710 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Shell-fire 

 Destruction 



The forests of Northern France within 

 the fighting zone shared the 

 fate of the fortresses and towns 

 for these forests were of great 

 importance in the military operations. They 

 were used to conceal the movement of troops; 

 batteries and machine guns ; headquarters shel- 

 ters and temporary buildings in great variety 

 were hidden under their 

 cover ; their very char- 

 acter, thick standing 

 trees often with dense 

 undergrowth of small 

 trees, made them natu- 

 ral positions for de- 

 fensive works. They 

 became objectives for 

 attack and came under 

 heavy shell fire. Under 

 such conditions they 

 were utterly demol- 

 ished. A few snags, 

 splintered stumps, 

 shattered trunks and 

 limbs now remain as 

 testimony that once a 

 forest existed. When 

 a forest was under 

 severe fire the damage 

 was so great that there 

 was almost no salvage. 

 What was not split, 

 cracked or smashed, 

 was filled with shrap- 

 nel splinters, making it 



HEROES OF THE WAR 



Shattered remains of once stately trees that covered a beautiful hillside in France 

 and sacrificed their lives to the cause of humanity and justice as did the men 

 who fought and fell near them. Thousands of square miles in northern France 

 present' a similar desolate appearance. 



impossible to saw a board or cross-tie. Where the 

 fighting was less severe and the movement of 

 retreat swift, the damage was less, but in- 

 evitably the forest was so badly broken that 

 it was ruined. It must be cleared and a new 

 forest started, like the rebuilding of a de- 

 molished village. 



The armies swept back and forth over a 

 vast strip of country 

 leaving ruin in their 

 path. Behind the Ger- 

 man lines the enemy 

 drew freely on the 

 French forests for ma- 

 terials needed in the 

 m i 1 i t ary operations. 

 The victorious Allies 

 found the German 

 trenches constructed of 

 heavy timbers. It was 

 from the French for- 

 ests. As the enemy 

 was pushed back, ruin 

 awaited the forests like 

 those already wiped 

 out. And the same 

 was true of the orchard 

 and roadside trees. 

 What did not fall vic- 

 tim to shell fire was 

 deliberately destroyed. 

 The cathedrals of na- 

 ture like the cathedrals 

 built by man became 

 the object of the de- 



- n -W-^., 



Photograph by International Film Service 



RUINED FOREST IN NO MAN'S LAND 



France had built up her forests by years of thrift and careful planting and conservation. Even before the war she had been compelled to 

 import annually a considerable amount of lumber for various purposes. The sacrifice of her trees was an almost priceless gift to the cause of the 

 Allies. These the gave freely, as she gave her sons. 



