The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-12-18

AN ADVANCE UNDER FlRE.
In Harper's William Guldner, a sur
vivor of the battle of Gravelotte, the
most hard fought victory of the
Franco-Prussian war, tells how he
saw the victory as color bearer of
his regiment.
''It must have been, I think, about
4 o'clock. when Colonel Won Boehn
rode to the head of the regiment,
and we all Strengthened, quick, as on
parade. AS he said, sharp, few
words, something like, Men, the reg
iment has a good name, and You will
give it a still better one was in
front, and could hear part CT what
be said.
"The colonel led us to the left, and
we crossed a railroad track and went
through another little white village,
and then we faced slope, long
slope, with a village on it which the
French had made into fort, and We,
our regiment and others, were to
capture it, and there were many
Frenchmen and cannon therv.
and the majors and the adjutants.
Our captains usually rode too, but
this day the captains sent their horses
back and went on foot.
"And soon our first men began to
fall, for we came under the fire OF
the chassepot. 1t was hard, for we
could not see the enemy. These first
ones were many sharpshooters, in a
ditch, and the noise of their firing
was like that of a coffee mill-Kr-r-
r-r-r-r! They drew off as we went
forward. 1t was only at walk that
we went, steady walk, just as II
there were no bullets there.
"And now we would run forward
fifty yards and throw ourselves fiat;
then another fifty yards and the halt
and the falling fiat; and each time
we could see the village that was a
fortress nearer.
"And once, when we were lying
down, and I saw that the officers were
standing, just cool and quiet, it came
ways to be an officer.
Il saw the colonel fall. He was
shot from his horse and carried back.
1.-The first major, he took COM
mand, and he galloped to the skir-
mish line, and he was shot. Then
the second major, too, was shot, and
he tried to get up, but he could not
stand, and he sat on big stone and
shouted: Go on! Go on!' And he
took a gun from a dead man and fired
1t.
eve were ordered to fix bayonets,
and that made us glad; but even yet
the men carried their rifles on their
shoulders as they ran. We were not
near enough to charge with bayonets.
81 wish could tell you what it was
like as. we got near that village Of
St.-Privat. The noise, the smoke, the
flashes, the falling men, and only one
desire in our hearts.
"There were three sergeants in the
color section, one at each side of me-.
killed. Then the one at my left was
shot Eight big bullets in his body
from a mitrailleuse-eight! Yet he
afterwards got we'll, while many a
man died from only one little bull
let.
"And at last we went at bayonet
charge, and for the first time there
was cheer, and we ran on, eager
| to plunge the bayonets; and we could
see, as we came near the village,
that the French were firing from be-
hind barricades and garden walls and
from windows.
AM we looked into the wild faces
of the French, and they met us hand
to hand. All! we climbed over walls
and barricades, and we fired and bay
| oneted, and we fought them in the
streets.
"On and on we went. 1t was a
wild time of shooting, bayoleting,
wrestling, clubbing, shouting. On
and on, but it was slow work and ter
rible, for the French fought for every
step.
II was at the front, for I had the
colors. There were few officers still
left, and they were shouting and way
ing their swords, and other regiments
stormed into the village with us, and
after a while-I can't say how long
the place was ours.
"As l tell it to you it seems perhaps
simple thing. But when the regi-
ment was paraded before the battle
began, we were more than 1000 lien
and more than fifty officers, and we
lost in the fight forty officers and
more than a thousand men. Yes;
that was the loss of just my regiment
alone. 1t was morderisch, but it was
necessary.
"Well, it's all over. The village
was blazing, and many a dead man
lay in the ruins; some sat upright,
dead. with their backs against the
walls"