CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN THE WAR
Bretons came, saw and conquered, and were followed in turn by the Franks and later by the Normans, until finally the “invading hordes were vanquished” and a measure of peace reigned. Houses were then built outside the old city walls, docks and quays sprang up along the river, and at last a cathedral appeared high on the hill which dominates the city.
The location of Nantes, only fifty-five kilometers from the sea, and at the junction of the railroad lines from Bordeaux, Brest, St. Nazaire and Paris, with direct communication with Brest by canal, made it an advantageous freight port, and great quantities of food and ammunition passed through it before and after the armistice. Fifty thousand refugees from the devastated districts of France and from Belgium were allotted to Nantes as the quota of the fifth largest city in the country. Its narrow streets were crowded with soldiers and sailors. American hospitals sprang up and American ships sailed up the Loire, and Nantes, which had been proud of its provincialism, proud of being “different” even from the rest of France, Nantes, which had known nothing of America, became a supply depot for the American army.
The most important single branch of activity was centered at the vast Motor Transport Park, where hundreds of motor cars and trucks were assembled every day. After the armistice Nantes became a billeting area for troops returning to the United States and, during the winter, men from all branches of the service were stationed there waiting to go home. At one time the personnel of forty-seven American hospital units were awaiting transportation. There were also, of course, many men regularly stationed at
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