LIBERATION OF LILLE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 21 October 1918, Page 8

LIBERATION OF LILLE.

MOVING SCENES OF JOY

BRITISH FERVENTLY WELCOMED

A CITY OF THANKSGIVING

UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS OF GERMAN OCCUPATION.

(Received Oct. 21, 9 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 19. Mr Philip "Gibbs writes: I visited Lille and saw the joy of hundreds of thousands of people who dm-ing the war period had suffered tragic things and unforgettable outrages to liberty of spirit. Although it was only morning, the streets were thronged with welldressed women and children and blackcoated men. The. city's "broad ayenues, streets and parks were everywhere draped with Bnglisih, and French flags which had been hidden carefully, for it meant prison for any civilian to possess such symbols. They now waved from every balcony. The Germans blew up the bridges around the city, and a few houses, before fleeing, but the. British built a foot bridge ' uPo n- which they entered the town. The people opened tiheir arms in a greafc embrace of gratitude and lave for those who had helped to rescue them. It was an overwhelming uplifting. Before one commander had gone far up the first avenue he was surrounded by great crowds, and a lady broke through, and clasping both his hands, said, "1 embrace you for the gladness you have brought us." She kissed him on, both cheeks, and this was the signal for general embraces-. Pretty girls offered their cheeks, and email boys pushed through and turned up their faces to kiss the soldiers. OJ<i men joined in and mothfi(rs lifted their children to be kissed. This lasted not for a few minutes, but for hours. Everybody had learned a few words of English greeting and constantly cried "welcome, welcome/ and "long live, England." Nearly one hundred English people were liberated in Lille. The inhabitants of Lille will never forget the German crimes. They recall the reign of terror at Easter, 1916, wben 8000 young women were forcibly sent to work hundreds of miles away and machine guns were posted at e&eh end of the streets. Officetrs ordered families to gather in doorways, and made an arbitrary choice. Some were: dragged out of bed"'screaming. Unspeakable things happened to them after their removal. , Twelve days later 12,000 men. and boys were removed. It is generally known that the Germans removed millions of pounds worth of textile machinery from Lille and neighboring towns, and smashed what remained in a deliberate plan to kill the industry, but Lille, to-day is a city of thanksgiving.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.