Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-11-04

Germans being mixed up like any
thing.
Some OF our boys who got away
TOLD me that the Dirty Shirts had
Deen almost cleaned up by the Ger
mans but made the Germans pay
dearly for thinking they could cut OF
an Irish regiment without having tc
fight"
Admlres German Artillery.
Private Charles Dudley Moore OF
the Yorkshire light infantry, who was
at Mons and is now at Lynn, had the
misfortune to be wounded half an
nour after he went into action.
The shrapnel shells of the Ger
mans were bursting over the trenches
where we were lying, and / was struck
In the foot with piece of shell which
TOOK the sole of my shoe clean off
rive minutes later, when l was trying
70 help fellow near me who had
Deen hit in the shoulder, was struck
In the right thigh by pellet from a
shrapnel she'll l fired one more shot
after that. / fired at the driver of a
German machine gun and hit him.
This was my first experience of actual
nghting, and l can tell you it Is a
Iunny sensation at first to see the
shells bursting near and around you,
to hear the bullets whistling by you,
and to see men being killed and
wounded near you, but you soon get
used to 1t ALL 1t tries your nerves
bit at first, but you soon get in the
way of it.
L have the greatest admiration for
the German artillery, but their in
fantry Is absolutely useless. They
lire from the hip and take no aim at
ALL The Germans are also badly fed.
AT the hospital at Amiens l saw
wounded German officer who told me
he and the others had been living on
anything they could lay hold Of and
that they had even eaten grass"
Do Not Like Bayonets.
Private ]. R. TAFT of the Second
Essex regiment, who was wounded
at Mons, also speaks with respect of
the German artillery. Writing home,
he says, in a description of the fight
ing:
eve had several charges with their
infantry We find they do not like
the bayonets Their rifle shooting is
rotten; l don't believe they could hit
a haystack at 100 yards. Their field
artillery is good, and we don't like
their shrapnel. heard our men sing
ing that famous song, Get Out and
Get Under and know that for an
hour in our trench it would make any
one keep under, what with shells and
machine guns. / have been in three
battles in four days"
The following is an extract from
letter written by Ohio Bromfield OF
the signal section (Territorials), Roy
al Engineers:
I'm doing and going as I'm told,
not worrying, but taking things as
they come. I've slept in barns, wool
stores, cinemas, casinos, dock sheds,
and for bit had the stars as coun-
terpane. The fighting has been very
fierce and close; as one pal said: on,
amt it 'ot!' We are outnumbered
sometimes 10000 to 1000, but our boys
stick to them, and have played havoc
with their mass formations The
Maxims have cut them down like corn,
and when we charged with fixed bayo-
nets, see 'em run. They will get no
quarter from our mob Their dead
were so thick that their reinforce
ments couldn't advance over the top.
OF course, we lost, too"
Fred Wilson of the Fifth Royal
Lancers, who was wounded at Mons
and reached Leeds invaded, says he
has seen the Germans bayonet our
wounded as they came across the
field, and force women and children
in front of them as they passed our
guns. He reckons nothing of the fight
ing powers of the Germans. They
were fairly peppered in five charges,
and when their cavalry saw us COM
ing they whined like dogs. Our blood
was up after witnessing their terrible
atrocities" The British soldiers, he
adds, sing and jest while bullets are
flying thick and fast.