HOW WE WRECKED THE OIL WILLS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3024, 10 March 1917, Page 10

HOW WE WRECKED THE OIL WILLS

Vigorous Destruction,

DESPOILING THE GERMANS' HOPES

IN HUMAN!,

BLAZING MILLIONS

Jassey, Decoder 13. During the last week Mr. Hamilton Fyfe in the "Daily-Mail"). 1 have been in bi:d only so ii these- pictures and impressive? are a little disjointed 1 think 1 may reasonably ask to be forgiven. Aγ I look back, Ihooo seven days seen, like a nightmare born of the huge fa.res of burning petrol, lakes of petrol rivers of petrol, set on lire of set puriose in order to prevent tho enemy i'roii getting lubrication oil. I fancy it is the destruction of the petrol industry of Rumania which will leave tho-leep-est imprint; on my imagination. I have been with armies in retreatbefore. It ia always a hateful esp;rienco. This retreat was .hastier tian tho. others I have seen, but in eswi-t-ials not different. The attack on the oil-fields was something entirely u;\v. I had tried to picture it to myelt beforehand, but without any succea.' I'ho reality was such as no man's mild could have conceived in advance. Jilvta to convey any idea of it is difficu:-; after it has happened. The whole business appears to mo now so fantastic that 1 catch myself doubting if it really did happen. That it could be possible to wipe put so com- j pletely ' the slowly built-up result cf I years upon years of thought and labour, of highly trained intelr ligence, and of highly skilled: labour, had never occurred to me.'. When I heard tho talk first of what I could be done to provent the oil falling into the enemy's possession I had a vision of tanks set alight, of derricks at the well-heads demolished.

Destruction of that which has been' created by man's energy tor the satisfaction of the world's needs, of that which provides profit and wage for hundreds of thousands of people and' so enables them to live, must be a hideous, saddening spectacle. That the wrecking was beyond all question' necessary made the case no better. It added to it a horrid irony. Wo were forced to defend ourselves against barbarians by barbarous means. To leavo tho oil-wells untouched would have been a crime. Germans and their dupes need lubricants very badly. These wore the only oil-fields from which tl\ey could get them in any quantity. They,- would have benefited by the products of the Rumanian wells for as long as they occupied the oil region. Then they would have destroyed the industry themselves 'so as. to prevent tho Allies frpm making use of it.

' It was therefore an urgonfc' matter, when the enemy flood camo pouring over the Rumanian plain, sweeping tho Rumanian Army before it, to sot about destruction with vigour. Fortunately a very vigorous man was sent out from England to direct it. Colonel Norton Griffiths surprised not only the Rumanians by his energetic methods: ho surprised tho Americans as well. To seo him wielding a big hammer, swinging it round his head, and smashing up machinery with it, just to show bow tho work ought to be done, made ono poet icnl inhie-mauagcr describe him as being "in lovo with ruin."

Neithor weariness nor danger could daunti him. "When the petrol in basins would not tfg'it quickly, ho took biiv.'di'cß of straw, thrust thorn into it, and set their, alight, escaping just in time. His helpers were worthy of their chief. The task of destruction was worse- for them, since they wero wrecking wh.it they had themselves helped to build; hut they vrast at it with a fury of determination to leave nothing of what they had built to aid tho aneiny.

"It was pretty hard," one of them said, on the morning after the finish of tho wreoking process at Moreny, the most productive of the oil districts ; "it was pretty hard to break up one's homo, furniture, books, grand piano, everything. But wo did it thoroughly,' by Jove! Millions of pounds' worth of property ' destroyed in a few days. Oil burnt, wells blocked, maohinery demolished, re-, fineries put out of action. Some wreck,' bolievo me." All over the country round about tho smoke of the bonfires turned day into night. At Targoyistea, 20 miles distant, there rolled over tho town, at four in the afternoon, a dense blaok fog which hid the sky. In Bucharest the population could scarce believe tho tale that came from Ploesti, the oil- town. They had heard for the first time tho day before the murmur of cannon, still far off. While they woro trying to keep their spirits, up they had the accounts of wrecking. They knew now there was little hops of saving tho capital.

A littlo before this a train had gone through the station filled with soldiers and refugees. Whenever I used the railway in these pitiful days I found crowds of refugees at every station. Rich and poor, old and young, women with tiny children, bahies a few weeks old even, huddled together on the platforms and in the trains, cold' and liungry, cramped and l sore. . There was nothing whatever to eat at the- railway stations. I saw a kindly American oil engineer sharing a loaf with a Rumanian colonel and cutting; off chunks of the bread for two boys who had been ordered, as all men between eighteen and foHy-six wpro ordered, to leave a. district that was in danger of occupation. Tbe prices that well-to-do people paid for- vehicles to tako them into safety, even before there was any immediate- danger, woro enormous. For a motor-car to go from Bucharest to Ploesti £320 was paid. And, after'all, Ploesti foil before Bucharest. For cabs many paid £67, £70, and £80. An Englishman and his wife drovo in a cab from Bucharest to Galtaz. They wore eight days on the way. Another British coupio, with a baby two weeks old, fought "their way into a train. Road Confusion. How long a train vill take to reach its destination cannot bo guessed. Ono day I waited at Galatz Station from I wo o'clock till eight, the- stationmaster assuring me every hour that a train would vionio soon. It came at eight, started at ten, and mndo fairly good I»rosress. At. sis in the morning wo wire within fifty rnilcs of the town I was waking fcr. But we did not get there until six in the evening. On the roads there was more freedom of movement, but one was liable at any moment to'.get mixed up in a lr.ro of ox wacons, motor transports, iw; carts, driven, cattle, and retreating troons. On the highway that leads northward from Buzeu, a few days before tlio enemy came to this region, four transport columns were struggling aUmrc at once. Among them, in an inpytricnble mess, were refugees in all kiwis of vehicles, from small open cab:; to lumbering farm wagons drawn bv white oxen with magnificent horns. I had been during the day at tho village whore the Staff lived and worked. Towards evenine I motored into Ploesti to get some fund. Vain hope! At. the railway station restaurant, where ono could centrally count upon n meal, there was nothing. Fortunatc]v a companion end I had provided ourselves with an emergency ration. We nulled out half a rolcl turkcv, ordered glasses of toa, and fell to. While wo were eating:, the restaurant was in-

vadcd by-the Headquarters Staff. Their special trains, which had been waiting for days with steam up ready to start at any moment, had just come in. Wo shared our turkey with acquaintances and were invited to join the train. " .

After a run of threo hours wo canio to the littlo town where the Stall were to stay. At midnight it was too late to search for billets, so we slept in the train. Unfortunately it was not heated. The cole] kept one awake. Next day everybody was snoozing and coughing and complaining of rheumatic pains. In a -treiieli- one can keep warm, or in a. loft .with some straw to lie upon, oven in the open on tho ground, if one is sheltered from tho wind. A; railway carriago on a. bitter night is Arctic. u