GHASTLINESS OF WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 236, 6 October 1914, Page 3

GHASTLINESS OF WAR.

' The Battles in Alsace. A vivid description of the havoc wrought in Alsace as t'>e result of battks between the Frerch and Germans, by Joha H. Cox, the special corrisp.:nd:nt of the New York "Tiihune" and Lor.don "Standard," and writt°n from Basl', Saitz:rland, uncer d.ite of Au<ust 21 at, appeared in | the former paper on August 2:ird last. The curiesp ndent wrote as follow 8: -

"1 have just return d frcirr. r.n j inspect on c.f tcenes u( the r cc: t I 'ightig between thi Fro ch and I Germans i i the a uthern districts Sof Alsace. Despatches, f orn Paris ar.d Berlin chsiribj thj cngdgeir.etts betAUjn the frontur anJ Mulhauicn as 'insigiitica.it incountJis between advance gua:ds.' If this .Lc true in the military eense, and if preliminaries of war produce (he terriole effects 1 have witreased, the disastrous r suits of the war itself wiil exceed the possibilities of human comprehension. "As a Swiss subject, I was equipped with identification paper?. I wa3 accumpiiiied by four felljw coji trymsr, &11 on bicycles. At the very outset the spectacle of peasants, men and worr.ea, unconcerned at work in the lit IJs struck ma as strange and unnatural. The men were either old or well advanced in miidle age. Everywhere women and gi Is of all ages and mere lads wcjre working. KKI'TAL Ml'Rl'Elt ol A I'lilESl. "l'he first ngn of Wjr wai the demolished villi of a Roman Catholi: priest at a village in the vic.nitv of Ka:sbach. ltis priest hid lived theie for maDy yeare, ugaged in reli;ioui work and literacy pursuits. Af'er t e outbreak of war the German authorities jump.d to the conclusion that he was an agu.t of th; Freich secret servi:;, and that he had been in the Latit ot sendi g regularly tj Helfort 1 ;forniition concerning th: Uemnn mili ary m«>Vvme is :.nd German measu.es of clef me, very often by means of carrier pigeons. ' The Alsatians declare these accusntionsto have been utterly un just, but last week a in litnry party raided a priest's bouse, dragged him from his study and placed him against his garden wall ami .-li)t him summarily as a traitor and spy. The'house was searched from tip to bottom, and numerous books and papers were removed, after which the whole building was completely destroyed by dynamite. The priest 'himself was buried without a coftin at the end of his little garden plot, and some villagers placed a rough cross on the mound which marked the place of interment.

TKRIiI l ; Li: SK'XS or DEVAsrAI'IoX. '• In the next large village we were told it had been successfully occupied by French and German troops, and had been the scene of stiff infantry fighting. Here we found groups of elderly men and boys burying the bodie3 of men and horses. Pestilence was feared. Fuither on were a number of German soldiers beating about on both sides of the road, searching for dead and woundel It was said that many wounded soldiers had crawled in ainoDg the corn to escape being iredden 011 by the troop- marching along the road, and also to gain relief from the blazing sun. " On the outskirts of another large village we wore shown a garden bounded by a thick hedge, behind which a company of French infantry had taken their stand against the advancing German troops. Among tho crushed, downtrodden tlowers there were still lying fragments of French soldiers' equipments, iucludtwo French caps, stained, and three torn Fiench tunics were likewise dyed red. The walls of a cottage bore marks of xitle bullets and the roof was partly burned. " Passing through villages we saw on all sides terrible signs of the devastation of war—houses burned, uncut corn trodden down and rendered useless, gardens trampled under foot—everywhere rust and distress. EVIDENCES 01 HI'MAN SI.AI.'OHTER. "At a small village locally known as ' Napoleon's Island,' we found the railway station demolished and a line of trucks the French had ! used as a barricade. These trucks j were almost shot to pieces, and many bore evideuces of human slaughter. Outside the statiou the 1 roof of the small restaurant had be:n ; shot away. The windows were j smashed and much furniture des- j troyed. Nevertheless, the proprietor | re-arranged the damaged premises j as well as possible, and was serving j customers as if nothing had 1 happened. " Just outside this village their was a large common grave, in which French and German soldiers were buried together in their uniform*. A large mound marked 111 is sit'.'. Here again the villagers had placed rough 1 v-liewn crosses. IT\SA\|'s 1.1! A I'll I' \ \ Itl: AI I \ 1.. '• Not I'ar from lluningen we met an intelligent Alsatian peasant, wlio remembered the waroflKT'L and had witnessed s'tiue of the engagements during the last few davs. Here is an aicount of what he said: —'Thi' bravery "f both sides was amazing. The effects of the artillery lire was terrific-. As the shells burst, where you formerly ; saw a body of soldiers, you saw a heap of corpses or a number of figures writhing on the ground. Those who were unhurt would scatter for the moment, but would quickly regain their composure and take up their positions in the light ing line as if nothing had happened. The effects of tho other weaponwere as bad. ll seemed remarkable that the soldiers could see tin l de-truction worked all around them and yet rontrol their nenes -ullicieiitlv to continue lighting I remember battle in I*7o, live ei >i\ of fhit li I fought in myself, but thev bear 110 <oinonii>oii with the butt le "I I'M I The uar of I I ye; 11 ago wa - ehild's play c oinpaio I wit 11 the war at the pre-ont time. "