South High School - Tiger Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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JJ L + 0 ,- MW5' --12:5-1 f- ,: W, 5 , ll X 4,41 H939 fflfige Vficcifdnfgw qlligene the French, and just wish we had stayed out of it, showing that the Hun is still unrepentant. Farther into the interior, conditions may be entirely different, but this has been deduced from my observations on this side of the Rhine. The trip from Trier to Coblenz is through a series of progressive little cities and lengthy tunnels, one near Cochem took us just 24- minutes on a freight and fourteen on a fast passenger, to pass through. In France it is the longest way around that is the shortest way home. We entered the Coblenz freight yards at midnight and found my train would not be checked until morning, so back to my bed in a blanket car I went. Slept until nine the following morning. The train was split up here and forwarded in five sections to various towns occupied by U. S. troops. Before I go further I must tell you how we eat. The quartermaster issues six days' rations, consisting of corned beef, hard bread, canned beans, canned tomatoes, and a small portion of jam. When you get hungry, you rather relish such foodstuffs, but their idea of a manis capacity is somewhat out of line with his own idea, for in three days we had to seek a bite to eat, wherever we found a kitchen with a friendly cook. There are a few, but there are so many men travelling around the way we were, and they were inclined to say Nix. I didn't go hungry. Coblenz, a busy little city on the Rhine, the old city and the new quite a con- trast: the old city, very interesting, with its unique and quaint architecture, churches, buildings of the early centuries built by the Romans, old fortresses where they held forth, have been preserved and made stronger. Both sides of the Rhine have tremendously large forts high upon their banks. They afford almost impenetrable protection from further progress up the Rhine valley. It looked good to see the Stars and Stripes waving high above. Little did the Germans think of the possibility of that happening! Other points of interest I found, as the statue of William the First, a gigantic monument placed on the point of junction of the Moselle and Rhine, the present t?D Kaiser's palace and church, where he spent his time while visiting this city, are wonderful conceptions of modern architecture. The Y. lVl. C. A. is really trying to do its bit. The festhalls, one of the places of amusement they have secured, is one of the largest auditoriums I have ever seen. They have been criticised so much, it seems they are trying to outdo all past efforts. The organization itself is founded on wonderful principles, but, in some instances, has been careless in the selection of men. The result is the reports you have received heretofore. Bud criticised them for boasting of the work they had done on the front lines, for he said, and the other boys agreed, that he had never seen one in his time at the front and had never got a thing from them, except at few sheets of paper that I had enclosed in one of my letters. for the poor Salvation Army, that had so little and made generous Red Cross, ever on the job begging you to take Everything is given away, it is not going into one NY to They are full of praise it go so far. Then the what they had to offer. pay one price for their cigarettes or chocolate, and going into another to pay twice I don't blame the organization itself, but the men that were as much, or maybe half. in charge of the smaller 24-

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f.. 1. QETQQ Vieilfditw were A DIARY FROM FRANCE Get out your maps, I'll travel fast. This is to be entitled My Ninety-six Cent Tour of the Old World. Liffol-le-Grand to Neufchateau, to Toul, to Scorcy, the first town to show signs of war, to Commercy, to St. Mihiel. You have read of the wonderful successes of the Americans at this point. To my eyes, it is incredible that our boys accomplished the gains that were made here. Can you see the picture that I saw, the enemy on top of a mountainous hill with a river separating you from the bottom of it? Well, they crossed this river, then drove the Boche off the top and miles beyond. Small towns between here and Verdun are all shot to pieces. Verdun, a prosperous city of a bit over 20,000 inhabitants, rises on a. steep hill in a bend of the Meuse River, which protects it on all sides except on the west, also faces Metz, so quite naturally is a very strategic position. Verdun! You all remember the efforts of the Boche to take this well fortified position early in 1916. They outnumbered the French possibly five to one. They failed, but succeeded in destroying nearly every building in the city. Practically all the buildings are mere shells. A fine cathedral, said to have been built in the twelfth century, is a mass of ruins. An old palace did not suffer quite so much. Some buildings are a mass of brick and stone, others have walls standing. 'Tis a typical monument to wanton destruction. Etain to the east is totally destroyed. I don't remember seeing a single building with a wall standing over one story high. The country between these two cities is a mass of hills, trenches, barbed wire entanglements, dugouts, and shell holes. Shell holes that would make good cellars for a greater part of the buildings of Minneapolis 4 The best advertised city in the world. The few people that have never visited it, that is, ofthe A. E. F., are overly anxious to grace its streets now. The Flour City soldier is some booster. The only time you hear of St. Paul over here is when the Chaplain reads the name from the Bible. Its boosters died a natural death.J Saw, just outside of Etain, the defense used, in addition to pits, against tanks. They are pillars of concrete, about ten feet in diameter, placed about six or eight feet apart and joined together with heavy steel cables. No matter how powerful the tanks were, it would be an utter impossibility for them to pass. From Etain went to Conflans, thence to Briey, to Audun. Here the Germans took our train. It was in the dead of night, so saw very little as we traveled through Esch and Luxembourg. Woke up at six as we entered Treves, or Trier, as the Huns called it. Spent the day here. It is an old town, said to be one of the oldest in Germany. A bridge built by the Romans, and an old statue said to have been built in 541 B. C., also the old buildings made the day really interesting. No one would imagine that Germany had been through four years of war, and it is a pity that they could not have had a taste of what they gave to France and Belgium. They claim shortage of greases, as soap, butter, lard, fats and oil, bread of lighter grains, leather, and some meats. These at least were the only noticeable shortages. The people all dress well, look very healthy, and don't seem to mind our intrusion. They hate 23 ' 5 f.w.' , 56 ,6 Q gpg' 15.5. :pf X . 1 ' J . ,y .',?. I H: ' ' 9 1 ,f Jqei 1 -QI-1. 55' N Eli' 'gf .vit-2 .gr -7,15 I I o EM

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A, 'tj' CXJ We iw gx-.4 - Q Hlhice me ug Ilftgeft was ix units. Seems as though they could have found the individuals that were the petty thieves easy enough, for it is general knowledge in the A. E. F. From Coblenz to Trier. On my return traveled at night, to Metz also. The French have control of Metzl It's barred to the A. E. F., but a six-hour wait gave me a chance to see a wee part. The commanding position it occupies, its forts, its natural protection, surely told me why we wasted no more powder than we did in our advances in that sector. Had the war continued we might have surrounded it and starved them out. To my eyes this would be the only way we could have gained entrance. The Boche seemed to have nature with them in every sector where the Americans fought, of course they won this advantage in the earlier months of the war, but we were compelled to remove this advantage nevertheless. The city is as the other German cities, modern and progressive. Claimed to be the most strongly fortified city in the world. I believe it. From Metz to Nancy, passed thru the destroyed cities of Arnaville, Pagny, Pont- Mousson, Dieulouard, Pompey, and smaller villages, all on the Moselle River. Could readily see why advance was so slow here too. The river runs in a deep valleyg the Germans had control of the heights on both sides of the river and at the bottom on one side, with a very narrow strip of land on the other, in some places just wide enough for the rails and a narrow road. Yet the Americans drove them back over these hills, and advanced beyond a small town between Arnaville and Metz. I had visited this part of the battle ground a few days after the armistice was signed and was surprised to see accomplishments of the American troops in cleaning up. There are some Amex who believe that after we are gone it'll be as dirty as ever. We may have taught a lesson that will bring improvement in years to come, but it doesn't seem to have as yet. Traveled all day along the Marne river, and every city is almost entirely destroyed, the topography of the country about the same. To make an advance, it was necessary to cross the river, then to mount steep hills with the Boche on topg to tind the only spots that were not like this it was necessary to penetrate dense forests from the meadow lands. This is where the boys had to fight, and I marvel at it. Germany with her Prussian Guard and nature to assist her did not stop the old marines when they struck at them in Chateau-Thierry, the turning point of the war, to my mindg and I doubt if they will get proper recognition for the part they played here and wher- ever they were sent into the line. I'm in the army, but I take my hat off to the two regiments of Marines that lost ten per cent of the casualties of the A. E. F., and never lost a foot of ground. Tho tired and weary, many a time relieved for a rest, put back into a worse sector where somebody, our own men or French, were being stopped. I saw nearly every front that they had fought in, and I believe that they were the worst. Why were they put there? Because they are the greatest fighting body of men on earth. R. E. HARLIN. 25 ' 1 EG