American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1914-09-24
TRAGEDIES OF THE WAR
Correspondent Describes SOrrowful
Scenes Behind the Allies
Lines.

Lines.
Behind the Allies lines in France,
Sept. 20.-To the CHASTITY fields about
Puisieux I came through haunting hor-
rors.
Men in gray and blue lay on the
roadside, some as though they had
laid down to rest Il would spring
to their feet at the trumpet's sharp
summons others as though a savage
beast had sprung upon them unawares
and mauled them to death others as
though lightning had struck them and
left only the charred remains.
One man was kneeling with is rifle
on the shattered stump of a telegraph
pole. He might have just sighted the
enemy but the finger on the trigger
was stiff and cold n through the
brow of the soldier there was a tiny
hole.
A hundred PAGES to the rear of the
earthern parapets lies a torn and over
turned tent a red blanket some Grim
son strips of linen and pieces of cot
ton and wool hat tell a tale of wounds
and agony. Nearby is a mound with a
cross of branches, the grave of a gal
liant officer, beloved by his men.
The air is charged with the subtle
and sickening odor of death. Here on
the sloping plain they fought the bat
teries. You can trace the path of the
men who fed the batteries. They
blazed a trail with their blood. You
can see where the ammunition wagons
waited in the rear and where the
horses stamped with impatient hoof.
And the gunners-the men who
fought among flame and thunder i'm a
hurricane of lead and steel-you can
see where they stood behind the earth
en- wall, where they mended the shat
tered parapet with spent cases and
where they took cover in a little cave
dug in the side of the emplacement
when the answering guns got the
range and poured upon them their
deadly shower.
Men and guns have gone, the broad
fields are silent and deserted and all
the emplacements are empty. except
two. Outlined against the gray sky are
the skeletons of guns. There is al
ways some strange attraction about a
gun that has been wounded I'm battle
1t is like a human being. 1t was the
same with these German guns. / felt
as if l stood before men who had
fought like heroes and who had peer
sorely wounded and left on the bat
tlefeld.
How well they must have fought.
those two comrades, who stood proud
ly side by side among the w~reckage!
What thunderbolts they must have
placed. Many are the wounds of these
guns. They have been held fast to the
death, hurting back bolt for bolt and
shOwering death and destruction until
the hurricane overwhelmed them and
the fires OF hell leaped upon them,
burning the very earth around them
and leaving only the charred heaps
on which the guns lie still pointing
to the enemy-defant even in the hour
OF death.
The men who fought them must
have been worthy of the guns. Won
der if their commander lies under the
little o to the ear. This honor, 1
feel sure, was his alone, for l know
that ne died b%ravely at his post.
Among the charred rubbish lay a sill
yer whistle attached to a silken cord,
which was bloodstained and the whis-
tie was crushed and bloody.
Across the plain where lie many Of
the slain French and Germans who fell
in the charge against the trenches,
another battery fought and was
wounded. Close by lie the horses and
c~aissons in one hideous heap and be-
yond is a wood of dense growth. The
/ wood is in a perpetual shadow and 1t
/. is well that the darkness shout hide
the horrors / saw among the trees
- H. U.fx-.