The inhabitants told the usual stories of German treatment. They were forced to work at all sorts of tasks from seven in the morning until six at night. In return they received paper bills with which they were unable to purchase milk and similar necessities. The majority, however, were so overjoyed at their deliverance that they were almost incoherent in discussing the enemy occupation.
The inhabitants of Stenay remained hiding in their cellars even after the Americans had entered the town. They came out hesitatingly and in small groups.
Hostilities along the American front ended with a crash of cannon.
The early forenoon had been marked by a falling off in fire all along the line, but an increasing bombardment from the retreating Germans at certain points stimulated the Americans to a quick retort. From their positions north of Stenay to southeast of the town the Americans began to bombard fixed targets. The firing reached a volume at times almost equivalent to a barrage.
Two minutes before eleven o'clock the firing dwindled, the last shells shrieking over No Man's Land precisely on time.
There was little celebration on the front line, where American routine was scarcely disturbed over the cessation of fighting. In the areas behind the battle zone there were celebrations on all sides. Here and there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances were not on the immediate front.
Many of the French soldiers went about singing.
"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."
The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went about their appointed tasks.
In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet. They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.