BELGIUM'S FORESTS BLIGHTED BY THE HUN 



1255 



cominunes of Seloignes and Forges-Philippe owned on 

 one of the heights of their forests of Thierarche. 



"It took more time to fell the splendid mass of spruces 

 of the Hauts-Marais. This forest was assuredly the most 

 beautiful of this kind that existed in Belgium, great 

 spruces planted about 1862 and whose spires seemed to 

 reach the sky in the darkness which their thick branches 

 left on the ground. This beautiful mass no longer exists ; 

 all the spruces, and with them large quantities of trees 

 which grew in the forest proper, along walks and borders, 

 all have disappeared for the satisfaction of the needs of 

 the occupier, who never cared, of course, to indemnify 

 the owner. What is more, for we can never get done 

 telling the misdeeds of the Germans in Belgium, groups 

 of exotic trees such as Japanese larches, Douglas firs, 

 etc., remarkable for their vigor and their dimensions, 

 found no more mercy before the axe of the vandals than 

 did the ordinary spruces. 



"At the same time there were being exploited in Thier- 

 arche, on the territory of Macquenoise, pine woods mixed 

 with birch. The Germans had constructed a Decauville 

 railroad in order to transport the timber to the railroad 

 station at Momignies. On this track was a wheezy loco- 

 motive pulling a car which contained at most one and 

 one-half cubic meters of wood ; and good people, good 

 Belgians at that, were nevertheless admiring the spirit of 

 organization of the usurpers ! 



"The quantity of oaks concentrated in the forests of 

 the Chimay region and the situation of the forested areas 

 with respect to the railroad stations adapted to the 

 German enterprises, are likewise the reasons why the 



Thierarche forests had to suffer worse than those of 

 Fagne. 



"In view of the stoppage of business the greater part of 

 the communes had failed to sell the oaks of the cuttings 

 of 191 5 and following. On the contrary all the white 

 wood, which is suited to the manufacture of wooden 

 shoes — the only local industry that kept up during the 

 war — all the white wood had been sold as soon as the 

 exploitation of the copse had permitted operations of 

 timber selection. This was in fact all timber saved from 

 the break-up and turned over to Belgian industry for the 

 consumption of the interior of the country, but it was 

 necessary to be disillusioned soon on this point also with 

 respect to the honesty of our adversaries. 



"The high oak forests of Bourlers and Forges were 

 attacked first ; while the felling of communal forests took 

 place in violation of all rights and conventions. We 

 must recognize that here at least the frenzied desire to 

 injure and destroy the forest, to wipe out the forest 

 reserve and all resources for the future, this bad desire, 

 we will say, does not appear. Only the larger trees fell, 

 and enough others were preserved so that the forest still 

 has the appearance of high timber over a thin copse. 

 However, all the big oaks are felled ; as a matter of, fact, 

 they constitute the bulk of the value. 



"While matters did not transpire so badly for these 

 two communes, it was dififerent with others, whose mis- 

 fortunes we shall recite. 



"The forest of Monceau-Imbrechies, traversed from 

 south to north by the road from Monceau to Seloignes, 

 reached the facilities of the Seloignes-Monceau railroad 



STURDY TREES IN A PARK IN BELGIUM WHICH SUSTAINED HEAVY SHELL AND MACHINE GUN FIRE AND STILL STAND, 



SKELETON DEAD, FILLED WITH BULLETS AND SHRAPNEL SCRAP. 



