ROYE MINED TO IMPEDE THE FRENCH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14286, 1 May 1917, Page 8

ROYE MINED TO IMPEDE THE FRENCH.

With the French armies adya^icing! froift - Royej : ~ } Slti&B&'w}?' On© hundred and sixieei s^Asf© milirs of territory, burnt black, land rent Svith wanton, explosions, has been ■ the prize wrenched the by the French in the one little district ftom around Ghaulnes to the Oise. It is merely a j^art of a* vast -'territory irepatriated by the French "troops after hot pursuit ,<js a German retirement that for 7jrecipitate haste* reseniibles ;.jflie retreat from f th© Marrte.' This 1 ' 116 uriiles, howevje^, . is^ typical of, ?Geraian i'uthlessness inl(ve^eat.«r • ,/ .'

"It has been a retirement 'by ,-^he : Germans marked by wanton destruction and; devastation, exceeding ;eren* that ■of the original Genrian' 'intAsidn. ' > ' x'\>:p*'- ' Travelling over the highways in every direction on the thirteen-niite' 'front around Eoye, Oh&ulnes and the ; Oise to-dlj^y, one finds, roads; everywhere blown, up, trees 'arid feriipes' cut down, houses and all other buildings razed and the very land itself 1 damaged to as great an extent- as • possible. 11 MARTYRUOM'OJ 1 R0Y8, , : . Roye, the largest city, yet retaken, from the Germans in the French advance, Hvas not burned as ' was. Bdpaume, the prize of the Bintish forces,-.. but it ■was thoroughly mined andi 1 blown up. 1 v The 'city 4ooksrae though it* .had. been stricken' -by : a£f~e^r^hjiuj!tks. "*EhV Qrefmaris, before t^ey *Mt,<.niitte4'&4 itreefc comers in such. ' a m'annerT " .asY 'not only to cause a grealt eriater when ! ;fche explosives "were t*uch'edl,dnV^i^uac~bipckittg^ the' streets, liuti ulso tfe c&fise' the $dl£pse <nNdi» the buildifigß oil gfenfoul- TSoMJersr r 'l3ie whole 1 cdtjf of Rpyla- wfcs'thu^ mined to invpedft^tfce! Fr^cn^iS^ncej But l th& dite whwh-tKe Qerflia^oo& imi^dere had* .;.fee(i^£oF<^e^eva«ttarT tiori' had not l arrived "before French forces rushed v4n.- Theic " ? Jsuiad«oK,.^i'l unexpected; a|yg^ra^>c6'"caused the Geiv mans" .to '*toucli ! dS '; 'wlttes ' W'4; o'clock Saturday anornin^-^and' without any warning to the -civil population. Ea&ffitant^of r 'tffie^v^ from their beds. Great praters forty feet wide and -some thirty . feet in depth were blown •in Uie principal streets and into these great. boles tumbled the principal buildingjß".of fcnejiaty. Tlie magnificienfc ipwn : a score of otßS&rgTSiC^ Z V1 31 * 3 9^ ruins. The quick arrival of "the French^ resulted in the cutting of wires connectinfr mvines which -had beeh-'lai(J f under whole streets voi ihe. city, 1 so' 1 tliat some buildings were -sftvedr"-' -« •■ ■■*-..).-,,..- FINAL.YM)GE;iNCJEt '>■ At the nibineri^'oi^^ their departure the Germans... .vwrea&ed" final Vengeance on the city rby entering housefi and smashing the furiuture, dishes-^every-thing breaWble.;'7* 7 - l ''$ : -y M: ~- The inTOdei^—'had Germanized "the oity during their occUpancy^or; "at least, had attempted it. AJl'-ihe streets had been igfiajjled^. after such army heroes and - g£nera>Js as Hindenburg, Mackenseri'aird. wEfiers.- 15^" I '' ■•i- < But the tWnstoebpte' were far /from • GferananSed/^ T^reraty-four houi'a after** ' the' v Germaois . evacuated Roye' the eight .lianai'fid remaining of the city's civil ; "ttcrpulation had unearthed long-hidden -fireuch .flags. The tricolor was waving 'everywhere" when the French troops' entered. " > ■ '■' From Roye to Nesle l there «s destruction "and devastation 1 everywhere. Aviators repcrE'*wT!}s?e toAvn^ and villages burning? I^"***"-* - • / JOY OFTKET^EOPLE: To the joy of the^ inhabitants of Roy© is impossible. "M»ny of . them tfid not hope , to. see the ret^irn of >ur; troops. The Geimans had spoken dif deporting all. r ■■ "'On February 17, one , hundred and lranejty of them liad^ received -at 5 o'clock in the morning an order to leave toward, evening. Since" then no more have been taken away. '' "On the summit of the dW>- an ' old man, tall, w,i,tjh,',-whit£ \Kair and moustache, was encountered, ;He waved his armsj being incapable at first in his emotion of saying e word. He lived in the last housed Ithe ; tow^ where he spent the existence of '■% savage, deci(iing not to see the Germans. Two W s .ago, that something new was m preparatioa he went uplo the roof of his house and from afar saw masses of soldiers m blue, their helmets scmtillathW' in • fch# sun -• — said^ saoa, I lookeff for their red tr6users but I saw on^ men , in .unknown unL forms. My >b?qffl tgrftgd: I said to m^ •

self, Are they move Germans," but suddenly from the small groups moving across the country came rifle fire. Then I understood, they were the French warriors, the French clothed in blue, who had arrived.'"