We all slept the Saturday and Sunday nights in Rheims, which was in a
state of siege, all lights being out at 8 o'clock. One of our party
foolishly left his window open while he had his light on; a pistol shot
from the police drew attention to the fact, and the entire electric
light of the hotel was immediately cut off.
In the day time great numbers of the population would leave the city and
go out in the suburbs on the safe side to watch the combat, returning at
night to their homes to see what destruction had been occasioned and, if
possible, to get a night's rest. I had a large quantity of tobacco with
me, which was received by the troops and by the civilians with great
joy, for they had seen none for a month, the Germans having taken
everything.
While the commercial part of the city had been absolutely destroyed, in
other parts one would find places where stray shells had fallen, doing
great damage. It all seemed absolutely ruthless and useless. The curé of
the cathedral told me that the Germans during their occupation had
established an observation post in the north tower with an electric
searchlight. This they took away with them, and some of the French
officers, during the first days of reoccupation, occasionally went up
there to have a look, but the curé had strongly objected and they had
given it up.
I know that the two days that I was there nobody but myself went into
the tower and I did so unbeknown to the authorities, being very careful
not to show myself, as I was assured it would draw fire if the Germans
saw anybody moving about on it. I think, myself, that this is an
exaggeration, as their line of observation must be at least seven or
eight miles removed and at that distance, even with a very strong glass,
it would be almost impossible to distinguish a human silhouette.
We left Rheims at 7 o'clock on Monday morning, proceeding to
Villers-Cotterets and stopping at Lafere-en-Tardenois, which was the
headquarters of the English. Here there were great quantities of
automobiles and considerable commotion that it was his honest opinion
that this was not the case. The village had been bombarded before the
arrival of the Germans, and the Mayor had taken refuge in the cellar of
the Mairie. When the Germans arrived at about 3 o'clock they dragged him
out and took him to a little place about three kilometers from Senlis,
where he is supposed to have been questioned, together with other
hostages. At 10 o'clock that night he was shot and buried where he fell.
The next day seven other hostages were shot in view of the fact that
some civilians were accused of having fired upon the military. Three
days after this the Acting Mayor and a party of citizens recovered the
body of the Mayor, who had been buried under a very thin covering of
earth in a very shallow grave--so much so that his hands and feet were
uncovered. He had one bullet hole in his forehead, which would seem to
indicate that the execution was not a military one, but that some
officer had, for some reason, shot him--perhaps in a moment of
impatience.
From Senlis we went to Clermont, which is the headquarters of the left
wing. There I had the great good fortune to be introduced to Gen.
Castelnau, who showed me his maps and the way a battle was fought on
paper. This is one of the greatest privileges I think I have ever
enjoyed, and the curious part of it was that their way of working in the
military art is very similar to the way we plot and scheme as
architects. The General interested me as a very fine, simple citizen.
Among other things he said to me:
"My dear Sir, how is it possible to fight with these people? They
seem to have no mercy, no decency. It really seems impossible to
know how to meet them."
He had with him several of his staff officers and one of them was
charged with making a report upon the atrocities committed. He allowed
me to read several of these reports and showed me photographs of one
incident that impressed me greatly. These photographs this officer had
taken himself and in order to prove that he had seen the incident and
was on the ground he was himself in the photograph. This special
happening was as follows:
In some little town to the east the Germans had taken out sixteen
peasants and field laborers. They bound their hands either in front or
at the back, tied them in bunches of five, cut their suspenders and
unbuttoned their trousers so that escape was impossible and shot them in
an open field. The report contained the names and ages of these poor
chaps. The oldest, I remember, was 67, and several were over 50. The
French had been able to get no explanation whatever of what had
occurred, as the village was absolutely deserted. The persecution of
women seems to be quite prevalent.
From here we returned to Paris, passing by Creil and Chantilly without
any incident, arriving in Paris at about 8 o'clock at night.