The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1914-09-10

But no sooner Is THIS QOne thao
more men run up, rushing over heaps
of dead, and reform the sections
Last week SO great was their super
iority in numbers that they could nc
more be stopped than the waves OF
the sea. Their ~shrapnel is bad
though their gunners are excellent al
finding the range.
Machine Guns Deadly.
"On the other hand their machine
guns are of deadly efficacy and very
numerous. Their rife shooting is de
scribed as not first class, but their
numbers are so great that they can
bring on infantry till frequently they
and allied troops have met in bayonet
tussles.
Their superiority of numbers in
men and guns-especially machine
guns-successfully organized system
OF scouting by aeroplanes and Yep
peins, motors carrying machine guns.
their cavalry and their extreme mobil-
ity are the elements in their present
success.
"To sum up-the first great German
effort has succeeded and the British
eXpeditionary force has won imperish.
able glory.
The battle was begun on Saturday.
The first German attack was deliv-
cred with great suddenness and ter
rife force.
I'VE were in the trenches waiting
for them one of the soldiers said to
me, but we didn't expect anything
like the smashing blow that began to
rain bullets and shells.
Fairly Mopped Them Up.
AT first the shells went very
wide, for their fire was bad, but after
a long time they got u range. Then
they fairly mopped us up. | saw
shells bursting to the right and left
of me; say many good comrades go
out.
but we stuck. We were able to
stick because their infantry shooting
was so poor. 1t was simply laughable.
In fact, they couldn't hit us, though
their bullets were singing away over
our uGduS as IIlCh as mes,
Our officers were grand. Every
nan was proud of them. All the time
they kept telling us, Keep your
heads and shoot straight-take care
full aim and watch where you shoot"
We did.
The Germans came up in thou
sands. l saw ranks and ranks of them
coming along. We swept away one
rank and there was another; we
swept that away and a third was wait.
ing behind it. On they came over the
bodies of their friends, solidly, like
wooden soldiers and as regular as a
clock, but we wore into them with our
rifles terribly
Shells Work Havoc.
Another soldier described the eff.
feet of the German shell fire.
There are hundreds of our fell
lows he said, who have nothing but
shell wounds-terrible gashes some OF
them. Their Smelling was dreadful
once they got our range, though it
took them a long time to get it. Their
artillery was on a height and had the
distinct advantage that it was more
powerful than ours.
so far as numbers were con.
cerned, if it had only been a matter
of shooting, we should have laughed
at them. But we really did catch it.
We did not seem to be properly pro-
tected by our own guns, and | think
u guns were too far back.
81 saw one great cavalry rush
made-a rush hat brought them right
up to our lines. Our front ranks
stood up with their bayonets and our
back ranks kept firing.
1--WE broke them up. Hundreds of
them fell out of their saddles and the
rest dashed off,
The mass formation of the kaiser's
army appears to have impressed the
French and Englishmen very deeply.
Ct never saw anything like it, one
of them told me You know how we
take to cover at once-well, they
didn't. Some Of the fellows said they
saw them lie down, but / can't say |
did. They just seemed to roll on and
On. but we did hold to our places, and
that holding saved u.s..
Losses Are Enormous.
Our losses were severe. 1t is idle
to blink at the fact. But they were
small, comparatively, to the losses of
the enemy. Moreover, our wounded
are in many cases only slightly in
jured. Here, as in Belgium, the Ger
man bullets seem to be a less deadly
missile than might be expected. 1t
is too sharp.
"The battle continued with little in.
%terruption throughout Sunday and
Monday. Our men had now fallen
back to the positions assigned to
them, and the enemy gradually
ceased to attack. Apparently they
were exhausted.
There can be no doubt that only
in their artillery fire did they really
achieve important success.
Their infantry work is described as
laugable; their cavalry, too, was much
inferior to ours.
THE full story of the work of the
British hussars and lancers has still
to be written, but it was glorious. The
troopers literally flung themselves on
their foes"