Little by little, when the first excitement was over, the inhabitants told the story of the occupation; of the war levies imposed by the Germans, as in every town which they had occupied; first a million francs in 1914, when the commandeering without payment or vouchers; the fines (20 francs for omitting to salute an officer); children forced to work in the trenches; people sent to prison, and even to the convict prison on the slightest pretext; an abbé deported as a hostage because he had said in a sermon, “After the thorns will come the roses;” a whole family placed in solitary confinement for forty days because they were suspected of having telephoned to the French, etc., not to mention the systematic looting and removal of objects of art, pictures and silver.
ST. MIHIEL DELIVERED
Group of children in French Officers’ Car on Sept. 13, 1918.
On Tuesday, the 10th, the Germans, knowing the attack was imminent, made their final preparations for departure. On the 11th they ordered the inhabitants, on pain of death, to remain indoors until noon on the following day.
During the night of the 11th they blew up the bridges and removed their guns. On the morning of the 12th the French entered the town.
Several days later the American Headquarters which, until then, had been at Souilly, on the road from Verdun to Bar-le-Duc, moved into St. Mihiel.