Evening star., 1939-10-27
Scenery in France
Confirms Fact War
Has Not Yet Begun
Digging Trenches and
Reading Letters Occupy
Soldiers Time
By WILLIAM H. STONEMAN.

ny
chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE, Oct.
26-(Via London, delayed "A trip
of several hundred miles through
Northern France has revealed thou
sands of army trucks moving here
and there with guns and troops,
where there is pastoral scenery such
as only France contains.
What is more to the point. it con-
firms the ever-perpleXing fact that
now with the war many weeks old,
there actually is no war along the
greater part of Frances eastern
frontier.
Somewhere in France today we
visited headquarters of the Royal
Air Force. There we talked to other
correspondents and to pilots who
have flown over Germany and we
saw one great airdrome with several
dozen machines which have been
used Tor scattering pamphlets and
taxing photographs over the Reich.
AT the moment of our visit there
had been no operations of any kind
for many days. There had been
none, IN fact. since the group of
neWspapermen first arrived there
about two weeks ago.
Nothing of Interest to Spies.
We must confess that we saw
nothing which would have interested
German spy in the least. We saw
none of the 6-mile-a minute pursuit
20
and no trace of the great machines
which would be employed by the
r. A. F. on any first-class bombing
RAID over Germany, though admit
tedly there may be plenty of them
elsewhere. Most of the British fast
stun was conspicuous by its alb
sence. This. of course, is only an
impression because we only saw one
alrdrome and one supply depot far
from the front.
The fact does seem to be, however,
that there is not much more doing
IN the air than on the British front.
Where, as previously reported. the
most exciting thing the troops are
now doing is to dig trenches and to
receive an occasional letter from
home.
consultation with various old
time correspondents at the R. A. F..
headquarters developed the follow
Ing Ideas with regard to what NAV
happen in the future First, the
Germans are about to spring at Hol-
land and Belgium, and then at
Northern France. Second an au-
thorlty who went through the last
war suggests that the Germans will
not be able to do this until late in
November, when the ground is dry
Third. an authority who also went
through the last war says it rained
for 81 straight days after the begin
ming of November in 1914. and that
a German offensive is out of the
question. Fourth, possibility
which finds many supporters is that
the Germans will concentrate on
bombing the British out of England
Fifth, the theory which is perhaps
the most popular of all is that the
Germans will do nothing at all in
Western Europe
Cathedral Shows Wounds.
We saw little that was memorable
N military way during our trip
But we shall never forget our sight
of the Rheims Cathedral standing
there in the moonlight, silent and
beautiful and completely up to its
worldwide reputation as the most
magnificent clump of stone in the
universe. In daylight it shows its
wounds from the last war -
prophets face, half gone column
pltted by artillery fire and griffins
whose noses have not yet been re-
placed. But in the moonlight, with
nobody else around. it retains its
immaculate beauty, a thing that no
war can destroy, an incredible jewel
that you can almost reach out with
your hands and feel Rheims Ca
thedral is our outstanding memory
OF the present war and it probably
will be when the war is over.
Elsewhere on the road we
stopped at Fismes, Bralne and Sois-
sons-Where American troops paused
to lombard and then advance on
their great drive north from Cha
ledu 1nlerfy IN July and August of
1918. Today they are unimaglnative
little towns of new red brick, whose
inhabitants scarcely remember their
deaths of 81 years ago. The Vesle.
across which the Americans fought
their way, has a nice new row of
populars along its banks, and it
might have been like this since the
days of Caesar
The finest thing about this war
has been the discovery that land
recovers as quickly as it does from
the pounding of cannons. And if
this is largely ancient history. it is
still the best war news that we have
found
(Copyright 1889 Chicago, Daily News, Inc }