FRANCE’S WAR DEAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21267, 23 February 1931, Page 7

FRANCE’S WAR DEAD

THOUSANDS STILL UNBURIED. BODIES PACKED IN SHED. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, February 21. (Received Feb. 22, at 9 p.m.) The Paris correspondent of The Times states that a terrific slaughter at Verdun, estimated at 400,000 is recalled by the revelation that the bodies of 12,500 French soldiers are still lying unburied in an enormous shed at Douaumont. Packed in sevens, in rough wooden boxes, not even nailed down, and sometimes without lide, 9800 bodies have lain unburied for six years. M. Deribes (Minister of Pensions and in Charge of War Graves) investigated the matter, and he explains that the new ossuary is not yet ready, that the bodies must be “ provisionally accommodated.” He deplores the fact that they have remained so long unburied, and says that the problem is complicated by constant additions due to the accidental discovery of bodies at the rate of 500 a month. He adds that there is no question of searching the Verdun battles area for dead, as the remainder, estimated at tens, even hundreds, of thousands, must be left in the soil, as the digging up of such a vast expanse was impossible. It is recalled that the ossuary at Dauaumont, which was opened in 1927, has for some time been crammed to its capacity with 8000 bodies. —Times Cable.