FLYING BEFORE THE HUN ADVANCE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 243, 2 July 1918, Page 5

FLYING BEFORE THE HUN ADVANCE

PATHETIC SCENES IN FRANCE.

A letter from an. Australian soldier iu France to a friend in tho "Sunday Times" office tells of tho heartrending seencs amongst tho French peasants fleeing in front of tho German offensive.

"It's awful," he writes, "to see the beautiful homes that have gone to ruin in a few days. As we came into action, and all the day previously, wo were passing aged men and women, kiddies, babies, cattlo, sheep, and thousands of other things, going in tho opposite direction. Tho women and girls fontho most part were crying bitterly, and I can tell you the tears welled up in my own eyes. I've seen some distressing scenes since I've beeif fighting, but this was my worst experience. "I saw one particularly bad case. 'Ihero was the' husband, wii'e, and about live very pretty little kiddies, all girls. Hubby was wheeling a barrow tull of pots and pans,-clothing, and odds and ends, while the wife—a. nicro girl, and very pretty—was staggering under tho weight of a barrow-load of bed clothing. She sat down oil the roadside every fow minutes and cried bitterly, while tho eyes of the kiddies, as they straggled on behind, clutched their dolls and utlier cherished possession?, were red and swollen from sobbing. I felt so sorry for Ihem that I hopped off the- gun and put the last five-franc note I had in tho hand of one of tho little mites.

"But I doubt if all tho gold in France would compensate those people for having to leave their homes and everything that was near and dear to them."