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About The Bend bulletin. (Bend, Or.) 1903-1931 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1918)
IIKN1) nUl.I.KTIN, BRND OBKGON, THURSDAY, HKPT. 12, 1MH pmks fTho CbnSS oj a iiGriar inserter ,L I Written b$ a Prussian Officer l TfJV . M r it ,1 rt f iyio ramctpatea tn me itavag-. ng and Pillaging of Belgium, Cyu b iwwa J" Ja, CHAPTER VI. At 12 o'clock, midnight, we were alarmed nntl hnlf iin hour Inter were on the mnrch. Tho cool night nlr felt good, nntl despite our weariness, we made rnplil progress. Toward four o'clock In tho morning we nrrlvcd at Chcppy. It had been completely It un dcrcd. Wo hnlted here for n brief rest and wntched preparations being made for the execution of two frne tlrours. They were two little farmers who had supposedly concealed n French machine gun with Its crew from tho 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 Toguy, located midway between Chalons-sur-Mnrne .and Vltry-le-Francols. fared no bet ter than Cheppy. a fact which we dis covered when we entered there at nine o'clock. Wo wero now considerably nearer the spot where tho guns were roar ing, land retiring of wounded and the munition columns showed us that west f Vitry-le-Francois, a terrible battle raged. At four o'clock In the nfter noon. we arrived at Vltry-le-Francols after a forced march. The city was Hied with wounded, but the town It self was not damaged. The battle must have been going badly for the Germans because we were ordered Into ncjlort without being given any rest. We were within three kilometers of the battle line, when wo came within reach of hostile Are, a terrific hall of shells tore up every foot of ground. Thousands of corpses of German soldiers Indi cated at what enormous cost the Gcr Eoans had brought up all available re serves. The French did everything they could to prevent tho Germans from getting tho reserves Into action and Increased the artillery Ore to unheard-of violence. It seemed Impos sible for us to be able to break through this barrage. Wo saw hundreds of shells exploding every minute. We were ordered to run tho gauntlet of thle hell In single file. Lying prone upon the ground, we caw how tho first of our men at tempted to pass. They ran. unmindful of the shells bursting around them, like madmen; others were burled under ground thrown up by the high-power explosives, 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 noracc of the men. Yon 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: "Nextl" It was say turn. As If aroused from a night mare. I sprang up. my gun in my right band, sldcarm In my left, and ran ahead. I dodged two shells just as lhey burst and ran closo to several ethers, bursting tho snmo 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 nnd fire. I run like a hunted anlmnl seeking u way to pass to save myself, with a hull In front of me, and an officer's revolver always ready behind. Throwing caution to the wind, prepared to meet denth and the devil himself, I at last ran blindly ahead: ran. ran. ran. until somcono seized my coat tall and shouted In my ear: "Hero we are. Are you woundcrt7 3Tou bad better look. Perhaps you are wounded and don't know It." I was among those of my contraries who bad gotten through. Trembling all over, I stopped and looked around. "Sit down and you will feel better," aald one of the men. "We also have trembled." Presently some wounded were brought up. There were ubout 48 men and a sergeant took comtnnnd. Noth ing more was seen of our officers. We continued to advance and passed several ffermnn batteries. .Many hud. We will give you value for your money in what can be procured in the markets and we adhere strictly to all Food Administration Rules Baker's Grocery Ms 1 ' S5v': ; sfo suffered lica"vTTy In detxd nnd wounded, which lay around thelt guns destroyed by enemy tire. Other batteries still manned were useless because no inoro ammunition could bo gotten through. Wo pnuscd to rest. Several nrtll lerymcn approached us, nnd a noncom missioned officer asked them why they did not lire. "Ilecnusc we havo used up all our ammunition," was tho answer of one of the battery men. "Is It Impossible to bring ammuni tion through this barrage 7" "No," replied the artilleryman, "but there Is no more ammunition. .That Is why we cannot get any. At Nt-ufchn-teau we started like wild men after the enemy. Man and b. tst died from the hent, rnllrnnds nnd 'her mediums of transportation were left In their dam aged condition In the wlld-ccltcment of victory, as we dashed Into tho heart of France. Wo raced on, blindly and thoughtlessly, thereby Interrupting communication with our bases, ran directly Into tho trap set for us by .the French. Doforo the first ammunition and other relief supplies reach ua we will all be killed." Op to this time wo had trusted blindly In the Invlnclblo strategy of our great general staff. Now It was brought home to us on all sides that the French were fighting at home, closo to their greatest sourco of supply, and had excellent railroad connections nt their disposal. Further than that the French maintained a terrible artillery fire from guns of far greater caliber than wo believed they owned. This led us to tho conclusion that they were oc cupying positions which had been pre pared for a long time. Yet we believed that the picture' painted by the artil leryman had been too black. We were soon to know better. As we approached tho enemy! trenches, we were met with a heavy machine gun Are. and In double-quick step hurried, to the temporary protec tion of hastily thrown up dugouts. A hard rain had set In. The field around ns was covered with dead and wound ed. Even our trench was filled with wounded, which made Its occupation by the defenders difficult. Many of the wounded men were paralyzed from lying on the slimy ground. All were without bandages. They begged for bread and water, hut we had none for ourselves. They pleaded plteously. Just for a scrap of bread. Many of them had lain In this Inferno for twa days, without having eaten anything what ever. We were scarcely established when the French attacked en masse. The oc cupants of these trenches, whom we had re-enforrod had nlreudy repulsed several of these ultocks. They urged us to shoot and tlrc-d wildly themselves Into the ranks of the advancing masses. We responded to the exhortations of the Infantry officers: "Fire. Ore hard er, harder I" We fired until the barrels of our gups became red-hot. The enemy turned. The victims of our fire al ready lying In heaps In No Man's (.nnd between our lines nnd the enemy's were Increased by hundreds The at tack was repulsed. ' it Is dark, and It rains nnd rnlns. All about us In the darkness arc heard the wounded weeping, moaning, Im ploring. Their cries arc augmented by other wounded closer by. All called for bandages, but we had none left. We tore strips from our muddy shirts and with them covered the gaping wounds. Men are dying constantly. There ore no doctors, no bandages, nothing. The wounded must be assisted, but first the French must be repulsed. Tho rain falls harder constantly and we aro all wet to tho skin. We shoot blindly Into the nhjut. The fluctuating fire of musketry becomes strong, then weaker, then strong again. We ploneeiy nro scattered among the Infantry. My neighbor touches me. "Say," ho calls. "What do you want?" I ask. "Who are you?" VCoimv here." he hissed. It Is eerie, Mono tn this devil's night. "Why nre you hero? Will you mur der mo llko thoso over there. Boon they will return from over tlioro nnd tho fun will ho on ngnlit. Do you hour tho others ween?" And he laughed. Suddenly ho started ngnln: "I al ways shoot nt them until they stop weeping. That Is fun." And ngnln ho Inughed, maniacally, nnd louder than before. I realized finally tlmt this man had lost his reason. A man ptiRcd bring ing nmnumltlou nnd I nuked htm to fetch tho commander nt onco. The of ficer nrrlvcd, accompanied by nn Infan try lieutenant. I met them nnd report ed that my neighbor had been firing on tho wounded, talking nonsense, nnd undoubtedly wns Insane. The lieuten ant stepped between us. "Can you seo nnythlng?" he asked. "See I No. Hut I hear them mowi ng nnd weeping. As soon ns I hit one he Is quiet for he sleeps I" The lieutenant nodded to me. lie tried to take the gun from tho man. but the latter seized It quickly nnd sprang hack to cover. From there he fired while stnndlng among the wound ed, until n moment later, ho himself fell, riddled by many bullets. Tho drama had only a few specta tors. It was hardly over before It was forgotten. Anything but sentiment. The blind tiring continued. The cries of the wounded became constant ly louder. Why? Thoso wounded lying be tween the two fighting lines nre ex posed to the firing of both part leu. No one can help them for It would he In sanity to venture Into No Man's Land. Kver louder and with moVo heart rending pleadings, the wounded called for the stretchers, for help, for woter. At the most a curse or nn oath Is the only response. Our trench wns filled with several Inches of water and underneath that, mud. In this morass lay dead and wounded, thrown together. It became necessary to make room and so the dead were thrown over the ramparts. At one o'clock In the night men came with stretchers and took away some of tho wounded, hut for thoso wretches lying In No Man's Land there was no help, CHAPTER VII. To complete our misery, we received orders during the night to attack the French at 4:15 In tho morning. We made our preparations under a pour ing rain. Promptly ut 4:13 we went over tho top, Jumping over corpses uud wounded men. We were forced to re tire before n hall of machine gun fire, and sustaining a largo number of un necessary casualties. Hardly had we regained our trenches when the French attacked us. They came within three meters of our trench, nnd here their attack broke down un der our fire. They too had to retire with fearful looses. Three times In two hours the French attacked, always with heavy losses and no results. Wo were nt our wit's end. Unless help came soon It would be Impossible for us to hold tho posi tion. Wo were tortured by hunger and thirst as well as being wet to the skin nnd were so exhausted that we could hardly stand. At ten o'clock tho French attacked a fourth time. They came on In enor mous numbers. Our leaders recognized the danger of our position and ordered us back, abandoning tho wounded and much booty. By a superhuman effort we did manage to save the machine guns nnd ammunition. Wo retreated ssssssssssssssssssss - N4LssssssHLslBHaK.n l4H ssssssFl flJ JBaDHuT' asssBisssHDvCssssssssBLsH tHllftLKCBEn " JWMuJiLsssssssssH We Went Over th Top, 1,000 meters nnd took n stand in our former trenches. The officers told us we would have to mnko n stand under any circumstances and that tho re-en-forccments would eomo soon. In a moment (he machine guns wcro set up nnd soon wo were sending a hall of bullets Into tho ranks of our pur suing enemy. Ills advance stopped In stantly. Encouraged by this success wo fired harder, so that tho French wero compelled to seek cover. Tho promised re-enforcement's failed to nppcar. About COO meters to our rear wero six German batteries In po sition, but they malntulned only n very weak fire. An artillery officer appeared before us and asked tho commander of our detachment If It would not bo well to recommend tlint the batteries bo taken back. Ho said ho had learned by telephone, that tho German lino was waverng on. Its entire length,. llefnro .the commander "could reply, another nttnek en alnsso followed, which outnumbered us by from flvo to suvon times. Our commnmlor now gave up this position also. Completely de moralized, wo retired tn (light, leaving tho six batteries CIO guns) to bo taken by the enemy. Tho French stopped their hnrrngo flro because they feared to hurt their own troops. The Germans utilized this moment to bring up re-enforcements made up of all branches of the service. Scattered Infantrymen, unmounted cav nlry, detached pioneers, hud a (I been uTStehiuTeil. Tivery iiiiikT'hTTin whs em ployed to till the ranks. Complete re servo units apparently no longer exist ed on this tliu third day of tho battle of tho Mnrno. Onco more the command wns given to turn and take n position and the un equal fight hegnn nuow. We saw tho enemy advance, and seize the tint terles. Then we saw him storming nhead with fixed bayonets. Wo fought like wild animals. For minutes there raged it bayonet fight beyond descilp tlon. We stubbed through tho breast, through the abdomen, and wherever else wo could. This was no occasion to employ the bayonet tactics taught at drill, something which must bo left for drill-ground practice only. Tho butts of tho rifles whizzed through tho nlr nnd nny man's bend which they struck was broken. Hel mets nnd knnpsnrks had been lost long since. In splto of tho superiority of numbers, tho French could not defeat tills little group of desperate men. Wo forgot everything around us and fought llko bloodthirsty beasts, thinking of nothing else. Part of our men pene trated tho hostile ranks nnd fought to retnke tho lost ennnon. Tho enemy recognizing tho dnnger, retreated, nnd tried to hold tho conquered guns with nil his vfiorgy. We continued to stab, to club, man for man, but the enemy held on to (tho batteries, Every can non was surrounded by corpses, and every minute new victims wero cre ated. The artillerymen who wero fight ing with us tried to removo tho breech blocks of tho guns. Three Oermnns fought four French men nt the third gun which wns Just to my right. They wcro all thnt wns left around thnt piece. At another gun 70 men lay dead or wounded. A pio neer went to the mouth of this gun nnd with nstnundlng calmness pushed shell after shell Into the bnrrel, touched them off and ran. Friend nnd fre alike wero torn by tho terrlblo explosion. Tho gun was completely demolished. Seventy to eighty men were killed for nothing. Arter an hour's fight, all the guns. wero once more In our possession. Wo were now able to approxlmnto the ter rlblo disunities. In tho battle for this battery. Dead and wounded by hun dreds. Infantry, cavalry, artillery and pioneers, covered the narrow strip of ground. Onco more we received re-enforcements. This time four regular compa nies of Infantry had been tnken nwuy from another detachment. Even If a soldier takes part In everything, ho can get only a very restricted view of what Is going on and hns absolutely no way of determining how tho battlo Is going. Theso rc-cnforccmcnts had been taken from all different arms and lato arrivals had been taken from n division which had been threatened exactly llko ours wus. This led us to conclude that we could only resist further attacks provided fresh troops reached us. If only wo could get something to eat. Hut there seemed no way to relievo the hunger nnd thirst which tortured us. Now, horses galloped up to removo the guns we had left, nnd nt the snmo Instant tho French artillery opened a tremendous fire from guns of utl cali bers. Tho shells fell among tho 'ffl teams comprising the column. Confu sion reigned. Groups of six horses comprising each team sprang Into tho air, then ran In nil directions, pulling their carriages with the wheels up be hind them. Somo of the terrified ani mals ran directly Into tho heaviest fire, only to bo turn to shreds with their drivers. Tho enemy now transferred his flro to the hnttery position which we occu pied. For us It was only a question of advance or retrcut. Retreat? Not Tho order como to relnko the positions which wo hail lost at tho opening of tho battlo and which the Frenchmen presumably had mudo ready to with stand n new uttnek, Hy this tlmo wo hnd been re-enforced with more can non fodder and tho Insane fight could betrln anew. Wo advanced over n wild field, cov ered by thousands upon thousnnds of torn human bodies. No shot fell; tho only firing way thu liostllu artillery continuing to shell our battery posi tions. Neither tho enemy's artillery nor Infantry was turned upon us. This made Us suspicious nnd our apprehen sion regarding what was to como In creased as wo wcro permitted to ad vance unmolested. Suddenly there was turned looso upon us the flro from a multitude of machine guns. Wo throw ourselves on tho ground and hunted cover. An In stant Inter wo again sprang up and continued our march. Onco more wo encountered destruction. Hy this tlmo we had Inst almost a third of our men and, exhausted, we halted. ' Scarcely hnd wo taken a position be fore wo wero attacked from tho front nnd flank. Wo no longer hud an ado quoto force to successfully resist this double blow, ns tho enemy, In greatly superior numbers, had practically crushed our force. Tho left wing wns completely cut off and we saw our mon throw up their hands and surrendor. Wo who wero In tho center wero un abto to como to their assistance; our runks wcro being decimated from min ute to minute. "Acyjjnuo tor Somraepy," sounded In POOL WORLD'S RAW MATERIAL CONHTHUrnON OI' A (IHKAT MA TKHIAIi HKHKHVi: NOW UNDKIl WAY TO PAVK WAY IX)lt liAHT 1NO PICACK HKTWKUN NATIONS Hy Robert J, Henilcr (Unltl I'm tllr.fr CarrrciHindtnt.) WASHINGTON, Hopt. 7. - Con struction of n groat raw materials rosnrvo hy tho allied nations Is now under way to pnvo tho way for a. Just and lasting peace. Knlsur Wllholm rocuntly declared that tho groat crisis In tho west do ponded upon which nldo mustorud most quickly uud ndoquataly its re serves but hn didn't figure on raw inntorlnls. When tho wnr la over, tho sldo with Ilia reserves gold, food, coal, Iran, steel, cotton, wool and clothing will bo tho power to doturmlno tho peace nnd hnpplnoss of tho world, of ficials horn declare, Plan Intel national Hoard. Tho United States government Is now tnklnK stops to ncqiilro that rn sorve. Raw materials may bo pooled aftor tho war, ns now, to Insure ngalnst another Outbreak of Hohcii zollnrulsm, If tho groat war falls to drlvo that blood monarch from tho throno. An International priorities board will determine what nations shall ro cotvo first benefits of theso raw inn torlnls. It will tnko caro that tho weak and helpless country first Is nl- J I ' III - " -i ' -r1 - ray ears. Tho right wing broke and cnrrled us with It In a wild flight. Direct retreat had been cut off for us, so wo ran backward across nn open field, each man for himself, with n henrt bursting with horror nnd fear as tho result of the enemy's murderous fire. Aftrc pinnlnr-n 'one-tlmg.wp reached a hamlet northwest of Vltry-le-Francols. Without guns, helmets, or knap sacks, tho few who had been able to snvo themselves gathered here. As n result of this battlo tho French acquired n Inrgc amount of booty. All tho guns which hnd hern tho center of so much bitter fighting were lost. Of tho hundreds tion hundreds of sol diers who participated In tho hnttlo senrccly 100 were left. The others were nil dead, wounded or missing, Tilts Is whnt was done to the Invincible wnr machine hy tho French people, who, before the struggle, wc had brand ed as cowardly and degenerate I (To Ho Continued.) WMGLEYS K X LiissssiBPflssssssW iiissssssssssssa ssiisssssswsssssslHPiiissssssssssssssssssssssssTm. ilSSSSSSSSSSSSSl. alls iVv W fk .B We will win this war i Nothing else really matters until we do! The Flavor Lasts If YOUJ4NOW OF A Vii'tor A l)ilure A Will' - A Dt.tli- An Accident An lllnni OR- Any Nw Buitdinfr- Social Fimct'oni- Mfrtinp A f Et!t TuniMtioit Any lm'iotemrnli OR- Anj thing tint li ol Inttfnl ITS NliWSl Phone ll to The Bulletin r,(i lowed to ruvlvu Its strength, (hot It may not bo suddenly ovnrwholmml wlillo convalescent by a nation whoso military strength hns survlvod ttui wnr aiitl whoso greed for expansion has tint boon tmunured. Tho foundation for this hoard could ho tho International organiza tion already developing to direct ills trlbutlon of pooled allied war sup pllen for fighting forces. Tho out come of tho war will doturmlno whether Germany Is a party to tho hoard. Fliinnro Jtonril, Tin. Thero Is a muvomont afoot to es tablish an International resorrn board to maintain financial stability through thu period of reaction thnt Inovltably will follow tho wnr. This organization would opnrato to main tain n balance of gold among nations after tho war, oven as tho federal resorvo board now maintains a bal ance of credit and currency In tin United States. Through theso two great Inter national Instrumentalities nn much nn through nn armed lenguo of na tions, trndo treaties could ho main tained openly, secret pacts could not well survive, and no nation could hoard war supplies nnd build up u predominating militarism without full kuowlodgu and restraint of Its sister nations. Many authorities ho llovo peaco would bo rendered abso lutely lastliiK through maintenance) of this machinery. ' r t