London Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1945, London, Middlesex                                11 War week 1945 scorched murder were the heinous business of the routed German forces driven across the bloodstained soil of in a blazing March of defeat they left behind them broken farms and made their innocent victims by Jack Caldwell War week staff writer the French is traffic moves Over y y this ice encrusted Road leading into the City of toward the front rumble big trucks Laden with troops and in the opposite direction plod elderly men and Young women and but All showing the miseries of modern some pushed carts and baby carriages bulging with cloth ing  household in the snowy Fields and Hills flanking the twisting the muzzles of half camouflaged guns spurt fire and belching occasionally a Shell lands precariously close to the an enemy recon women and children were transferred to the Church of that the burst into flames and Church was full of i there is no one left in former summer resort in the Vosges was a Community of person Jar before the Rue plaque dedicated in 1921 by a delegation of the american legion the towns naming of the new the weather beaten Bronze plaque is on the Side of the building in which the mapmakers Only the blackened Brick Walls now a White haired old Man was digging through the debris of his fire gutted cottage a Hundred feet up the a Pushcart stood near him and in it plane is heard in the but Low hanging Clouds make its flight antiaircraft guns go into the Craft makes a Hasty the pitiful procession of civilians germans evacuated Thel now moves slowly occasionally a it Isa charred ghost a child stares wild eyed As a Shell few blackened Walls a Jill but screams still they move the Village is now the on Over the rutted the germans burned the House by cutting whipping the setting torched even to out nauseating odor of Gunpowder in their this is the most cruel part of remarked a Young French lieutenant standing alongside a 6x6 truck which had halted while its occupants warmed themselves around a Small Bonfire a Short distance from the Hope for shelter the germans Are they Burn the villages before abandoning them to our forces and Force the onto the these people have no place to they can do is Hope some merciful Vil lagers further Back from the front will give them temporary charred ruins of numerous villages Blacken the Broad French 1st army Many tunes the civilians have been As at a Village in Central the penned diary of a German general carried when he was captured recently relates the Community i sent an expeditionary Force to search the Village of the diary villages population was rounded up 600 men were lying farm j map making Center the Long list of French villages Laid waste by the retreating huns includes the historic town of Flint die Many historians the name America was the town was the worlds map making Center in the 16th when the cartographers came to identifying on their maps the recently discovered continent across the historians they first considered names like land of Columbus and the new before hitting on the name in h6nor of Americus whom they with discovering the new it is of its former occupants either in concentration Camps or drafted into labor and military units inside Ger nearly every House has been ravaged by charred and broken bits of and other debris litter 4he Interior of the destroyed Snow now blankets the on the main excerpts from hitlers mein kampf for the first time the state achieves a lofty goal Safe guarding Law and order Lay ing a peaceful groundwork preserving and advancing the highest am guided Only by the sober realization that lost Terri tories Are not won Back by Sharp parliamentary Bigmouth and their glib Ness of but by a Sharp sword and fire in other by a bloody if Victory is obtained through sacrifice the coming generations will not condemn the More Brilliant the the resultant the better they will appreciate dire the elderly villager carefully Laid bits of presumably of his and other personal items he proceeded to dig silently from the he glanced up and hobbled Over toward the i was peering from the window of my Home Over he Point ing in the direction from which he had been when two Ger Man soldiers ran Over to this i  see them very Well from where i but in a few minutes i saw smoke Curling from the windows and minutes later flames lit up the whole germans were jittery guess the germans had a special grievance against the United this the first to be set was the one in which you got the name America a Long time they then proceeded to set afire other buildings and houses with incendiary gasoline and French troops at that time were still several Miles outside the the germans were plenty jittery and beat it out of town As soon As they had set the whole place want much the French soldiers could do when they got fire had a pretty Good but they did manage to save a few of the build the old stooped probably As much from the cares of War As from old said he had been living alone and that most of his posses Sions had either been taken by the germans or destroyed by i had a Banjo some american tourists gave me shortly after the last the villager went and i got to play it quite there were times when i did get a Little too in Back in june i had the bbl on the Low so the germans on the Street  hear listened to their programs All during the i heard that the allies had invaded i was overjoyed and i got out my Banjo to sort of nearly caught funny i never knew that too but that Day it came easy and i was plunking away with Joy when i heard the telltale sound of German boots clamping up the stairs leading to my front i barely had time to switch to a German Ballad when the door flew open and a German Soldier demanded Why i was playing an american i looked As surprised As i could and asked him if he  recognize the German he looked at me mumbled some thing about a warning and then strode out of the slamming the door behind when i was sure he had i struck up Over again and Sang the words the yanks Are coming just As loud As i the Banjo is somewhere in those he added As he started Back toward his the Alsace Region has Long been without its younger of them were forced to join the German army when the nazis took they Are used mostly for jobs far Back from the Load ing As one French officer the germans know Only too Well they be off for our Side first Chance they in a Village a few Miles from Bel fort a Middle aged woman busily polished glasses in her tiny most of the civilians had left the Vil Lage and customers were very but the woman still kept open the code sign my she pointing toward a picture of a youth in Civi Lian clothes which stood on the mantel near the he was just 21 when the germans took him he was just a he was frightened when he knew he was to be put in the German just before he left me he in afraid  Send me to the russian if they do i shall kill if you should receive a letter from me with a drawing of a youll know in to be sent the woman fumbled in the pocket of her apron and withdrew a crumpled i got this letter from my boy yes she hesitated a then held the letter out for me to it was a Brief note like any son in service would write to his and it closed with ton fils Cheri your Darling son Ben Atli the scrawled signature was the crude sketch of a today it is deserted nearly every House has been ravaged by debris litters the Interior of the destroyed charred ruins of numerous villages Blacken the Broad French 1st army the germans burned the town House by House