New Britain herald., 1930-09-12
MEURIHE. .MOSELLE
 WAR WOUNDS HEAL
Superficial Damage Easily Re
 paired in French District

Nancy. Sept. 12 (UP)-The Meur- the-et- -Moselle owes it's part ln the war largely to its peculiar geogra- phical formation, the bulk of the. de- partment being in the. form of a circle with Nancy, the capital. as its axis, with a long arm reaching straight north to the Luxembourg border. The narrowness of thls strip emphasizes the arbitrary na- ture of the boundary settlement, the great coal fields of Briey beng but a stones throw from Metz. just as Tongwy and Longwyon are but Q few kilometres removed from Sedan.
 Pushing from the north and east, the Germans had little difficulty Tn capturing the slender arm, appear ing almost simultaneously at Long wy and Briey. but they were des- tined never to take Nancy and the fortified city Of Toul. destined to lose Luneville after a few weeks tenure.
 Before Nancy was fought the battle of the Grande Couronne which. by occupying a. considerable force of Germans, was the deciding factor in the first battle of the Marne despite its undeclslve result Thereafter Nancy was threatened many times, the famous university suffering from numerous shellings, as well as other pubic buildings. At Thiacourt the American first army delivered a city which had been captive for four years, and that operation, the Saint Mihiel offensive. was begun from the region of Nancy supporting troops being blvouacked itself through eight wet September days. Toul was famous before and during the war as an important out post in the fortified ChannelBel- fort chain, and although the war showed that its Notifications were hopelessly out of date. 1t still is d military post of consequence.
 A populous and prosperous de partment at the outbreak of the war, the Meurthe- et- Moselle counted 424.o00 inhabitants. of which It IS said that 29o 900 were driven from their homes It appears that this figure is a little high, IT view of the fact that the bulk of the de- partment was never successfully in vaded, and also in view of the fact that most of the inhabitants of the invaded portions remained until they were delivered four years later, as American doughboys can testify.
 Smelling damaged 363 villages and 395 schools, 11,796 houses were totally destroyed and 16,609 others were badly used and in need of immediate repairs Reports show than 950,00o acres were ploughed up by shell fire, 37o,oeo of them previously titled, Five hundred and forty-two factories were dismantled 1880 kilometres of highway were damaged, Ill Kilometres of railway were put out of business. As 1T the Mouse. there is no way O. checking, but it is probable tha American shells accounted for hal Of this damage. necessary as 1t was in the space of one month or less.
 The Meurthe- -Moselle has nended quickly, partly. because lts damages were of a nature easily disposed of, partly because of the hardy stock which peopled and still peoples this department-more Teu- tonic than Latin certainly proba bly, more German than French.
 The upper arm of the department has returned to its normal state which is that of mining com munity. not pretty but industrious . The lower part again has become g peaceful farming region. The Uni. versity of Nancy has patched lts roofs. erected two new buildings tackled memorial plates on all the facades. passed all it's earlier records Z. for attendance-and this in spite o1 the appearance of a rival at Stras bourg, after forty-seven years. Int department IS known as q home O. good eaters and good livers gener ally, and the peasants and miner: seem to have settled into d tenn porary coma. They have not for gotten the war and probably vii not For like the inhabitants of th' Vosges and the three reconquerec