THE TRAIL OF THE GERMANS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3097, 30 May 1917, Page 6

THE TRAIL OF THE GERMANS

WANTON DEVASTATION

LETTER FROM A BRITISH OFFICER

Sir James Allen has lately received from an officer of high rank in the British Army a personal letter, from which ho gives for publication llic following extract:—

"I am sure you will be glad to know that my corps hud tlie honour of taking Bapauiiie, the goal that has bsen before the eyes of the whole Army on the Somme since June last. We had no very heavy fighting at the last, probably owing to the fact that we had been able to keep up a -continuous and unrelenting pressure on the Germans day after day for so long, which finally broke down their resistance. I hope wo threw away no chances, while equally we were not rushing, so T am thankful to say wo. had very few casualties. The fact of having driven the Germans out like this, and keeping them on the run, as we are still doing, has had a most extraordinarily beneficial effect on everyone. My men simply have their tails right over their backs. They are so pleased with themselves, and rightly, too, for they have deserved success. At the present moment we are seven, miles beyond—in lovely rolling country, over which it has been, a great pleasure for me to ride to-day, especially after the hateful shell-swept country, with mud up to one's girths, from which we are delighted to have escaped. "It is quite impossible to imagine without seeing it tlie appalling state , in' which the Germans have left Bapaume and tlie country and the villages round it. It is, I fancy, very much what the .Russians did when retiring before Napoleon. Every single thing in the country has been destroyed—houses 6heds, trees, everything, it is really- awful to think what the existence of tho people over these mile's of country must be for years to come. A gooil deal of the destruction lias been absolutely wanton. For instance, small fruit trees liko those growing against a wall, ornamental shrubs, monuments, etc., have all been put down or blown up. The women, we hear, have been treated most disgracefully, and. in. fact, (he Germans have behaved themselves like veal beasts. On would almost think they would have learned something during the war, but apparently this is not the case."