Semi-weekly herald., 1914-10-05
SAYS WAR is GREATEST
SLAUGHTER In HISTORY

l
SLAUGHTER IN HISTORY
NEW YORK, Oct. lit is not
war; it is holocaust. The greatest
slaughter in the worlds history is
going on behind that censorship cur
tain in France. When the world
learns of the price that has been paid
it will be staggered, sick at heart"
This was the way Rev. Father Jas.
Malloy, who landed here recently on
the Mauretania summed up the Eu-
ropean war. He knows more about it
than anyone who has reached these
shores, for during period of two
weeks and five days he was on the
actual firing line. He acted MS chap
lain attached to Gen. Frencli's per-
sonal headquarters and he rccited
story of conflict, of men slain by hun
ldreds that thrilled even skepticai ship
news reporters.
Father Malloy was in London when
the war began and was invited to ac-
company the British expedition to
France as Catholic chaplain, which
ne did. His troops went to Mons on
Aug q. Father Malloy added:
| I'VE went into action on Aug. %.
The men had been chatting for action
and they were certain glad when the
orders came.
ut was terrible experience for
me. For the next two days we were
fighting continuously night and day.
There seemed an absolutely uncount-
able host of Germans. AS they swept
down on the British positions, they
were like moving forest-all gray
green and hardly discernible until well
within rifle range.
Imagine the entire horizon filled
with swiftly moving mass that, at a
distance, bore no resemblance to hu-
man beings. AS the mass moved for
ward, the shells from the great Ger
man field artillery rained over our
heads, exploding with concussion
that broke great holes in the air and
made it almost impossible to breathe
Then, their bands playing Die Wacht
Am Rhein' and other martial airs, the
Germans would charge at top speed
Poor fellows; the never had chance
against our lines. The British were
strongly entrenched. The Germans
advanced in solid masses, every COM
pany containing 800 men, in files five
deep. AS our rifles are the best in
the world and our shots wonderfully
expert, the Germans were doomed
from the outset. Steadying their rifles
on the tops of the trenches, the Brit
ism fired at will. They couldn't miss
And as the Germans were in massed
formation, every bullet found not less
tina two marks and sometimes three
ior four.
whole companies of the poor fel-
lows fell together. The wounded SOL
diers would squirm out of the masses
of dead and try to go on and then it
became necessary to shoot them
again. The sights that l saw showed
me conclusively that this was not war
and that the cost in human lives
would be almost impossible of COM
prehension.
Slaughter with the rifles was
varied with organized killing with the
steel. The Germans persisted in their
attacks and the British commanders
rushed their men forward with fixed
bayonets. 1t was hand to hand fight
ing with vengeance, but invariably
the longer knife bayonet of the Brit
ish soldier prevailed and the enemy
was compelled TO retreat.
while the British were successful,
the French, on our right, were being
defeated and finally the British were
ordered to fall back off. When the
orders came the men were in almost
open rebellion. Stalwart members of
the Scotch and Irish regiments wcpt.
At several points the British actually
jumped from their trenches and
charged the Germans to emphasize
the fact that the British ought not
to retreat. But finally the officers
explained that 1t had been arranged
beforehand for the allies to fall back
and lure the Germans into trap.
"The German shell firc is tremend- |
Gus. It is hard to describe. There |