Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, October 16, 1918, Page 5

When we were 20 meters from the bank, our toon was hit below the water line by several bullets. . When the bullets struck our boat-they made only a tiny-hole, but ast emetged on the bottom, it tore an opening as large as a plate. As a result our pontoon settled rapidly and there was no’ else for us do except to jump Into the icy water and swim. Hardly had we left the boat when it sank, but we all reached the other bank safe for the moment. In spite of ouf wet clothing we had to take a new boat at oneée, and with our blistered bands had to man the oars again. In the middle of the river we collided with another boat. This boat had lost its pilot and two rowers. It rammed us ahd our pontoon tipped over and 18 infantrymeén and ofte them- ber of the. crew, were thrown’ info the water. We were saved along with four men from the other pontoon and taken to the left Hardly had we landed beforé we were ordered to take over a pontoofi loaded with am- | munition, % About five more times we crossed the Meuse. Meanwhile day broke and then a terfible battle devéloped ' between the troops which had crossed and the French. The Gefmans had the best in this eneounter ‘because they could not be shelled by the French ar-~ tillery. + We weré given @ short rest and lay in our water-soaked Clothing in an ‘old abandoned trench shivering with cold. Our hands were swollen to twice their normal size, They pained so greatly that we could;not hold @ bottle fo our lips. It was @ terrible sight to see young and strong men lying on the ground helpless and broken. After a short rest we were ordered | to seek for wounded fn the burning houses but we did not find many, for | most of those who had been badly | wounded and unable to-save them- selves, were burned to death. Only | the buttons of their uniforms and their | weapons, indicated to.us to which side they had belonged, 4g) In some eases, thee were not ave | these’ vestiges, Only a Httle heap of ashes within the rufns of a house, wai all that was left of whole families fo whole streets. During the search most | cf us behaved as if we had not taken | part in the terrible events of the last | hour, as if we had not seen the hor- | rors of this encounter and as if we had forgotten entirely the danger we | had just escaped, As to honoring the dead, something which had been taught us by our moth- j ers from infancy, or a fear which the | average person feels toward a body, there was no sign. My pen would b: it I tried to recall the éxpressions, describe the acts soldiers 23 well as of- ficers committed to determine thé nay | tionality or sex of the dead. In the | meantime, the vattle. between our | troops and the French had reached a i climax. Our troops had suffered great losses but now or turn came, 1 The German artillery shelled as we | crossed the enemy's position with | great fury. Our artillery succeeded in | silencing the enémy’s batteries and we | tried to take his high positions by | storm, t When we were within 200 meters of the enemy's defenses, the French ma- chine guns were turned upon us and we were driven back with enormous losses, Ten minutes ‘later, we stormed, a | second time and had to retire again with great losses. We agali formed for attack’ within the shelter of our trenches, but the fighting spirit was gone. But we dared not lose courage, although the victims of our useless storming attacks covered the filet! and we were able to look at our dead com- + rades all about us. ‘ | The artillery started up again; re- | ehforcements arrived; after, half an hour, we stormed a third. time, over | the bodies of our fallen comrades, As | we halted about 20 meters from the enemy’s trench, he withdrew his en- tire first line, Soon after we saw the | Germans advance along the whole line. The reason for this unexpected retreat was explained later when we learned that the main part of the French army had retired some time before. The heavy toll of life’Wmong our comrades was taken in a mere rear-guard action: Duting the next hour the enemy abandoned all the heights of the Meuse. As we reached the crest of these_heights, we could easily .over- ‘ook the roads over which the. French had retreated, They were departing in close formation, in long colurins. Our company, and others received orders to assemble and soon we pursued the fleeing enemy. It was our work to re- balr roads which hid been destroyed so that they would be passable for éur armies, a task that was harder in the burning midday sun, owing, to the fact that the dead arid wounded had fitst to be disposed of... ial pains ‘The dead bodies were seized by two men, one at the head and the other at the feet, and thrown into the diteh. Corpses were handled exactly as was * board to be used in building a bridge. Legs and arms were tdssed likewise | units horses. We managed to capture a horse which was running wild and hitched him to the carcasses. Corpses hanging in the trees were left there.. No one ‘cared anything about them, Canteens and Knapsacks of the dead were searched for food and drink and Whatever we found was eaten with the greatest relish. French suldiers who had died of sunstroke covered the road. Others crawled to fight and left of the road and waited there for relief or déath. We did not dare'to help them. ‘The order was to advance. and we had to march on and on. The captain told us we had to pursue the fleeing enemy») with all our strength and much content was manifest on receipt of this order. 4 After being on our feet day and night, slaying like barbarians, taking no time to eat or rest, we continued to receive commands to maintain the pur- suit with all haste,» pacify us by friendly converertion. CHAPTER V. Not far from Sommepy, the French rear guard stopped again. Four bat- teries of our artillery weré brought into position and our company, along with mactiine guns, were ordered to protect the artillery. The artillery of- ficers did not think this sufficient pro- tection because the airplanes had dis- | covered the presence of strong French cavalgy detachments and a cavalry at- tack was suspected. However, a Stronger guard could not be provided and there was nothing to be done but take our position and make the best of th@ situation. We dug ourselves in to the right and left of the batteries, in a field of small pipe trees. The ma- | chine gufls were set up aud\suppifed with ammunition. We were then given 4nstructions "as to what to do inthe; event of a cavairy attack. An olt major of infantry, with white hair, took command. Our unit was placed “with the! Infantry, but our “brave” of- ficers disappeared suddenly. 40 them the defense of the fatherland was the business of a private. Since we had beén ,assigned to assist invantry, out officers considered themselves super- fluous and took French legve, This ‘state of affairs. affects only “pioneer” officers who, when their Ss attached to infantry or chas- seur divisions, scarcely ever take part in a battle. This was the case with our officers. during my whole war ca- reer, They remained far away from the’ gunfire In cinfortable security. This is also the ¢ase with many in- rh fantry captains and almost all higher officers. Majors, colonels, etc., never take part’In a4 storming attack, I was told, and several times I observed this self, Our Instructions were as follows: In the event of a cavalry attack, every- thing must be quiet. The gun must be pointed but hidden. The machine gun must not be fired until the major fn command. gives the order. Then there must be a lively, quick fire. Our batteries fired violently at a biplane flying high over thém which gave sig- nals with star shells which were read only by the observer. But the expected attack did not come, the enemy's infantry was not to be seen. We ptepared to resume our | march and were all ready to move when ‘the order came to bivouac. The spot where we were to rest was as usual fixed by the*staff so that they knew where to find us-at-any time. Hardly had we reached the place when our field'kitchen, which we supposed had been lost, appeared as If it had co! out the ground. Those in pe of the field kitchen had re- ceived no knowledge of our losses of the Inst few days and had cooked for the old number, They were greatly surprised on séelig instead of a brave company of strong “pioneers,” a lot of ragged, exhausted, crushed human shadows, We were givén soup, bread, meat, apples and every one received a cigarette, which Was more welcome to most of us than food and drink, The next morning we slept until six o'clock and even though we were lying og the bare ground it was very hard te.vake us. Breakfast was excellent, Tt consisted of mutton which had been réquisitionéd, vegetables, bread, coffee, a goblet of wine, anf ham. Our cap- tain told us to eat all we could as we hada hard day’s march before us: We resumed. our march at seven o’clock.. Everybody was in high spirits and in'the course of our conversations it becante apparent that, we had lost trick of, the time entirely, Nobody Knew whether it) was Monday of Wednesday or whether tt,was the ‘or tenth of the month. is condition became more and more general, Sol- diers never know the day of the week; one is Just Uke nother, Saturday, Sunday or Thursday.- | We sfopped to rest at/ noon on a latge’ farm but were obliged to walt | in the rain’ for the field kitchens, Mean- while we helped ourselves. We shot one of the cows grazing in the meatow, | cut open the hide without bothering to | drain the blood from the carcass. Then into thé ditch. Dead horses ang dam- aged were t everybody cut off a piece of meat, still had to be remo Wwe | \ iB enpugh, dead warm. which was fried_In a pot cover | mand.” i Many came ‘for scraps of We marched without resting late the evening and at about nine o'clock We approached the city hall of Somimepy. In and “around Som- ™epy a battle had started. We were ordered to take a patt of the - west section of the city. It was al- ready dark and once more we halted. The fields all around us were covered with dead. In the middle of the streets were French batteries and munition columns, Horses and drivers had been killed. @ ten-minute rest we started a@gahr and in dovwble-quick step ap- proached a little forest, in which dis- mounted cavalry and infantry were engaged with the enemy fn a desperate band-to-hand fight. As a subterfuge we threw ourselves into the place with blood-curdling yells, We succeeded in the darkness in reach- ing the enemies’ rear. The surprise attack was a success and the French, | startled by our yells and by the at- tack, threw up their hands and sar- rendered, Merey was not shown them by the infuriated cavalrymen. ‘Whenever there appeared to be any letup of the slaughter of the disdrmed soldiers by our men new horrors were enncted under the commands of the Officers, who kept shouting, “No quar- ter, slaughter everybody.” Such were the orders of our distinguished off cers: We pioneers also had to take | part in this eold-blooded murder of un- armed men, who had thrown down their arms when they realized the fu- tillty of further resistance, Our offi- | Cers took care this time, as in many earlier and later instances, that there should not be many prisoners taken, The ploneer has a sidearm which, according to the law of nations, must | Rot be used because the back of this sidearm consists of a three-millimeter sharp steel saw. In peace times the pioneers are not drilled with the baiyo- net because this sidearm should be used only for the special duties which the ploneers perform—but the law of nations is not the law of Prussian milf tarism. } We were obliged to use’ the saw from the beginning of the war. It was In opposition to all the laws.of humanity. When an enemy had this saw in his breast and the vietim had Jong sifice j stopped every effort of resistance and ! an effort was made to try and remove the deadly steel from the wound an in- stant and horrible death resnited. Oftentimes this horrible weapon be- came embedded in the breast of a vic- tim so firmly that the attacker, who ' | had to have back his sidearm again, - would be obliged to place his foot upon. the breast of his victim! and use all hip: force to recover-the murderous instru- ment. 0 The dead and wounded in horrible condition lay all around us. The moan: ; of the wounded men would have soft-- ened a stone. but not the heart of a Prussian soldier. \ Not all the soldiers approved this senseless, wanton murder. Some of those officers who had ordered us to kill the French were themselves killed by mistake in the darkness of the night by thelr own men. Sucn mistakes are still being repeated almost datly and I could elte many names and places to bear. out this testimony. On this particular night a captain and a first Meutenant met their fate. A second-year infantryman stabbed the captain in the abdomen and the first lieutenant received a stab in the back. Botlr died in a few minutes. Neither of their slayers felt any remorse and none of us felt inclined to reproach them. We all knew tivat two murder- ers had received their just deserts, Another instance requires me to run somewhat ahead of the sequence of events, As I talked to a comrade of my company the next day I asked him for a pocketknife and in reaching into his’ pocket he pulled .out three car- tridges. I was that he should carry cartridges in his trouser’s pocket and asked him if he had no room in “I have,” he said, “but these three have a mission, There are { weet ot the Intended victims on these fore war was declared. had/treated us Uke 'animals.and whom we had hated as only ae fiends can be hated. Two of these had found their grave in France. : , orders to ' lying on the ground Were all deat and unable'to fight. If anyone was found simulating ith it was ordered that he’ be killed: But the soldiers lost some of the fever which had them during the battle and refused to | Obey this order. How they felt al it was illustrated by the remark of 3 | member of my comping: | “We had: better look once more and see if the two officers are really dead and if not they ought to be killed with. - out mercy for a command is a tT ‘The enemy artillery bombard- without intermission and ‘all around. _ An officer of my company, jeut. A. BR: Neesen, remarked that no harm was.done as the prisaners knew least how their own ammunition ge 2 7 i Towsrd one o'clock the battle south of So1 reached its climax. the jans advanced to make storm- ing attacks on all poigts the French gave up their positions and retired in the direetion of Suippes, Whether our ahy was ho longer considered fit fight or whether we were not needed y longer I do not know. We received lers to go into quarters, But neither @ bari norgd stable could be found so that nothing remained but to camp in the open. The houses were all filled with wounded. Citizens of the town, who had not fied were all gathered in a large barn; Their-houses were most- ly destroyed So that they had to make use of what shelter was offered them. There was One exception to. this ar g and that was a very old lit- tie motherly woman sitting, bitterly erying, by the debris of her late home 2828 and nobody could induce her fo leave. In the Bats, which served as # shel- tek, t6: thé ciVilians, were thrown to- gether men and women, youths, chil- drem and old men. Many were. wound- ed by shell’ splinters and cartridges and others had suffered burns. Bvery- w was the most terrible misery; #i¢k Mothers and half-starved infants for whom there was no milk were obliged to perish here; of people died from thé excitement and fright of the previous few days and last of al! men and wonieff if the prime of life slowly died from wounds because there was nobody to care for them. A company of Hessian reserves. every one a veteran, passed with bowed heads and tired feet. They must have had 4 very long.march. Their of: ficers tried to make them move more lively. ‘They ordered that a song be sung but the Hessians were not in the mood, “Will you sing, you pigs?” cried an officer and the pitiful-looking’ “pigs” tried to obey this order. Faintly sound- ed from the ranks of the overtired men: “Deutschland, Deutschland Ueber Alles, Yeber Alles if~Der Welt.” Despite their broken strength, ‘their tired feet; disgusted and resentful, these men Sang their symphony of su- per-Germanism. Several comrades who like myself time. In the evening, after a long march, we reached the town of Suippes, Here our captain told us we would find nu- merous frank-tireurs, We were or- dered to bivouac, instead of being as signed quarters, and all going into the village were obliged to take guns and | cartridges with them. After a brief | Fest we entered the village in search of food. Dead civilians lay in the middie of the streets. They were citizens of the vilinge, We could not learn the Feason for théir having beep shot. The only answer to our questions was & shrug of “ne shoulder. | The village itself had not suffered to any noticeable degree as far as destruction of buildings was concerned, but never in the course of the war ‘iad E seen a more complete job of plunder- ing than had been done tn Suippes. {That we had to live and eat is true, and as the inhabitants snd merchants had flown there was no opportunity to pay for our necessities. Therefo: e skoply entered a store, put on stock- ings, laundry, and left the old things, then went to another place, took what- ever food looked good to us, and then proceeded to a wine cellar, there to seize as much as our hearts desired. The men of the ammunition column, located in the village as well us the sanitary soldiers and cavalry by the hundreds, searched the houses and took whatever they liked best. The finest and largest business places in Suippes served a very large rural district sur- rounding and therefore were stocked up on almost everything. Within a short time these places had been cleaned out. The munition drivers and train columns carried away old pieces of silk, ladies’ dresses, linens, shoes, dress goods and every other ar- ticle imaginable, and stored them away in their ammunition cases. They tock children’s and women’s shoes, and everything else they could lay their bands upon, although many of these articles had to be thrown away short- ly afterward. Later, when the field post was developed and gave regular service, many of these things were sent home. A large chocolate factory was robbed completely, and chocolate and candy in heaps were trampled in the ground. Empty houses were broken into and wrecked, wine cellars cleaned out and windows smashed, the latter being @ special pastime of the cavalrymen. As we had to pass the night in the open, we tried to find some quilts and en- tered a grocery store and a market Place. The store was partly demol- ished, but the apartment upstairs was as yet intact with all the rooms locked. It was evident that a woman's hard had worked in this house, for every thing was neat-and ~ But all this order was still surpa: by the ar- rangement in a large room, which ap- parently had been inhabited by a young woman. We were almost had watched this troop pass came to | ashamed to enter the sanctuary. To Sitting, Bitterly Crying, by the Debris of Her Late Home. me and sald, “Let us go to the camp and try to sleep so that we might for- get all this.” ‘We were hungry and on the way home caught several chickens. We ate them half-raw and then laid down in the open and slept unti four o'clock in the morning when we had to be ready to march. Our destination on this day was Sulppes, Before the march started the following army order was read: “Soldiers, his majesty the emperor, our supreme war lord, thanks the sol- diets of the Fourth army and sends to them his full appreciation. You have saved our beloved Germany from the Invasion of hostile hordes. We will not reat until the last enemy lies on the ground and before the leaves fall from the trees we shall return home vic torious. The enemy is in full retreat and the Almighty will bless our arms further.” After this talk we gave three cheers, something» which had become ‘routine for us. And then we resumed our fatherland we had to defend so far In France. One of the soldiers expressed the o yn that the Lord had blessed pasion is guilty of sacriless, if he e serious}y.” 0 _ Everywhere, on the march to Sulp- in the fields and in the ditches, dead soldiers, most of them: with us-ldoking open wounds. Thou- of huge flies swarmed on the ses, ‘partly Wecomposed, and giv- ig off a featfat’stench.~ Among these corpses, unsheltered under a blazing tives, bechuse theg. were forbladea the ves, because they were forbidden the use of the réads while the armies need ybich sas practical; tha et i # our astonishment we saw hanging on the wall opposite the door a pléture burned in wood and under it a German verse: “Honor the women, they weave a braid of heavenly roses in their earthly life.” (Schiller), The owner apparently was a young bride, for in the wardrobe was a trousseau, tled with neat blue ribbons, carefully put away. All the wardrobe drawers lay open. Nothing was touched here. When we visited the same place the next morning, impelled by some im- pulse, we found everything in that house destroyed. Barbarians had gone through this home, and with bitter ruthlessness had devastated’ every- thing, with every evidence of having utterly cast off the ethics and_stand- ards of civilized races. The entire trousseau had been torn from the drawers and thrown partly on the floor. Pictures, photographs, mirrors, everything was In pleces. The three of us who had entered the room clenched our fists with {mpotent wrath. We received orders to remain In Sulppes. until further notice and the next day witnessed the return of many fugitives. They came in great throngs from the direction of Chalons-sur- Marne. They found instead of the peaceful homes they had left a wretch- ed and deserted ruin, A_ furniture dealer returned to his store, as we stood tn front of his house. He broke down when he viewed the remains of his enterprise, Everything had been taken away. We approached the man. He was a Jew and spoke German, When he calmed down a little he told us that his store had contained mer- chandise worth more than 8,000 francs, “Had the soldiers only taken what they needed for themselves,” he said, “I would be satisfied, for I did not ex- pect anything else. But I never would have believed of the Germans that they would have destroyed everything.” Not even a cup and saucer were left in this man’s house. He had a wife and five children, but had no idea of what had become of them. there were many miore lke him, The following night, remaining in Suippes, we were again obliged to camp in the open “because it. swarmed with frank-tireurs.” Such were our instruc tions, In reality nothing was seen of frank-tireurs, but by this methed the enmity toward the people living fn the towns along our line of march was maintained. The Germans practiced the theory that the soldiers fight bet- ter and are more amenable to dis elpline when filled with hatred of their eacmiles. The next day we were obliged. to march to Chalons-sur-Marne. This was one of the hardest days we ever had. From the very beginning, as we began our journey, the sun blazed down upon us: It ts about 35 kilome- ters from Sulppes to Chalons-sur- Marne. This distancé would not have been so bad, despite the heat; we had already made longer marches; but the | beautiful road from Sulppes te Chal ons goes with unending monotony with+ out so much as a curve or a bend to the right or left. As far as we could see it stretched before us ike a long white snake. Many soldiers fainted or were strick- en_with sunstroke. ‘They were picked And giways ready behind. up by the faffrtiary cofumns which fol- | lowed. That the troops who had trav- ersed this road before us bad fared worse was evident fron the many dead Germans who lay along the road. The commander feared that he could not get the machine in motion again if it was halted, and permitted to stretch its weary limbs om the ground ‘for # brief rest. And so it crept along like a snail. Only, instead of having a | snail's shell on its back, there was a | 5 leaden burden. | The monotony of the march was broken when we reached the enor | mous camp at Chalons. This ts one of the largest of the French army camps. We saw Chalons from the dis- tance. As we Halted about an hour later outside the city fh an orchard, without a single exception every man fell to the ground exhausted. The field kitchens were soon brought up, but the men were too tired to eat. We did eat later and then wanted to go to town to purchase some articles, particularly tobacco, which we missed most. No- body was allowed to leave camp, We were toid that entering the city was strictly forbidden. Chalons had paid & war contribution and therefore no one was permitted in the city, We heard the dull sounds of the eannon in the distance and suspected that our rest would be brief. The rolling of gunfire continued te grow stronger. We did not know then that & fight had begun which was destined to become fatal to the Germans. The first day’s battle of the Marne had begun! CHAPTER VI. At 12 o’clock, midnight, we were alarmed and half an hour later were on the march. The cool night air felt good, and despite our weariness, we made rapid progress, Toward four o'clock in the morning we arrived at Cheppy. It had been completely plun- dered. We halted here for a brief rest and watched preparations being made for the execution of two frac tireurs, They were two littJe farmers who had supposedly concealed a French machine gun with its crew from the Germans. The sentence was executed in such a way that the peo- ple were shown who their real rulers now were. The little town of Pogny, located midway between Chalons-sur-Marne and Vitry-le-Francois, fared no bet- ter than Cheppy, @ fact which we dis- covered when we entered there at nine o'clock. We were now considerably nearer the spot where the guns were roar- ing, and retiring of wounded and the munition columns showed us that west of Vitry-le-Francols, a terrible battle raged. At four o'clock in the after- noon, we arrived at Vitry-le-Francois after a forced march. The city was filled with wounded, but the town tt- self was not damaged, The battle must have been going badly for the Germans beeause we were ordered into action without being given any rest, We were within three kilometers of the battle Ine, when we came within reach of hostile fire, a terrific hail of shells tore up every foot of ground. Thousands of corpses of German soldiers tndi- cated at what enormous cost the Ger- mans had brought up all available re- serves. The French did everything they could to prevent the Germans from getting the reserves into action and increased the artillery fire to un- ~heard-of violence. It seemed Impos- sible for us to be able to break through this barrage. We saw hundreds of shells exploding every minute. We were ordered to run the gauntlet of this hell in single file. Lying prone upon the ground, we saw how the first of our men at- tempted to pass. They ran, unmindful of the shells bursting around them, like madmen; others were buried under ground thrown up by the high-power exvlosives, or torn by shrapnel or gren- ades, Two men had scarcely reached the line when a well-directed shot from a gun of a large caliber burst directly at their feet. When the smoke cleared, there was no trace of the men. You can imagine the feelings of those who,lay on the ground not 100 feet away witnessing this spectacle, and waiting their turn. An officer cried: “Next!” It was fy turn. As if aroused from a night- mare, I sprang up, my gun in my right band, sidearm in my left, and ran | ehead. I dodged two shells just as they burst aid ran close to several | others, bursting the same instant. A number of times I sprang back, then ahead again, running to and fro like a madman, seeking a loophole. But every- where there was iron and fire. I ran like a hunted animal seeking a way to | pass to save myself, with a hell in front of me, and ap officer's revolver Throwing caution to the winds, to meet death and the devil himself, Fat last ran blindly ahead; ran, ran, ran, until someone seized my coat tall and shouted in my ear: “Bere we are. Are you wounded? You had better look. Perhaps you are wounded and don’t know it.” T was among those of my comrades who had gotten through. Trembling all over, I stopped and looked around. “Sit down and you wil! feel better,” said one ofthe men. “We also have trembled.” Presently some wounded were brought up. There were about 48 men and a sergeant took conimiand. Noth- ing more was Seen of our officers. We continued to advance and passed séveral German batteries. Many bad suffered heavily in dead and wounded, which lay around their guns destroyed by enemy fire. Other batteries stilt manned were useless because ;2 no more ;@mmunition could be gotten through. We paused to rest. Several artil- lerymen approached us, and a noncom- jmissfonéd offiger asked them why they “Because we have used up all our ammunition,” was the cuswer of one of the battery. men, | there Is no more ammnnition. | tried to take the gun from the m:} ; ed, until a moment later, he hims “Is it ffhpossible to bring amm: tion through this barrage?” - “No,” replied the artilleryman, “b’ That © why we cannot get any. At Neufcel. teau we started lfke wild men after t | enemy. Man and beast died from ¢ ; heat, railroads ahd other mediums © transportation were teft tn thelr da }) aged condition tr the wild exciteme®), of victory, as we dashed into the her; of France, We raced on, blindly a} thoughtlessty, thereby interrupti At communication with our bases, r directly into the trap set for us by t French. Before the first ammunitf and other relief supplies reach us ~ will all be killed.” Up \to this time we had trust blindly In the Invincible strategy of c) great general staff. Now it was broug home to us on ail sides that f French were fighting at home, clc to their greatest source of supply, # had excellent railroad connections their disposal. Further than that t French maintained a terrible artille fire from guns of far greater callt than we believed they owned. This | us to the conclusion that they were eupying positions which had been p pared for a long time. Yet we beliew that the picture painted by the ar leryman had beer too black. We we soon to know better, As we approached the enem, trenches, we were met with a hea) machine gun fire, and in double-qui step hurried to the temporary prot tion of hastily thrown up dugouts. hard rain had set In. The field arou us was covered with dead and wow ed. Even our trench was filled w wounded, which made its occupat: | by the defenders difficult. Many the wounded. men were paralyzed fr lying on the slimy ground. All wr without bandages. They begged bread and water, but we had none | ourselves. They pleaded piteously, f for a scrap of bread. Many of th had lain in this Inferno for two da without having eaten anything wh ever. We were scarcely established wt the French attacked en masse. The | ecupants of these trenches, whom | had re-enforced had already repult several of these attacks. They ur¢) us to shoot and fired wildly themselr into the ranks of the advancing mass We ~esnonded to the exhortations the infantry officers: “Wire, fire ha er, harder!” We fired until the barrels of ¢ guns became red-hot. The ene turned. The victims of our fire ready lying In heaps in No Man's La between our lines and the enem were Increased by hundreds. The tack was repulsed. It is dark, and it rains and rains. about us in the darkness are her the wounded weeping, moaning, ! ploring. Their cries are augmen’ by other wounded closer by. Al! cal for bandages, but we had none left. °! tore strips from our muddy shirts a! with them. covered the gaping woun Men are dying constantly. There + no doctors, no bandages, nothing. 1 wounded must be assisted, hut first 1 french must be repulsed. The rain falls harder constantly @ we are all wet to the skin, We sh: blindly into the night. The fluctuat! fire of musketry becomes strong, tr weaker, then strong again. | We pioneers are scattered among t mfantry. My neighbor touches me “Say,” he calls. “What do you want?” Task. “W: are you?” { “Come here,” he hissed. { It is eerie, alone in this devil's nig “Why are you here? Will you m der me like those over there. Sc they will return from over there aj the fun will be on again. Do you he’) the others weep?” And he laughed. Suddenly he started again: “T ways shoot at them ,until they st weeping. That is fun,” | And again he laughed, maniacal and louder than before. I realized finally that this man bj lost his reason. A man passed bris ing ammunition and I asked him fetch the commander at once. The | ficer arrived, accompanied by an infi| try lieutenant. I met them and repo ed that my neighbor had been firing the wounded, talking nonsense, a undoubtedly was insane, The lieuts ant stepped between us, “Can you see anything?” he aske! “See! No, But I hear them mo: ng and weeping. As soon as I hit o/ be is quiet for he sleeps!” i) The Meutenant nodded to me. 7} | 4 but the latter seized it quickly a’! sprang back to cover. Brom there | fired while standing among the wour fell, riddled by. many_bullets, The drama had only a few spec tors. It was hardly over before it w forgotten. Anything but sentiment. The blind firing continued. T erles of the vrounded became consta: ly louder. Why? These wounded lying 1) tween the two fighting lines are « posed to the firing of both parties. 2 one can help them for It would be sanity to venture into No Man’s Lar Ever louder ar’ with more hea’ rending pleadings, the wounded call for the stretchers, for help, for wat At the most a curse or an oath is t only response. a Our trench was filled with sever inches of water and underneath. th jj taud, In this morass Yay dead a’ wounded, thrown together. It becar necessary to make room and so t) uead were thrown ever the rampar'| At one o'clock in the night men cay with stretchers and took away some the wounded, but for those wretch lying in No Manh’s Land there was | help. ; (To Be Continued) eee Money to loan on everything. T Security Loan Company, Room Kimball Bldg.