FRENCH ENTRY INTO ALSACE-LORRAINE

MULHOUSE REOCCUPIED

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. PARIS, MONDAY.

While Paris was celebrating with unexampled enthusiasm the restitution of Alsace-lorraine to France, while “Te Deums” of thanksgiving for victory were being chanted in the churches of the city, and, indeed, in every commune in the country, and while at night time the civilian population and the Allied soldiers, in an effervescence of unbridled joy, were painting the boulevards red, invading cafés and theatres in bands, and singing the “Marseillaise” and the Anthems of the Allied nations, it is interesting to chronicle that not a single German soldier remained on French soil.

French troops will enter Metz to-morrow, with General Pétain, “the Soul of the French Armies,” and General Mangin at their head. The German “revolution” had, it seems, its repercussion in Metz, where a military revolt broke out, the German soldiers refusing to obey their officers any longer. The Governor, Von Lequis, thought he could restore order with the help of a squadron and a half of troops and machineguns; but, according to a Parisian journalist who claims to have been the first Frenchman to set foot in Metz, the troops, instead of obeying the Governor’s orders to charge, fraternised with the mutineers.

In two or three days hence General Gouraud will enter Strasbourg, which has already undergone a swift transformation, all the German signs being replaced by French. Marshal Foch, mounted on his famous horse Croesus, and General de Castelnau, commander of the group of the Eastern armies, will be with the troops when they enter the two capitals of the regained provinces. It was fitting that General Hirschauer, a native of Mulhouse, should be the general entering this town at the head of French troops. He and his men had a touching reception, the inhabitants weeping for joy. The jubilation, in which the Alsatian women and girls, wearing their brightest ribbons, took a foremost part, was marked by a dolorous incident. The brave priest, Abbé Cetti, who since the provinces were torn from France had never lost faith in their ultimate restitution, and had spent his life in keeping aglow the flame of French patriotism under the German heel, was so overcome at the great news that he actually died from sheer joy.

There is good news for French, British, and Belgian parents, wives, and sweethearts who have suffered months and years of anxiety concerning those they hold dear who were prisoners in Germany. The French troops are freeing the roads very quickly, and, according, to information from Nancy, thousands of French, British, and Belgian prisoners are leaving Germany. Many of the poor fellows are said to be in a pitiable condition, but the American Y.M.C.A. workers are bringing succour to them with commendable alacrity.