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About The Bend bulletin. (Bend, Or.) 1903-1931 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1918)
4 flRXl) llUMiKTIN, HKNI OKKGON, TIIUUHliAY, OCTOIIKK 10, lt)IH PAGK0 TJW Confess I? f' . OJ Dp5prtW a iierraan. '& written n) n rruxxtan i Jttirt &. -n WtiO Participated in the Ravaft ny ana rmaging of ixigium, CHAPTER XIV. The entire forest of Argonne wns blown to pieces when we arrived. Everywhere wns artillery, which main tained a flro on the villages behind tha. enemy's positions. Ono of the many batteries which we constantly had to pass on our march from the camp to the front, was In ac tion when wo reached It. I asked one of the gunners what his objective wns and he replied that It wns any village within range. A substitute first lieutenant. In icharse of the battery, stood nearby. lOno of my comrades asked htm If ho 'did not think there might bo women 'and children In those villages. "That would m&Vfc no difference." ithe first lieutenant replied. "Women 'and children nre French, so what does lt matter? This breed tins to be ex Itermlnatcd tn order that this nation 'shall not think of war again for a tury." This day wns designated for n storming attack and we were obliged to be In our positions at seven o'clock In the morning. Promptly nt S :30 regi ment No. 07 was ordered to attack. Pioneers led the way. They were sup plied with hand grenades. These week ly attacks were opened half tin hour before the Infantry went over by a storm of artillery Are. The nrtlllery action required very careful calcula tion because the distance which sepa rated our position from the enemy's wns very slight. It varied from three to one hundred meters; never any more. At the point where we attacked the distance was 20 meters. Promptly at eight o'clock the artil lery started. The first three shells struck n ditch, but the following ones hit fairly, that Is. right In the French trenches. Once the nrtlllery 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 thnt many had been hit. An artillery olllcer acted as observer In the foremost sense and directed the fire by phone. Promptly at 8:30 o'clock the artillery fires stopped and we at tacked. The eleventh company of the Sixty-seventh regiment, 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 proceeded a few steps outside the trench. Dead and wonnded men lay among the branches nnd the trees everywhere on the ground. Every man who wat able to run sped forward to reach the enemy trench as quickly as possible. A part of the enemy defended Itself des perately In o trench filled with water and mud. A terrible hand-to-hond fight resulted. We stood In water up to our knees. Men, severely wounded, lay In the mud, holding their mouths and noses above the water. During tho fighting they were trampled more deeply Into the dirt under our feet for we could not see where we were going; we could only "roll up" the entire trench. Tho section won was fortllled with all posslblo haste. Once more we had acquired at a heavy cost In human life a few meters of tho Argonne forest. This trench, which we took, had changed bands many times and even now we were preparing for the usual counter-attacks. ' Presently the "Jackasses" went Into action. The "Jackasses" are the guns of the French mountain artillery. They were so named because they were drawn by mules. They are guns of flat trajectory, kept from 50 to 100 meteri behind the enemy lines. The shell! from these cannon flew directly ovei , onr heads and cut their way through the branches at a high rate of speed Bccauso of the high velocity of the shell and the short dUtanco It travels the detonation when the shot Is fired and tho noise of tho explosion, sound almost at the same InHtant. These "Jackasses" nre .greatly f pa red by the 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 Baker9 s Grocery Ms r . ?' JQ UerhluirMmieTS Trccnuoe'Uivj uru Upl working day and night. It was winter and very cold. Th trenches had been filled with water and were now nothing except deep ditches of mud. Under theso condi tions, through the Ice-cold nights, our routine consisted of 43 hours duty nnd 12 hours rest Every week a storm ing attack was made, the success ot which was entirely out of proportion to the enormous losses. In all of the four months I was In the Argonno for ests we gained 400 meters. The fol lowing data will Indicate how heavy a price was paid In lives for this little piece of France. Each regiment had Its own ceme tery. There wns the One Hundred nnd Forty-fifth Infantry regulars, the Sixty seventh, and One Hundred and Seventy-third Infantry regulars and the One Hundred and Fifth Hlrsch berg battalion. On the day we were re lieved from duty In tho Argonno for ests there were more dead In these cemeteries than there were survivors of the several regiments. Tho Sixty seventh regiment had more than 2.000 dead. All tho victims were members of that unit except a few pioneers, who had been assigned to duty with It. There was never n day without some loss of life, and on the days when the storming attacks were made, death had an extremely lnrgc harvest. CHAPTER XV. Each dny tn the Argonno levied Its toll of victims, sometimes mnny, some times only a few. It Is only natural that the morale of tiio soldiers should not be at Its best under these circum stances. With the same Indifference that the men had once gone to their work to support their wives and chil dren they now went Into action. This business of killing had become dally routine. Whenever we discussed our situation, the crown prince nnd tho commander of the Sixteenth army corps. Lieutenant General von Mudrn. fared worst. The troops In the Argonne forest be longed to the Sixteenth corps, the Thir ty-third nnd Thirty-fourth divisions. Neither the crown prince nor Von Mud rn hnd ever been seen In the trenches. One of the members on the crown prince's staff was the old field mar shal, Count von Haeseler, former com mander of the Sixteenth corps, who, before tho war, was considered n hu man fiend. Theso three called Clover Leaf by the soldiers, were far more de spised by most of the men than were the French cannon., which sought our miserable lives. The Hohcnzollern heir did not And life hard at his headquarters several kilometers behind the battle front. It was easy for him to make hlniRcIf popular with his order to go uhend at the cost of thousands of lives. He was Tery well liked among the high oMccrs. with whom he sat behind n stove al though the progress was not fast enough for them. He honored Von Mudrn with the or dej "Pour la Mcrlte," but of the sol diers he never had 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 'was scarcely enough water for drink ing purposes, to say nothing of water for washing their clothes. 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 the trenches the bul lets did not'do much damage but dally men were killed by Indirect Are. The thousands which whizzed through the air every minute flew over our heads. They struck trees or branches and glanced off, striking the men In tho trenches. Fulling to pierce their ob ject directly they tore terrible gaping wounds as they entered the men's bodies sideways. Whenever wo heard i v -ts r " - . ?v2f52 v ''Vft VftsSK" 2MlWl C Each Day Levied IU Toll of Victims. "charges concerning ' duiii-dom bullet, we thought of these cros-shots, al though we never doubted tho existence of the dum-dums. Whether or not dum-dutn hulteta were made tn the munitions fnctnrles 1 cannot say. I suspect they were. How ever, I did see many dutn-dum bullets made by the soldiers themselves. The points were Hied off from German mus ket shells so thnt the nickel covering was perforated, baring tho lead tilling. The bullet flattened when It struck Its object. If, for Instance. It entered a mnn's arm, the explosive charge In It would so shatter the arm as tn blow It entirely off nud leave It hanging by the skin. Gcrmnn soldiers were frequently seen supplytug themselves with dum dum bullets In the trenches, preparing to Inflict terrible wounds. On January 0, 1015, the Germans at tacked on their entire front of the Ar gonno forest sector nnd several hun dred prisoners were taken. The hand-to-hnnd fight continued until six o'clock In the evening. A fellow pioneer nnd myself found ourselves In a bit of trench held by eight Frenchmen. It was Impossible to retire so we accepted the unequal fight. Fortunntely ws wero well supplied with hand grenades. We cut the fuses short so that they would explode as quickly as possible. I threw one among tho eight soldiers. IJcfore the men could get out of tho way of the first, the second one fol lowed, which exploded In their midst. We took adventngo of the confusion thus created to hurl five more. Our enemies were now reduced to four men. We opened Arc with our muskets, clos ing In on the four. Their bullets whizzed around our heads. Ono man wns shot In the mouth. That left three. They turned and tried to flee. In such moments as theso one Is In a grent raze and forgets danger entirely. We were very close to our enemies now, right on their heels when tho lust man stumbled and fell. I sprang on top of him. He defend ed himself with his fists. My comrndo went after the other two. Weeding at tho mouth, this man fought on. After I bad knocked several of his teeth out he raised his hands nnd surrendered. I released him from my grip nnd looked htm over carefully. He was about thirty-five years old. He showed me his wedding ring and talked to me. I knew what ho wanted, ha wanted his tlfe. He gave me his canteen that I might drink some wine nnd wept. Perhnps he thought of his wlfo and children. I pressed his hand nnd he showed me his bleeding teeth. I called him a fool nnd told him he was lucky to have got ten away with the Ions of only n few molars. I was glad I had not killed him. I took him back myself, In order to protect him against being misused. As I delivered hi in over to where the prisoners were being assembled, ho pressed my hand and smiled. CHAPTER XVI. The next dny we received orders to march to an unknown destination. We soon arrived at the depot of Aprcmont where we were obliged to wait. The depot had been destroyed. The next station wns Chatel. Hoth of theso places nre about Ave kilometers behind the front The prisoners wero assembled In Aprcmont. Several of them had como from that town. Their families wen still In their homes ana mnny prisoners asked permission to visit them. I had occasion to witness such a visit In Ap remont Two reserves led one of tho prisoners to the house, which ho had pointed out as his. The prisoner's young wlfo wus In tho kitchen with her thrco children. Wo followed them Into the house. Tho woman turned pale as she sud denly saw her husband. They em braced. We went outsldo for wo felt out of placo there. Tho woman hud not had a letter from her husband for five months be cause the Germans were between her and her husband's army. Ho liad'been In tho trenches for n month, realizing how nearby his wlfo and children were, yet unable to reach them and with no wuy of knowing whether they were alive or dead. IIow ho must have felt as tho French shells flew over his head on their wuy to Apremonti There was no way of knowing whether tho slow In the sky caused msiieil bj litnunnff oTITol. T!ei thing beentuu n torturing uncertainty and alt of llfu was a hell. Homo ngiilii for a few hours; then a way, n prisoner I At least ho would ho able to get won! to hit wife by letter through the Held posts. Finally bo mild good-hy. Ills wife had nothing to give htm, no laundry, no food. Everything hnd been lost and she lived on the soldiers' bounty. She gave lil tit her hut money nnd ho refused to tnko It She accepted tin money baelt. It consisted of ti few n unit 10 pfen nig piece nud somu coppers, nil she hnd, I'niihlo to endure this we took n cob lection ntnotig ourselves. We made up more than 10 lunik, which we gave to the young woman. Shu refused It lit tlrst, then looking nt her husband, she took It nnd tried to kiss our hands. When wo refused to let her do this she ran to u store nearby ami returned with cigars, tbbneco, matches and sau sage, which she. gave to her husband. She smiled perhnps for the first time In n long while. The children wero with their father nnd they kissed him ns he left He had one child on each arm utid his wire carried the third. With the greatest happiness the family wnlkcd along between the two armed soldiers. When the. moment of parting came all began to cry. This wns the fato of thousands of poor French and Helglan men nnd women, quartered near their homes yet unable to know who wus dead or nllve. Willie wo stood at the depot ten Oer mnn soldiers arrived with llxed bayo nets. Itetween them were three French citizens In civilian clothing, whom they escorted. All were elderly men. We asked an old Frenchman what this was about and he said: "We receive our food from the Ger man military olllclals but It Is not suf ficient to live on. The people have nothing left Alt stock anil food hnd been seized. Theso three men refused to work any longer for thu German military ottlcluls because they could not live on whnt they received. "They wero arrested and are being sent to Germnny. No one knows whnt their fute would bo there. The men were being taken away by tho Ger mans nnd Interned tn Germany." Wo received orders to march to Varenues nnd left tho next morning. As we reached tho heights of Varenues nbout noon we mw the wide country before us nnd the city nestling In the valley. Farther up on the heights wni Vauquol. Nothing could be seen of any houses but through our Avid glasses we could make out an enormous ash heap. Shells fell there continuously and we were frightened nt tho pros pect of having to go to thnt spot Scnrcely had we crossed tho heights when some shells burst behind us. The French artillery even singled out Indi viduals. While Vuuuuols was In their possession they could co-ordliintu the entire neighborhood. We understood now why tills ash heap bad been con tested for so bitterly. We ran down hill till we enme to Varenues. Tho southern section of the town hud been wrecked by shell nnd Are. Mnny chimneys were all that was left standing of whole rows of houses. Soldiers everywhere collected scraps of metal which wero transport ed to Germnny. The church bells wero londed on wagons und sent nwny. All the copper, tin, brass and nickel whtch could be found wus gathered. The next morning we went Into the trenches. Wo had to reach our post. tlon before daybreak, for with daylight the French kept all the approaches un der Are. There was not much of-n trench In Vuuqunls. All that could be seen wns a single stone pile. Literally, thero was not, In this town, one stone left upon another. Tho ruins of this village had changed hands moro than fifteen times. When we arrived one-half of Vauquols was In German hands. Tho French were tn possession of tho highest points from which thoy could overlook the country fur many miles. In default of a trench wo nought envir behind th ntpnon, for It www 1m- ys Wi A This Villaae Had Chanoed Hands More Than Fifteen Times, . . M vsB jsF' .tssjim. Cheaper Wood No. 1 Wood .- (I !cu vy) v No. a Wood (Unlit) To the General Public No. I Box Wood , $4.00 No. 2 Box Wood ,. .$3.00 To Mill Employees No. 1 Box Wood $3.00 No. 2 Box Wood ..$2.00 Try the No. i! Uox Wood the next time you order The Miller Lumber Co. PHONE 1661 CITIZENSHIP CASE HELD OVER (From Bnturdny'a Unlly.) Tho nppllcntlon for cltlzonshlp of C. II. Wlgmore, whfVn enmo up bo foro Judgo Duftoy yesterday nt a apodal session of court hero, bus been hold over for 30 days. Tho motion to hold tho application over wns made by tho attorney for tho government, who stated thnt somo protests had been ontorod which would nood Investigation, John Nelson and n man by tho nnmo of Wells voro successful In their petitions, their pupers being granted. Tho session has been continued until today to henr other cases. DR. COE AGAIN IN THE CITY (From Saturday's Dally.) Dr. U. C. Coo has returned to this city after an nbsouco of several weeks. Ho expects to remain here savural days straightening out his business affairs, which require his at tention. Ho states that ho hns suc cessfully passed thu examination for tho service. possible fo dig frenches here, ns the ar tillery leveled everything. Tho soldiers concealed themselves behind stona walls nud fired. Artillery of nil cnll her covered theso ruins. Amid nil this destruction Iny an army of corpses, mostly German. (To Do Continued.) 1 lb. 25o Ask your to supply Crescent Baking Powder (N-4) 'Thk Ruaae.ii. UILT IN RUSSELL llEANAND;iEAJTHriESHEIl5 CLOVER HULLERS CALL OR WRITE FOR PARTICULARS TANLAC TOOK OUT DUMAIH'UI- HOUKNKHH. Whou tho kidneys are weukoned and fall to throw Impurities out or tho blood, tho poison remains In tho syntom and bnckncha, soreness nnd rhnumntln pains develop. Mrs. David Henry, 06 H. Lincoln Avo., Washing- , ton, N. J writes; "Foloy Kid- ney Tills took tho dreadful soreness nut of my limbs nud I walk good,'" Hold everywhere- Adv. YOU KNOW OF A Viiiior A Dfjitu--A lima -A Dr.lh An Accfclrnl An lllnc OH- Any Nrw DuiliL'ng JhxuI Function. Mrlinjt A Hrl Ijl.te TWiwtloq Any lmotnnl llitt ii ti Inltinl ITS NEWSl I'hotia it to The Bulletin Use "Crescent" in your war time bread In these Jays when baking powder mint rsiie war (lour breach, you'll find "Crcicent" absolutely depend ableit will raise the doutfli. grocer you with Tractor i ALL SIZES ENGINES BOILERS SAWMILLS THRESHERS TRACTORS FOR SALE IY The Owl Pharmacy SOLK AGENTS 't W, . s. I gri lby Mthe burning of a houso vjnj fur- aatz