Collection: Human Ecology Historical Photographs

Title: Entire orchards were chopped down when the German armies were driven from occupied portions of Northern France last year. This picture is one of a set of official photographs made for the French government, showing the thoroughness with which this destruction was carried out by the Germans. In many instances the Germans found themselves short of time, and instead of cutting the trees down, merely hacked, or girdled the trunk so that the tree, if left alone, would bleed to death. The French, fully aware of the food value of their highly prized orchards, soon found a method of circumventing the Hun, and saved many girdled trees by having squadrons of soldiers equipped with first aid materials, such as tar or cement, accompany the advancing French soldiers for the purpose of saving as many orchards as possible by binding the trees and staunching the flow of sap through the injured trunks.

Collection #23-2-749, item M-W-W-01 Div. Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

Persistent URI: hdl.handle.net/1813.001/5xg3