Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, October 18, 1918, Page 5

s ow Copyeight by Detroit Free Press) CHAPTER X. ‘rhe enemy’s shelling to reduce our position gradually grew stronger, but without effect. Some houses caught fire. Enemy cavalry patrols in strong force appeared and disappeared again, Fyerything became quiet, Within ten minutes matters again became lively, Enemy Cavalry Patrols. as large hostile columns approached, We retired some distance without fir- | ing a shot. The artillery took a posi- tion behind a village and began shell- Who Participated in the i ing and Pillaging of Belgiam, eaten With ravenous appetites. . Noth ing mattered ‘how our. stomechs were filled if only our hunger might be ap- peased. E Night now came, yet mo sleep nor rest was in sight.. No one knew how much farther we would: have to retire before there would be @ respite. The unfamiliar surroundings indicated to us that we were not returning over the | road which we had traversed when, as victors, we marched to the Marne. With this and similar thoughts, hour after hour passed. Some of us ran along, others actually walked in their sleep. Our boots were filled with wa- ter, yet we had to keep on. Thus the night passed. | | The next morning—ttoops ‘of the main army were placed in the rear | guard. They formed long columns ,Which -they opened to let us pnes | through, after which they ranks. closed ‘We gave a sigh of relief, for we were at last free of hostile artil- | lery fire. After marching about five | more hours).we joined a company of infantry which? fortunately had saved its field kitchen. It was not quite dark when we reached the village. Here we were pilleted in.order to get as much rest as possible, But we all knew (that we ¢oGid rest only as long as the rear guard was able to keep back the enemy. We-were placed in the village school. Because of the shortage of provisions we were al- lowed to use our tinned supplies, but none of us hed any left. This constist- | ed of some meat and hardtack. It had long since heen eaten up and so we were compelled to lie down with our hunger still unsatisfied. CHAPTER XI. We were once more aroused at | eleven o'clock that night, and with the |altmost haste made ready to resume H J eg g 4 2 Fa B thing with all machin- ery of industry that could be spared. Everywhere ywe saw the dnest kind of machinery en route to Germany. “- _< "In the evening .we »passed) Sedan, do uay whieh were Milled: and poriy the next morning we arrived at used ang tion against bullets. » xfontmedy. ‘Herswe had to leave the The pioneers were relieved: toward train ‘and were permitted to.go to the morning and ‘gathered ime farmyard city for several hours. Montmedy is behind the firing lide Phe farm had tne: principal base of the Fifth army, been spared byrthe aadieven commanded by the crown. prince; Enor- all the stock remained: ‘oot¥ mens. stores of war materials were was'soon tovbercomsgmed. “Several arnered here. ‘Added to thia there hundred soldiers-came and-aiwild hunt was the army field post institute and ensued for ducks, ‘chickens; geese, PIg- the executive offices of the railways as éons, ete: «About five hundred of these wert as a nymber,of hospitals. vere. caught, — Pace ctocat 4 Tt wag very Myely in Montmedy. and Hoya bg ayena tarned Many wounded men were seen: strol- ier to the bien Re 4 ana Hing through the city and an especially aves deen s Bey the large number of officers all at home : and b rhe —. mn Were attached to single etapts. In “used for faultless uniform, carrying riding farn % whips, they strolled around. This Ld Ee t ba point waa about thirty-five kilometers behind Verdun and one hundred kilo- meters from our forther position: As we magched.eway ‘shortly: after noon ‘s | The Red Gross Flag Had Lost All its Value. : ees : we ze iy i i | 3 ing the approaching enemy. A cavalry patrol galloped across an open. field, the horses coyered with foam. We heard the commander of the patrol tell officer that the enemy were | | amd the in continued. .At-daybreak | we pa the city of St. Menehould. | This had not been harmed. From here we turned. to the east, closely pressed Hes ng from all aides, Wacquick= [0% oe nee eee he an Oa reached Clermont-en-Argonne, ly left the village. Taacartillers 2d | more we managed to get a rest of sev- mained and the eaval tachments | eral hours. Toward evening we pro- occupied a position athe cannon | ceeded again and maintained a forced were trained on the enemy. ‘Toward ™March through the whole night. We noon shrapnel shells’ again began |.Were now more exhausted than ever, bursting over our heads, but they ex- | yet-could not:halt.. . ploded too high in the air to do us any | The rain had stopped before dam: Yet this served as a serious | o'clock In the morning at which hour reminder to us that the enemy kept! we left the road and made camp. right on our heels, a realization of | There was a general sizh-of relief, for which caused our retreat to become a | this long-continued, wearing retreat rout. The numbers who dropped ex-| had brought our troops into a state hausted constantly: Increased» < It-was now become anendurable. “We began Impossible to render them any assist-| to dig ourselves fh.” Before our ance, for there were no more wagons. | trenches were even Half ‘completed @ | owr march. The night was pitch dark | iit i Whey. knew absolutely - of-our retreat from the Marne -and-were astonished, when we pictured to them the events of the last, few days. * | The following morning we left the trench before daybreak and went inte quarters»-at) Cernay-en-Dormols. We | Were billeted in the middle of the vil | lage in an abandoned house. Our fleld kitchens failed to arrive, so we pre- pared. ourselves a meal of fowl and whatever else we discovered. Whete ever anyone espied a chicken thera were twenty men racing for it. Toward evening long provision trains arri | we suspected that’ -we were being taken to the neighborhood of Verdua. —— CHAPTER X11. * S After a march of 15 kilometers we reached the: town of Jametz. Eiere everything ~was .offefed us by the in- habitants. We were treated with cof- fee, milk and meat. : We went. on early the next ‘morning and in the evening arrived at Damvillers, where we heard that we were.ahout five kilometers be- hind the firing line, The same evening we, advanced to the little village of Wavrille, which wag our destination. ‘We took up-our quarters in a house! whieh had been-abandoned by its in- babitants.. We were attached to the Ninth reserve division and the ne-t morning went to oun position. Fifteen Many soldiers used their last ~atora | of strength to drag themselves to the | literal hailstorm’ “of” shrapnel ; fell among us, Our losses were so great as well as fresh troops. They Went of us were assigned to duty with an to the front in long columns and re infantry company. On the entire line, side of the road. Others fell where | they were marching to be erushed soon that t became Impossible to remain. Meved the exhausted men. A Soon the whole village was crowded as far as we could see, there was no otusketry fire, Only*the artillery on afterward under the horses’ hoofs or the wheels of any vehicle that might | pass, The road was~strewn:= with } equipment thrown away by.!thes<ol- | diers. Our detachments had long since cast aside, all unnecessary impedi- menta. 5 aa ¢- | In this way we proceeded antil we reached a forest which was filled ywith fugitives. Many of-these bad stretched | Some sort of cloth from tree to. tree 48 a protection from the rain. “There | they lay, men, women an@<ehildren and old men, some in unspeakableimis- ery. This fugitives’ camp was spread over the forests to the edge of the Trond and as we passed we could.see the furrows woven Into their! faces’ by the terrible sufferings they had been through. They looked at us with weary | and saddened eyes, The children | hegged for bread, but we had none for ourselves, even though. we» were | tortured by hunger. ‘The enemy's Siirapnel continued to accompany US We received orders to retire at once, We marched over the fields until dark, when we began. oncemere:to in. We were now near the villdgerof ( nay-en-Dormols, Ity itch dark agd a heavy fog lay grapiierything ot the enemy we knejy mothing. With the utmost silence andespeed we dug our- selves in deeply, stepping frequently to listen: as-hestile vaiding pasties ap- proughed, only to disappear quickly. + Here’ we received our first) re- enforgements. They! aryived tn long columns in the dmrkness. All were fresh) troops—most af them reserves. | The majority wore blue uniforms. This 28 well'ag the nature of, their equip- ment,) indicated’ to «as: shat. they (had hastily fitted out and transported: None of them had ‘ever heard the whistle of a bultet and many asked anxiously: whether it was dangerous here. . They brought numerous ma- chine guns, and in an instant we had everything prepared for defense, with soldiers. After a rest of two days both sides kept up a weak action, ‘We the regular nightly pioneer service wag were not accustomed to this quietude resumed. Every night we were sent In the trenches, but the men who had to the front-line trenghes to build wire been there for some time told us that obstacles. /fhe. French found us out frequently not a shot was fired by the noise required to set up the for days and that no activity was Posts, sqethatywe had fresh losses shown, almost eyery:night. We completed 'the Erormous forces of artillery were task ofigettinggup barbed wire entane being mobilized, New guns continued glements in the sector assigned to us to arrive eyery day and were installed | in ahout+feurteen»days. During this without going Into action. The trans- Period weenested by day, but at night portation of munitions and material we Went outregularly. But our rest was also very brisk. We did not sus- had many interruptions, for the enemy pect at this time that this was the first artillery ‘bombarded the village regue preparation for a great offensive. larly. This always happened at cem ~ After four weeks in this vicinity we tain hours; for instance, ip the begine were sent-to another part of the front, ning y Roon irom twelve to tw@ once more‘ without belng told our des- eelook, Gighty,shells fell In\th® tination: We marched away and in the village. Sometimes they were shrap> afterneon we arrived at Dun-sur- nel, sent over by the field artillery. We Meuse. f soon grew accustomed to this, despite Hardly had we ‘entered the town the fact that soldiers of other detach» when the German crown prince, accom- ments were killed or wounded dgil¥. panied by: several officers and a large Once or twice during this noon bom pack of hunting dogs rode by. bardmentia shrapnel shell fell into ouf ~ «@ooq morning, ploneers I" he called” 8 ly had we passed through the | mt aie the French peep when shrapnel burst in it. As a | tack. hey made several onslaug ORT E } | throughout the day but without suc- gousequence a camp of fugitives, now posed to trench fire, was abandoned | assy fer our re-enforcements werq ond [ts numbers sought safety in the large, * ‘i Sy open fields, Many tried to accompany |, No one-realized at this stage of the Us until the order came forbidding | battle that it was ‘the beginning ofa | them the road, ag thelr advance, hinr murderous, exhausting struggle for po | dered troop movements. The fygitives, sitions. : therefore, were, forced into the rain: | We.swere to fight here from the same Soaked, flelds, ; (trench, month after’ month," without Toward event: ed a yil: gaining territory. The wounded, who lage which had pester a pee lay in “No Man's Land’ between the «nd here we found. seme sest. he , trenches: were left to perish. iayor and two cftizenssof this village | ‘The French tried to them un- had been selzed by the Germans and der the protection of the Geneva ‘flag, tuken away under cavalry-escort: Just the emblem of the Red Gross, but we why this had been done we were un- only sfeered at ‘them and shot it to ble to find out. We did know, how-, bits, The impulse to shoot down the ever, that almost every town was’ enemy surpassed every human feeling. obliged to give hostages. Most of the The Red Cross flag had lost all its room and burst without dolpg much damage. The room would be filled with dust-aad smosy,yet no one would | think of Jeaving) This Gring was Te Peed dally with ever-increasing vio~ lence, “ j pad . sae | CHAPTER XII. | Temajned, mostly old people, gathered in-a‘barn because of the out te .use +» When he’ inspected ‘our unit closely. He spoke to our captain, after which | one of the officers of his staff took us | be to a Red Cross establishment where we were banqueted and given wine. , Whe headquarters of the Honenzol- tern heir were located at Duo-sum Meuse. The ladies of the Red Cross treated us cordially. We asked them | tall passing troops were as well treat- | ed as we had been, “Oh, yes,” & young woman answered, “but only a few come here. The crown ince, however, has an especial at- chment for the pioneers.” » We were quartered over night. Sol- @lers told.us that Dun-sur-Meuse was the headquarters. of the Fifth army. commander thought that somebody | the village was in communication ¥ the enemy by means. of a con telephone. It was even disco that the hands of the church clock | been turned and at one time stood at cattle were taken along and durge herds Were transported to the rear by ‘avalry, 3 We belonged to the rear guards, “hich explained why we were unable ° Sud anything to eat, ‘There was ab: c ‘ly nothing to the village where we were now quartered. After half ay hour with our ‘hunger still unap- Deased Wwe resumed, owr march, fAdter we had marebed speapierencriany ters we arrived at a t which: bad Tormerly been a bivounc. -Advancing ‘rules had camped here perhaps eight ‘ys before, Bread, whith had been nitul-then, lay strewn aronud on the round,” Ij babe: 2 spite of its AL peep] |e yalue for uswhen It -was,telsed by the French, Mistrust was*nurtured among us. We were told that the enemy, mis- used the flag and that we must shoot down the men that borett, . ., a We repulsed alf attacks until they gradually ceased. We were now-able to fortify our position, which we did with the ‘greatest care, making it as Strong. ee Liga men re- maine@-om guard while the other deepened and widened the oA lively fire was maintained’ continuows- ly by both sides. ‘The losses were very large. Most of the men killed were shot through the head, the trench pro- remainder ef thelr bodies. six and shortly after at five o'c! There were gay times in the town, with | The spy. who signaled the enemy means of this clock was not DF cers often. received women visitors ‘ered, neither anyone using a concealed |)” a hard march we arrived at positions. In a veritable trenches, filled with water, "ie utmost difficulty finding civilian prisoners were supplied it. Finally we arrived at @ way the soldiers were, with hy ; 4 very front. The French were only seer di contd fo meters away and ‘before we had ments, which in’ time destroyed the [sen there two days.we took part in a whole village. © women and one \Pand srenade aap, child@had been killed tn this manner «: S°me distance back we established a peo) remoyed. Pioneer depot. .Twenty-five of our men sineae has ronan petra pits the i@id nothing but asdemble band gre- village and ‘down. The phalis "24009. We Were soon at_elene” {PPoBeemergeney,> « | w : 1ocK an open-air concert every day. The offi: | } settled and ready i grenade throwing, mine throwing sad light patrol Wattles. This-went.on day after day and night after night, with 48 hours: in the trench and a 12-hour rest.. The shortage of men made a less stréauous schedule impossible. CHAPTER XIV. The entire forest of Argonne was blown to pieces when we arrived. Everywhere was. artillery, which main- tained a fire on the villages behind the enemy's positions. One of the many batteries which we constantly had to pass on our march from the camp to the front, was in ac- tion when we reached it. T asked one of the gunners what his objective was and) he replied that it was any village within range. A substitute first Meutenant, in charge of the battery, stood nearby. Qne of my comrades asked him: tf he did not think there might be women and children: In those villages. “That would make no difference,” the first lieutenant replied. “Women and children are French, #0 what does (t matter? This breed has to be ex- terminated in order that this nation shall not think of war again for a cen- tury.” This day ‘was: designated for a storming attack and we were obliged to be in our positions at seyen o'clock in the morning. Promptly at 8:30 regi- ment No. 67 was ordered to attack. Pioneers led the way. ‘hey were sup- plied with: band grenades. ‘hese week- ly attacks were opened. half an hour before the infantry went over’ by a storm of artillery fire. The artiliery action required very. careful caleula- tion because the distance which sepa- rated our position frem the enemy's was very slight. It varied from, three to--one ~hundred meters; never any more, At the point where we attacked the distance was 20 meécers. Promptly. at eight) o'clock the artilr lery started. The first three shells struck a ditch, but the following ones hit fairly, that is, right in the French trenches. Once the artillery had the Proper range whole salvos of batteries descended upon them with admirable exactness. The cries of the wounded were heard once more, a sign that many bad been hit. An artillery officer acted as observer in the foremost sense and directed the re by phone. Promptly at 8:30 o'clock the artillery fires stopped and we at- tacked.. The eleventh company of the Sixty-seventh regimaat, of which I spoke before, came under the fire of the enemy's machine guns and 18 of its men were killed after they,had only progeeded a few steps outside the trench, ~ Dead and wounded men lay among the. branches and the trees everywhere en the ground, Every man who was able to run sped forward: to reach the enemy trench as quickly as possible, A part of the enemy defended Itself, dex perately in a trench filled with water and wud. A terrible hand-to-hand fight resulted, We stood in water up to our knees. > Men, severely, wounded, lay. in the nfud, holding their mouths and above the water. During the. figh they were trampled more deeply the dirt. under. our feet for we not see Where we were going; we only “roll up” the entire trench, The section won was fortified with 5] u a few meters of the Argonne forest. This trench, which we took, had changed hands many times and even pow we were preparing for the usual counter-attacks, Presently the “Jac! " went Into action. The “jackasses” are the guns of the French mountain artillery. They were so named because they were drawmby mules. They are.guns of flat trajectory, kept from 50 to 100 meters behind the enemy lines, . The shelie from these cannon flew directly over our heads and cut their way, through the branches at a high rate of speed. Because of the high veloeity ofthe shell amd the abort distance it travels the detonation when the shot is fired and the noise of the explosion, sound almost at the same instant These “Jackasses” are greatly feared by the German soldiers hecause they are kept working day and night. It was winter and. very cold. » The trenches -had deep filed with water : fall & é iy ui i E : The troops in the Argonne forest be- longed to the Sixteenth corps, the Thir- ty-third and Thirty-fourth divisions. Neither the crown prince nor Vou Mud- ra had ever been seer im the trenches. One of the members on the crown prince’s staff was the old field mar shaj, Count ven Haeseler, former com- mander of the Sixteenth corps, who, before the war, was considered a hu- man fiend. These three called Clover Leaf by the soldiers, were*far more de- spised by most of the men than were the French eannon, which sought our miserable lives. The Hohengollern heir did not find Ufe hard at his. headquarters several kilometers the battie front: It was easy for him to make himself popular with his order to go ahead at the cost of’ nds of lives, He was very weil liked among the high offlvers, with whom he sat behind a stove al- though the progress was not fest enough for them. He honored Yon Mudra with the om der “Pour ‘Ia Merite,” but of the sol diers he never bad a thought. ‘They had not seen a bed for months. They were never given a chance to re- move their clothing. ‘They received only shells and steel and were almost eaten up by vermin. They were covered with lice. There ‘Our hair-and beards were long and when we were given some hours of rest the lice would not let us sleep, While we were in tne the bal- concerning dum-dum bullets, Bought of these cross-shots, al; @ never doubted the existence the dum-dums. Whether or not dum-dum bullets were made tp the munitions factories I cannot say. I suspect they were. How- ever} see many dum-dum bullete made by soldiers themselyes. The points were filed off from German musr ket shells 50 thet the aickel covering was perforated, baring the lead diling, The bullet flattened when it struck ite object, I¢,\for instance, it entered &@ man's arm, the explosive charge in {t would so shatter the arm as to blowit entirely off and leave it banging by the German vidiers were frequently seen supplying themselves with dum- dum bullets {n the trenches, preparing to inflict terrible wounds, On January 5, 1915, the Germans at- tacked on thelr entire front of the Ar- gonne forest sector and several hun« dred prisoners, were taken, The hand tochand firht continued until six o'clock Page Five A feliow ploneer and myself found We cut the fuses short so that they would explode as quickly a% posntble. ¥ threw one among the eight soldiers We took advantage of the confusion * thus created t? buri Sve more. Gur enemies were now reduced to four men. clos. One was shot tn the mouth. That left three. They turned and tried to iiee. In such moments.as these one is ip a great rage and forgets danger entirety. We were very close to our enemies now, right on their heels when the last man stumbled and fell. I sprang on top cf him. He defend- ed himself with his fists. My comrade went after the other two. Bleeding #t the mouth, this man fought om. After I had knocked several of his teeth ont he raised his hands and surrendered. I released him from my grip end looked him over carefully. He was about thirty-five yesrs old. He showed me his wedding ring-and talked to me. I knew what he wanted, he wanted his life, He gave me his canteen that I might drink some wine ané wept. Perhaps he thought of his wife and children. I pressed: his bang and he showed me his bleeding teeth. I called him a fool and told him he wes lucky to have got- ten away with the loss of only a few molars. I was glad I had not Killed him. I took him back myself, ts order to. protect him ggainst being misused. As I delivered him over to where the prisoners were being assembled, he pressed my hand and smiled. CHAPTER XVI. The next day we received orders to march to an unknown destination. We soon arrived at the depot of Apremont where we were obliged to walt. The depot had been destroyed. The next station was tel. Both of these places are about Ove xilometers behing the front, The prisoners. were assembled io Apremont. Several of them had come from that town. Their families were still in their homes ana many prisoners asked permission to visit them: FE had oceasion to witness such # visit In Ap Tremont. Two reserves led one of the prisoners to the house, which he bad Pointed out as his, The prisoner's young wife was in the kitchen with ber three children. We follozed them into the house. The woman turned pale as she sud- denly saw her husband. Ther em- braced. We went outside for we feit out of place there. The woman had: not had « letter from, her husband for five months be cause the (lermans were between her end her husband's army. He had been fm the trenches for a month, realiatng how nearby his wife and children were, yet unable to reach them and with oo way of knowing whether they were allye or dead. How he must have felt as the French shells few over his head on their way to Apremont! There was no way’ of knowing whether the glow in the sky caused by the burning: of a house was: for nished by his home or net. Eweryr thing became a torturing uncertainty and ail of.\ife was a hell. Home sguin for a few hours; then away, a prisoner! At least he would be able to get word) to his wife by letter through the field pests. Finally he said good-by. His wife had nothing to give him, no laundry no food. Everything had been lost and) she Hived on the soldiers’ bounty. She gave him her last money and he refused to take it. She accepted the money back. It consisted of a few 5 and. 10 pten- nig pieces and some coppers, all she had. Unable to endure this we took a col lection among ourselves. We wade up more. than 10. marks, which we gaye to the young woman. She refused it at first, then looking at her busband, she took it and tried to kiss our hands. When we refused to let ber do this she ran to # store nearby and returned with cigara, tobacco, matches and sau- sage, which she gave to her husband. She smiled perbaps for the first time in @ long while. ‘The children were with their father and they kissed him as he left. He hed one child op each arm and his wife carried the third, With the greatest happiness the family wal along between the two armed soldiers. Whea the moment of parting came all began to cry. This was the fate of thousends: of poor French and Beigian men and women, quartered: near their) homes yet unable te know whe was dead or alive. While we stood at the depot tem Ger- man soldiers. arrived with fixed bayo- nets, Between them were three French citizens in civilian clothing, whom they escorted. All were elderly men,. We @sked an old Frenchman what this was about and he said: ‘ “We receive our feod from the Ger man injlitary ofielals but it ts net-sat- ficient. to Mve on, The people hare nothing left. All stock and food had been seized. These three men refused to work aay longer for the German milttary officials because. they could not live on what they received, “They were arrested and are: being sent to Germany. No one knows what their fate would be there. The men were being taken away by the Ger maas and interned tn. Gers m (To Be Continued) ecropeentie=. “aie List your property with us. The Security Loan Company, Boom 4, Kimball Bldg. ; 10-2-tf We give quality and, service, Har- ris, the metal strip man, phone 271J. : 4 |