METHODICAL RUTHLESSNESS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14288, 3 May 1917, Page 4

METHODICAL RUTHLESSNESS.

y. ' ordered m Ihindei4biirg. '\ ;:-.-'; :- ;f . (By Philip, Gilibsx^ V / \a^ ; ; War Qbrr&Spon dents* -HeadqitaTfers, 5 j .'.•''•■ '. , ■' _," • -' J.March' 27;, '.; ■ y Who village al'lloiseT; liefchbori^ Of, whMi~TCohWesri?S? -and' :, EqfiahKnrt ;' 'yf e . jpaplnred;' Vestei^ay;' -.-.af^ .shbrtj fightihg/ is 'the sdene' of orie df t'fiose; little burnt 1 onto' the memories of the French people during the last ten days. Before retreating;' tlie Ger-, man soldiers were Ordered to' flr6 : thei place t house ,by, L ,hou§e. r^he inhabitants' wei^o not evacuated to' ',otl>e'r villages until this;; destruction ; "w^s finished , \ bu t svere driven from one .^treeit . .tq^ another. 'like. rabbits i,h.a "cbrrtfiftlji 'thaV.is being! cut. •■' ■ , ' -■■-■'■' ■ ■■■'.;. \ ° On e woman with a newborh baby, a woman 9f..Ppris, r prou,d ull : of, ; co^iratge, refused "to move again in the middle (9f,,.thQ, night^.and stayed in her houscj -Until' the fii*es licked close oh both sides of. her,.,... At last,.. to prevent her child .^rom.^nf^oc^tion she had to go, and -the Ja^t hquse, in. Roisel ..was> •burnt ;nnd";the peqpie. fled .to. Tihcourt. :. The German troops' fell back' and our pa,trols reconnoitred . tlie. . r ujus,, , but -re•tired, when a V.bbdy ,of. T tjhl^ais and Jaegars, .nupib^riug . .150, .Came .bacl_. w .JtH part, pf the. garrison, and. reoc cupied the I'uins.x ', Yesterday a body of British, cayaji-y ..swept '.arqiin4 -th®*-: village, .«ind'; oiit 1 , " ; inf a.ntiy ,. . , preceded" by ; arfnorfed cai-s, ..advanced ahd entered' th_i place, the back, before^ .them, , Oij;4 ;.pi;jsoi.i<?r wa_j taken "bv-^s, •He is. a.' Vi6u^. j|Xan, .formerly, a'ba^il. clerk -ih'--: Cologne,.,. vid\ bclonga.-ito the '1914 r class,, . though., he;, volunteered to the ca,valry jn. 1914 and. was aftqrwards^ ti-ansfeiTi-ed"' to .thei, infaiitry. He .' was left belling, st Roi^e.l as -a sniper and w«is caught in hiii. Hiding place. Hindenburg himself. wa s iii. Roisel as Lite as March ."..lo,' and has personally directed the organisation of .the • retirement from the enemy's fixed positions ■a«ll, : along the line how abandoned. , . Xt ] s .hy,. Hin^lpurg's ..order. %ft tkg coninjete> devastation of tlie countrvside lia^ been achieved with an orderly rtithlpssness that, left nothing > overlooked, as; I have seen agani to-day in passing through more broken villages, going into fine, chateaux 'Stripped ;from their vaiilted bellai's/.tp; their high I ', timbered 'attics, into .churches, shattered „by, by explosive charges, r ,£ind into i chuvch yards where vaults : ajids. tombs . have* been opjened and smashed. A Those- poor villages were . ta?j:ed, • .before they -wf re ; burnt. The inhabitants of one of -tham < called Jeancourt, had to', pay and pay throughout the .whole period, of occupation until at last they had paid in socalled indemnities a t^tal .of, £.12Q(X , This is hot aii tinu'sJual cajse, : biit the ride, and.befqre loosing ■ thpir grip upon .this great tract qf. France the enemy seized all available money' and collected 'shave cert/fieates^of French fu-ms. They left nothing to the. Villagers except their lives and' th^r'; m^hiory Of v 6uTferinjr. >VAKTON . WRECICAGE. , ■ Every^hefe , they, fqu^d-, the ',paUi...<i_ the Him ;stro\\ui;.w)th 3Va.nton . wreclcage, 'and; civi|ians A hewly v i'e'ieased from, bondage told, ! sorpD _Ji.tiful'.,|tpries 'of .tl^o iare\V«ll; act^^p^'' vandalism .pe'Kpeti'a.iteil ; bjj; tho. officers, i aaid, men oi , the elite ' ( regi'm'ents of ( the • German army d'mung •the .last , h.oqrs 'of, thiei.r'. i ;dcciin t (ition» , '>.' A number of Gorman doctors, • wiftq . :. had lodged for months in one of the largest •a'njd finest mansions in..R.oye,. summqned "the aged mistress of the 'house 'o» 'Fri- '-* y .Jftoniing, when it, was no longer IWssibJe ,to eqneeal. from the; inhabitants 'that they r "would evacua-te the town that ;day, and said : — . . .- , '.a"^ P*?. -going io fiive Rove, back, to the Fren^i. »Wfc hope, they' will like <ip.'' ;'" .. ( ; : ,'., (1 ( ;;, y.y. y. , u.. >> > -„ ■; -^n ihcy,' ,^ht through tiie ' hpusey fi^ n Si : r eyolYei;s.,at " •,„ha;,.jnHTdr„'..-' apcl sh^ashmg 1 the j urnitnre . irirthe.Vdrawing"l^Obms. Similrfr" . 'series v Wjqre enact^^, in ; m^n,VAother hquses, 1 xyliere.the officers ? rapsack&d family ..papers,, and ldpt£sd»theportable ' articles' ' df yiilue; 'including 'clocks- ; tend- /pictures: ■• They chalked o\\ fragrijeiits of the, mirrors, vand even on the -sides of. the i: buil'ding's :-' y" ' ''WfeApkeseht 1 I.oy^;- ,tb ' "th© ..' Fj-eixcli •peoplO, Mti trust, they 'will ."liko^it.!* • ' , ©EStR_TCTIO_f gYSTE^'AT'IC. \i ' - ,The prfetH^ce of ' message^, 'of this 'character hhd) .tl^'.^iait^f^ .of tlie-'iiiiiage. indicate th,at iti-'is tifficicjly' inspii'ed aoad ■is f not wholly the outburst of personal &pite. The ipha^itants^pf Rpye, and indeed all of ; evacuated to\vns, be-h.^ved,^-th fino-.r/s^-aint and dignity in. tho face of t^leseAdcliberate insults, •ai^d pfe ..• th.li" : eflemie^ • not a; single chance bf-;reprisnls- : hsl being -"pH'cVoke'd itov ma'nifesfetibiis of ' rescMmeh^,.; pfficial orders .for " th-q... systematip d'dstpitctjoir of In-operty inpluded .the. cuttingAddwy.'oi; mutilating"; of .all .' fruit! trees/ I walked'' foi"' sp^e. miles to-day through tlio< -cojlttWy. behind tlip, German ' lines."At -Chauln'es,/ aiid^ycry^licre thb i orchards "had been levelled. or the treses : styipiipd, and- (the > wells' filled with rubbish from the latrines. .. i" ')'»t_l____A____ ..'■•:•.::.." ..