Once fair village of Coucy near Reims, France

Once fair village of Coucy near Reims, France

Village of Coucy near Reims

V18933

It seems like a city of the dead, this once fair French village, a city of days gone by, a replica of the ruins of Pompeii or the timeworn temples of Greece, exposed to modern eyes by the pick of the explorer. Not a living soul is visible, not a sign of animal life is to be seen! There is nothing but ruins and rubbish which the shells of heavy guns have churned over and over. The ground is pitted with shell holes, broken and lined with trenches. The inhabitants have fled, driven from their homes by a war that spared neither man, woman or child. Desolation has settled upon the place. Even the trees seem lifeless, scorched by the hot breath of war. What a scene for the villagers when those who survive return! The inhabitants of many French towns and villages experienced the same fate as those of this village. Caught between the contending armies, they were forced to flee for life while their homes were ground to fragments. At most they could carry with them but a small part of their possessions. Often they were forced to depart with almost nothing, to live upon charity among strangers. After the war was over, returning with hope in their hearts for a Frenchman always returns to his home they found ruins. That is what this war brought to a large part of France, this war entirely unprovoked on her part. No town in the neighborhood of Reims escaped unscathed. Reims, held for a few days by the Germans early in the war, became the object of their resentment. Since they could not retake it, they smashed it; it and the villages in the neighborhood. Coucy but shared the fate of others.

1 stereograph : b&w

1 gelatine silver print stereograph (8 x 15 cm) mounted on card (9 x 18 cm)

Copyright. The Keystone View Company

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World War through the stereoscope