The Ocala evening star., 1914-10-06
AS SEEN BY
AN AMERICAN
HE SAYS EUROPEAN CONFLICT
IS NOT A WAR, But A
HOLOCAUST

it is holocaust. The greatest
slaughter in the worlds history is
going on behind the censorship cur
tain in France. When the world
learns of the price that has been paid.
1t will be staggering, sick at heart
That was.the way Rev. James NAL
10y of San Francisco. who landed
here yesterday from the Mauretania,
summed up the European war. For
two weeks and i've days Father Nal
10y was on the actual firing line. He
was In London when the war began.
and on August I was invited to ac-
company a British expedition to
France as a Catholic chaplain.
Germans Move Like Forest
we sailed on August 49," said
the priest. Il was assigned to the
transport that carried Sir John
French, the commander OF the Brit
ish expedition. We landed at Bou-
logne. Then we were sent to Mons
to become the left wing of the great
French army that went north to re-
lieve the Belgians The British ex-
pedition comprised three army corps,
probably 10000 men.
1--WE went into action on August
22 For the next two days we were
fighting continuously night and day.
There seemed an unaccountab1e host
of Germans. As they swept down on
the British position they were like a.
moving forest-all grey-green and
hardly discernible until well within
rife range.
Imagine if you can, the entire
horizon filed with a swiftly moving
mass that at a distance bore no re-
semblance to human being. AS the
mass moved forward the. shells from
the great German field artillery rain
+ ed over our heads. exploding with a
concussion that made it almost inn
possible for one to .abreathe. Then
with their bands playing them into
action and singing die Watch Am
Rhein, the Germans would charge at
top speed.
Poor fellows. they never. had a
chance against our lines. The
British were strongly entrenched
along the front, every company con
tained fully three hundred men in
files five deep AS our rifles are the
best in the world and our shots won
-derfully expert, the Germans were
doomed from the outset. Steadying
their rifles on the tops of the
trenches, the British fired at will.
could not miss. As the Germans
were in massed formation, Every
bullet found not less than two marks
and sometimes three or four.
Slaughtered with Bayonets
sThe poor fellows would come
down like chaff before a great fire.
Whole companies would fall to-
I gether. The wounded would squirm
out Of the masses of the dead and
try to go on, and then it became nee
cessary again to shoot them. The
sights that I saw There showed me
| that this was not war hut terrible
holocaust, and that the cost of hui
man lives would be almost impossible
of comprehension
Besides the slaughter with the
rifle there was organized killing with
the cold steel. The Germans persist
| ed in their attack and the British
commanders rushed their men for
ward with fixed bayonets It was
hand to hand fighting with a veng-
eance, but invariably the longer
knife bayonet of the British soldier
prevailed and the enemy would be
compelled to retreat in disorder.
Only Few Little Men Left
'tBut how the Germans did pound
that British line at Monsi They
came on, and on and on, never stop
ping, never faltering. It was like
the waves of blue-gray sea rolling
up thru the fog. One wave would
break and die away, but another
would be right behind it pushing 1t
on inexorably. The German com
manders threw their men into the
face of the British fire with absolute
recklessness, counting on the weight
Of numbers to oyerwhelm us.
ITO see those German lines move
forward was like watching regiments
of toy soldiers pushed across a table.
You'd see long row of pale blue
blocks, topped with spiked helmets,
break from cover and come rushing
at you. Then a British gun at your
elbow would speak, shell would
drop right into the midst of that blue
block, a great hurting up of smoke
and coil