EDITING IN REIMS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3138, 17 July 1917, Page 9

EDITING IN REIMS

$ THE THRILLING LIFE

IN A BOMBARDED CITY

(By Claude Helluy, in tlio "Daily Mail.")

M. Claude Helluy,. editor of tho "Courier do la Champagne," the oldest daily paper in Reims, recently arrived in Paris from that city. He had been obliged to suspend publication of his journal, whicli had como out regularly all through tho war, even during the eight days' occupation by the Germans in September, 1914.

Although I liavo closed down my printing office, tho inhabitants of Reims aro not without a newspaper, for tlie "Eclaireur do l'Est" continues to appear in tlie bombarded city. Produced on a pedal pre® almost daily, it consists of a small sheet, quarto size, printed in two columns on both sides of tiio paper. Its contents aro chiefly made up of tlie official war communiques issued by tho irencli and British Governments, tho number of shells which have fallen on tho previous day, tlie list of killed and wounded by tho bombardment, municipal notices, and some scraps of local news. From September, J9ll-, to April, 1917, theso two lieims papers contained, in addition to items of a parochial character, extracts from the Paris I J ress. There was no original news nor any interesting information from outside. For thirtyone months wo had to do our work without the telephone, without the telegraph, without correspondents. Our rotary presses wero stopped for lack of an electric motor, and our linotypes wore silent because wo had no ga=. Ono or two old compositors, immobilised, and several young apprentices set up the journal by hand. It was also printed by hand, relays of men following one another at the work of turning tho antiquated presses, similar to thoso employed by "The Times" in ISOO. The "Eclaireur," more fortunate than tho "Courrier," was able to keep its machines going by means of u petrol motor, installed some tinio after tho death of one of its "turners," killed alongsido the press by a shell which came through tlio glass of tho roof of the building and exploded in the centro of the ofiice.

At the beginning of the war the staff on the "Courrier" numbered 150, but before wo shut down it had fallen to 15. M. Gobert, technical manager of the paper, himself replaced tho five members of tho editorial staff and two employees all mobilised. When M. Gobert, called lip in his turn, left for Verdun he was replaced by myself, liberated whilo I was at the Verdun front because 1 nm the father of seven children. .1 thus became editor, manager, printer, and staff all in ono. Forced Removal. During tho last two years tlie "Courrier" was obliged to change its address twice. It moved fii'st to the promises of a photo-ongraver, whose workshop was situated in a part of Weims which enjoyed a certain amount of tranquillity. When wo left thero it was for tho conlre of the city, a commercial printing office opposite the little door of tho cathedral.

Our removal was duo to the following circumstances. Tho "Courrier" was originally accommodated in tho premises of a well-known English firm, iSir Isaac Holden and Sons, of Bradford, important wodlcouibero in lieims. T'lio journal had aequiircd Sir Isaac's private reaidenco, near the factory on ono side, and not far from tho Colbert Barracks on tho. other. This proved to be doubly dangerous, for it received on tho ono liand sliolls falling too short, intended for the barracks, aud. on tlio other, thoso too long, meant for tho factory. . Ono day when wo wero busy printing off the edition a shrapnel shell struck the cylinder of tho picss and the fragments Hew in all directions. By a miracle lio ono was hit. As the staff fled into tho adjoining shop they wero followed by another shell, which exploded in the middlo of it roll of paper. They wero aliout to tako refugo in Iho publishing department w.hon a third shell anticipated them, coming through Iho ceiling and destroying tlio machine used to print addresses. The workmen only reached the cellar. -10ft. deep, in time. Tho same cellar served shortly alter for a battery of artillery, which was pafsing on .the neighbouring boulovard when a shell fell in their midst.. After we had settled down near tho cathedral 1 occasionally revisited our old premises at Holden H, and every t.nno 1 went: there 1 noticed new depredations. A shell, landing at tho foot of a wall, tore a hole in a brick partition and, striking a linotype machine, threw t forward nearly 2 feet. 1 Uacod marks of 50 projectiles on he house, which is now partly destroyed. Behind our offico tho Holden. factory, which covered several acres, had been burned u a shower of incendiary shells, aud the chimney slack, 250 feet high had bean knocked over by a shot at the base, this happened threo weeks asp. Under tlio shadow of tlio cathedral wo snent a lesi agitated tinio i-han in the toiio of projectiles destined for iho woolcombing .factory of tho Y v ll tho Itas lish." The fury displayed by tho Huns in 19H against tho cathedral bad somewhat calmed down.' In 1915 and. 1916 tlio onlv sensational visitors were tome 150 shells, ono of which pierced tho arch of li e transept. Another ripped tho 100 ir tin "Maireur" office; and a third ?rnlm i n tlireo tho electric standard on the pavement outside aad blew in our windows, replaced so often that the} .0 nfaohine-gun bullets from German airmC"' Merciless Bombardment.

A fortnight before tho beginning of tho offensive the Germans ljc"an to grind tho city to powder bit ty Sit Bach quarter m turn was meicifcssly pounded, on systematic linos. I* the ruins accumulated the ■ (8 Oin) and 305 mm. (12m.) Runs tho 77mm (3.1 in.) incendiary shells lighted munes which completed the disaster. 4snhvxiating bombs, distributed in profusion prevented the iiromen nntl rescue corps from approaching tho groups of burning bouses. Tho conduct of the Itonus I'ibabilanta duriu" this period ot redoubled Bocho fury was superb. I cannot here record all'the instances of bravery of winch I have been a witness, or wlucli were reported to me. But I must mention tho heroism of a noble woman, Mmc. Baud-et-Duptiv, wife of the director ot the chain pagno firm Veuvc-Pommery. bhc, wTtli four otlier people, was killed wlulo plicine a. wounded soldier in her motorcar. Such was the intensity of tho lx>mlmr'dment that tho chauffeur, who was instantlv killed, remained dead at tiio wheel, and tho occupants of tho car lay stretched on the seats from eleven o'clock in tho morning until nino o'clock in tho evening before their bodies could be removed! . Mr. Lloyd George, your Prime Minister, is one of tho distinguished visitors I have seen in Eeiins during tho past year. Ho was standing, apparently deep in. meditation, on the square in front of tho cathedral, before tho monument of Joan of Are. AVith his cloak turned aside, and his hands thrust into his pockets, his head and chest thrown back, Ins attitude was that of profound admiration. For a long time ho gazed at the faco of the national heroine, to whom I?eims has erected a statue. In tho same attitude and with tho famo sentiments many other Englishmen—who know what chivalry meanswill in future look upon the city of Reims, or, rather, what remains of it. For the intention of the Germans to reduce it to a heap of stones and ashes is evident. Since tho first of April tho city has received more than 80,000 shells, anil has puH'erod more, than Verdun. Its cathedral, mutilnled and e.harrcd, has in tho mass resisted up to now. But today its vaults and buttresses are being rudely shattered by bombs capable of levelling any kind of ranipnrl. If tlie Germans, three weeks from now at tho latest, have not been cleared out of the massifs of Berru and Briinont, from I which they dominate the martyr city, I thero will be nothing left of the oldest town in France and tho most beautiful church in the world.