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A DAY AT DUN 107
their occupation as warm as possible. A projectile has badly
damaged another buttress and several grave-crosses in its
neighbourhood. Large blocks of masonry have crushed in
their fall a flat gravestone lying close against the wall of the
church. Many shrapnel holes may be seen round the clock-
face on the tower, and a small house beside the church has
been destroyed by two shells.
We went out into the churchyard and turned our steps first
to the railing at the edge of the slope. From here a magnificent
view is displayed. Right under us lies Dun like a little map,
and we can clearly see all the houses that have been ravaged
by the French shells. We also have a bird’s-eye view of the
valley of the Meuse, with the almost deserted road to Verdun
on the south, and on the south-west the road to Romagne and
Varennes, filled as usual with whole strings of transport
columns, cavalry and hooting motor-cars.
The graveyard itself offers an affecting sight. A shell has
fallen in the midst of the tombstones, forming a fresh grave,
which however did not expose any of the dead. But now
peace reigns among these French crosses, which are often
decorated with wreaths of coloured beads, expressing sorrow
and loss in simple but eloquent words : Nos Parents, Regrets,
Souvenir.
To us all these names are unknown. They are modest
townsmen of Dun and peasants from the neighbourhood who
are taking their long rest in the churchyard. But the grave-
stones are always costly and handsome, and one can see that
even the poor gladly part with their savings in order to honour
the memory of their dear ones in the city of the dead.
How simple, in contrast, are the memorials raised to soldiers
who have died in the hospitals of Dun ! Two strips of wood
nailed together in the form of a cross, that is all. There one
may read such epitaphs as the following : Ein unbekannter
Soldat.—Ein Landwehrmann, Kanonier.—i. Conip. I. R. 22.
^
Ei7i deutscher Krieger ’^ 16/9 1914.
—
Zwei Franzosische
Krieger 21/9, Curiously enough, deutsch is spelt with a
small d, but Französisch with a big F; why, I don’t know
—perhaps from some kind of unconscious politeness towards
foreigners. The cross signifying " dead " is carved in the
glorious shape of the Iron Cross. Here, too, is the big grave
^ No. I Company of the 22nd Regiment of Infantry. [Infanterie-Kegiment
Keith (i. Oberschlesisches) No. 22, quartered at Gleiwitz in peace time.
J
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