City.
: Meantime for the German, as for the
american, who knew the Verdun area
rs a battlefield dotted with ruined VII
saageS. strewn with wire ENGAGEMENTS
and the debris of years Of destruction.
there is today almost literally nothing
to recall the war days Ferdun has
-fisen from its ruins Broad streets re-
place the old narrow lanes, n1agnld-
-cent park along the river bank takes
The place of the picturesque old struc-
-fures which hung over the Meuse.
Where once il was no more than an
-knClent and crumbling military post.
with its houses, like its walls, reminSs-
cent Of the days Of Louis XIV and his
predecessors. il has now become mod
-eTA. almost IL the sense OF q rising
TTe.s...-rn city.
!. Bat even more startling is the change
II the battlefield which was particu-
izrly known TO the Americans. In the
once famous St Mihiel sector one looks
cut from the heights Of the Meuse or
from Mont See upon q wide horizon.
dotted and illuminated with the red
zToofx cf the uew villages. And the
s57Tel1se- -Argonne battlefield Is exactly
sthe same OF al the wrecked ruined,
-ooliwrated towns only Monfaucon re-
r1aiEs In It's wartime shape. And this
Is 6Ge simply to the fact that the old
-5nhab3tants have chosen TO rebuild at
the foot Of the hill which SO long de-
fed allied attacks and furnished the