A Journey Through France in War Time Part 12

Gerbeviller is an almost complete ruin. Beyond the convent and hospital, and a few buildings saved for headquarters for the commanding general by the Germans, all the rest of the town was destroyed. The people who remain there are living in temporary buildings or mere sheds built on the ruins of their homes, which they do not want to leave under any circ.u.mstances. This little town, which has won its place in history, was one of the most interesting and melancholy sights we saw in all France.

On the following day, Sat.u.r.day, October 7th, we visited the villages of Luneville and Vitrimont. We were now in the "devastated region" for sure. On every hand was evidence of the ruin wrought by sh.e.l.ls, with long lines of trenches that had once been filled with soldiers. Some of these were green again, but the trees presented a woeful appearance.

The next stop after leaving Rambevillers was the little town of Vitrimont. This is a small village in France, almost wholly ruined by the Germans in 1914, preceding the battle of the Marne. We found there Miss Daisy Polk, of San Francisco, a wealthy, young and attractive woman, whose work is being financed largely by the Crockers, of San Francisco.

She is living in one of the small houses untouched by the Germans. She has undertaken the rebuilding of the village of Vitrimont as a modern sanitary proposition and to serve as a model for what may be done in rebuilding all the destroyed parts of France. She is the great-granddaughter of President Polk. It is a splendid work and should receive support.

I have since received the following letter from Miss Polk:

Vitrimont, par Luneville, Meurthe et Moselle, France.

October 18th, 1916

Dear Mr. Butler:--

Your note, with the Commission booklet, received and I want to thank you for remembering me. The visit of the Industrial Commission was a most delightful surprise to me here in the midst of my ruins and it is very nice to have a souvenir--especially such a nice souvenir, with all the names and photographs.

Vitrimont looks very much as it did when you were here except that the work is a little more advanced in spite of the rain. We are not hoping any longer that the war will end this winter--so we are sad.

Especially when we have to see our men go back to the front after their all too short leaves. This has happened three times since you were here, all three going back to the Somme, too, which they all say is much worse than Verdun ever was. However, they have the satisfaction, as one of our men said today, (a fine industrious farmer) of hoping that if they don't come back, at least their wives and children will have their homes rebuilt. This is my hope too. Thanking you again for your letter.

Very sincerely yours,

(Signed) DAISY POLK.

Miss Polk is a most charming young woman, filled with enthusiasm. She lives in a small house with but two rooms.

XIV.

ON THE MAIN FRONT

We arrived at Nancy October 7th, at six o'clock P. M. and spent the evening at a reception given by the Prefect L. Mirman. We met here Madam Mirman and her two daughters. In the entrance to the prefect's residence were several large holes which had been blown out by the German sh.e.l.ls.

During the reception we were shown an embroidered sheet, filled with holes. This was taken from the window of a hospital, fired on by the Germans, July, 1916. The name of the hospital was Point Au Mousson. The sheet was hanging in a window when the shrapnel was fired into it. This was considered ample proof that the hospital was fired upon with the full knowledge that it was a hospital.

This visit to prefect Mirman's home was a red letter event in our trip.

He is one of the important men of France and is devoting much of his time to the care of refugees and other good work.

As we stopped at the entrance of Nancy, we saw an aeroplane flying over the town. This aeroplane was intended to convoy us to our destination.

Next day we were driven to the village of Luneville. At this place, as in nearly all the towns of France, there is a public market house, with stalls usually presided over by women. Late in September the Germans dropped from aeroplanes a number of bombs on this market house. The entire building was destroyed and forty-one women killed, besides a number of children who were playing about. We saw the ruins of the market house. This sort of battle waging is called "German terrorism", otherwise, a "stepping stone to kultur".

There is an immense palace in Luneville called the Palace of Stanislaus, occupied by a former King of Poland.

Our headquarters were at Nancy, where we remained for two days. We were shown every possible attention by the prefect and under his guidance visited various parts of the city. Among other places "The Golden Gates"

of Louis XVI and the gate of the old town erected in 1336. We visited the park and were shown a hole where a German sh.e.l.l had penetrated, the hole being fully fifty feet deep. We visited the cathedral of St. Elme and were shown where the beautiful stained gla.s.s had been blown out of the windows. We visited the Ducal Chapel, which dates back to the Tenth century, where the princes of the House of Hapsburg are entombed. Sand bags were piled up everywhere to prevent further ruin to this ancient place. We were shown the ruins of the cooking school reported by German aviators as a military building and for that reason destroyed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cathedral at Nancy.]

Practically one-half of the town is in ruins. The military barracks are now used for housing and caring for refugees from all over France and this is done with great system. The expense is figured down to one franc per day for each person. We saw there a children's school, playground, orphanage and Cinema show, and attended church services at which were present several thousand refugees. We could hear the cannon booming during the entire services. Many of the refugees were at work making bags for the trenches and embroidering. We visited the museum and were shown tombs and urns dating back to the Second century. During a luncheon at the Cafe Stanislaus an impa.s.sioned address was made by the prefect.

We left Nancy at 2 P. M. for Chalons on the Marne, one of the three important military supply centers of France. En-route we pa.s.sed a number of ruined villages with scarcely a house left and with but few inhabitants. We pa.s.sed through Bar Le Duc also, another distributing center. On this memorable part of the journey we skirted three battle fronts, Verdun, Somme and the Marne. We noticed numerous trench soldiers in squads, enroute to and from the trenches.

The discipline of the French army is very much different from that of the English and Germans. The officers and the French soldiers are comrades. The German and French soldiers have no tents, they sleep in their overcoats. I expected that when we got into the war zone we would see tents everywhere, but there was not a tent in sight.

The distance from Nancy to Chalons on the Marne is 108 miles. All this distance we travelled close in the rear of the French army and much of it near the German army. In the early part of the year this ground was occupied by the Germans, being afterwards retaken by the French. We were closest to the trenches when pa.s.sing St. Miheil, where the famous German salient was still held.

We reached Chalons on the Marne at 10 o'clock on the evening of October 8th, after a busy and most interesting day. We were quartered here for the night and remained part of the next morning. During our stay we could hear the booming of guns continuously, and saw many evidences of military occupation. At this time the Germans had been forced back about thirty miles from Chalons on the Marne, and their sh.e.l.ls were no longer feared in this immediate vicinity. The cannon we heard along the greater portion of the route after pa.s.sing Bar Le Duc must have been French guns, although the German big guns can be heard for fifty miles under favorable circ.u.mstances.

At Chalons on the Marne an incident occurred which made a deep impression on me, although it was in itself simple enough. It was my custom to go about much seeking to see whatever was to be seen at all of our stops. Usually I had a companion, but sometimes went alone. On this occasion Mr. Warren, of the Commission, was with me. We had entered the Cathedral of Notre Dame, to inspect its interior and arrived just as a funeral service was ending. It was one of those pathetic funerals, now common enough in France, at which the body is not present, in this case being that of a young man killed in the army and evidently an only son.

The services ended with a procession around the church and this brought the mourners to where we were. We fell in with them, this being our natural impulse and also, we believed, the proper and courteous thing to do, rather than to rudely retire. When the party reached the main aisle, the friends gathered around the father and mother and two daughters, weeping with them and kissing them in the demonstrative way the French have of showing both grief and affection. Before we knew just what to do, the mourners melted away, taking with them the mother and daughters.

Mr. Warren also had disappeared and I was left practically alone with the father of the dead boy. He approached me and extended his hand, having perhaps read in my face something of my feelings. He knew no English and I knew no French, but the language of human sympathy is universal. We grasped hands and the only word uttered was my crude "Americaine." None other was needed. I could tell by the pressure of the hand holding mine that my sympathy was appreciated, even though I was from across the seas and an utter stranger, and any doubts I had felt about the propriety of remaining were thoroughly dispelled.

[Ill.u.s.tration: German Trenches Captured by the French.]

Funerals such as this are very frequent in France. Scarcely a family but has suffered its loss, and in some cases several sons have been taken from one home. Among the hundreds of personal cards brought back with me from France, an astonis.h.i.+ng number are bordered deeply with black. These are the cards of the most prominent people in the places we visited, the members of the Commission having met few others, and the mourning border on so many of them shows that in France as well as in England, the upper cla.s.ses have borne their full share of the terrific toll levied by the war.

Before leaving Chalons on the Marne we visited the ca.n.a.l, the banks of which were lined with flowers and ivy. We crossed here a bridge built in the Seventeenth century and still in good condition.

XV.

REIMS AND THE TRENCHES

Some time during the forenoon of the day following our arrival at Chalons on the Marne we left in the military automobiles for Reims. This city is on the south branch of the river Aisne, on which the Germans made their stand after the battle of the Marne, and had been within reach of their guns constantly since they stopped retreating after that battle. It is about ninety miles from Paris. The city was at that time less than two miles from the actual battle line, trenches extending close up to its edges. The Germans were very busy and there was abundant evidence of the fact in the sound of cannon. It was here that we were to be allowed a visit to the trenches.

On the way we pa.s.sed a large number of Hindu-Chinese and Russian soldiers. We saw two captive balloons, used by the French to direct artillery fire on their enemies. Thousands of soldiers were coming and going between the trenches and the encampments behind.

On this trip we pa.s.sed through and stopped briefly at an aviation camp, where the aviators were tending their machines and waiting to be called for duty in the air. A short stop was also made at a large encampment, where there must have been at least twenty thousand French soldiers.

This was the largest number we saw at any one time. Here we were shown concealed trenches and batteries so skillfully hidden that they could not be seen until you were right upon the guns. We also saw on this ride several ill.u.s.trations of how bridges and other military works can be hidden from aviators by painted scenery and the use of trees. By 11 A.M.

of this day we had come within five miles of the German trenches, behind which, we were told, were more two million German soldiers and across from them at least an equal number of French. Of this vast number of warriors we saw at no time more than twenty thousand. Many were in the trenches and others in encampments on both sides, within easy reach of the lines but secure from gun fire.

We came to the top of a ridge near Reims, and just before reaching the summit orders were given by the sentinels to separate the automobiles and run them half a mile apart, as they would be within range of German guns and might draw the fire if seen in a company. At this point two members of the Commission suddenly lost their interest in the scenes ahead and refused to go any further. From this time until we entered Reims, batteries, many of them concealed, with other signs of real war, became more numerous.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Reims Cathedral Before Its Destruction.]

At 11:30 A. M. we entered the famous Champagne district, known all over the world as the locality where grapes for making champagne can be raised better than anywhere else. We saw here farmers and women working in the fields and vineyards within a mile of the actual front. They were within range of German guns and in great danger, but they worked on, seemingly careless of the fact.

We pa.s.sed many "dugouts" occupied by soldiers, and saw soldiers digging trenches. All the time the guns were roaring, apparently just beyond the city of Reims. This ground had all been at one time in the hands of the Germans.