The river press., 1914-11-18

1
Days Continuous Fighting.
Writing from an unnamed place In
Belgium, a correspondent of the Lon.
don Daily News quotes young volun.
teer member Of Belgian regiment
which had been fighting, marching and
: drilling continuously for twenty-five
days as follows:
"The town was evacuated BY the
, Germans, and we were sent in at
! nightfall. As soon as they saw our
lights they began shelling us. We lost
terribly. We were GOO who went in and
must have left third there.
I'm the morning we moved down to
re-enforce a network Ut trenches on
our bank of the User. We got into
the trenches. They were full of wa
ter. l was firing for six hours myself
thigh deep in muddy water.
Could Not Show Head or Hand.
1.-The Germans got across the bridge
We could not show head or hand over
our bank. German machine guns shot
us from crevices in their raised bank
across the river only few yards
away. l was hours and hours drag
ging our wounded out of the cross
trenches. We lost our officers, but got
the men to listen to me.
"Some Germans shelled us with a
cross fire. They got into the cross
trenches. They fred down our lines
from the side. We had to run back
was too tired and sleepy to drag my
feet. think must have fallen
asleep.
I'VE had an order to advance again.
The French were behind US on either
wing in support was too tired to
get up. Some one kicked me. looked
up. They were three Of my friends.
volunteers like myself.
IL found myself running forward
again. called to men lying and run.
ming near and held my revolver at
them. We were all charging with bay
onets back at the Germans shooting us
from our own trenches under the rails.
ed bank. They did not wait for us.
They looked like frightened gray bee
ties as they scrambled up away over
our bank and down into the river. 1t
was dusk, but we shot at them over
the bank The water seemed full Ut
them. We crouched in big trench.
Heard the Enemy Whispering.
There were perhaps 200 left of our
GOO. | think there was one officer fur
ther along, but it was quite dark.
Some Of the men talked very low.
Then | heard voices whispering and
talking near us on the river side OF
our bank. 1t was of earth perhaps
Ave feet high and six feet thick. On
the other side the slope fell steeply to
the river.
Il sent hush along the line. We
listened quite silent l thought heard
German words, an order passed along
on the other side. crawled up on to
the bank, not showing my head. you
know. 1t was really about 800 Ger
mans who had stayed there on our side
under the bank. fearing to cross the
river under our fire. So we stayed all
through the night. We did not sleep.
nor did they.
There was just six feet Of piled wet
earth between US. We only whispered
and could hear them muttering and
the sound of their belts creaking and
Of water bottles being opened.
There was thick gray mist hang
ing low in the morning. crawIed on
to the bank again. holding my revolver
outstretched. \ gray figure stood up
in the mist below close to me- He
looked like British soldier in khaki.
He said, It's all right; we are Eng.
lish.' and said. But your accent
isn't and | shot him through with
my revolver. Some Of our men crept
to the bank. but they shot them. and
some of theirs climbed over, but we
fired ut their heads or arms as they
showed only a few feet away, and
they fell backward or on to US or lay
hanging on the bank. Then we all
waited.
Neither Side Dared Move.
"As it grew lighter they did not dare
move away, and none Of us could get
out alive over the bank to use the
bayonct. \ few men made holes IN
the looser earth, and so we fired at
each other through the bank here and
there.
somebody threw a cartridge case
across close to me. On a paper inside
was scrawled one word-'Surrender!
We did not know il they wanted to
surrender themselves or wanted US to
surrender. They were more numerous.
but we were better placed. 50 we went
on scrapping and crawling around to
get Il shot at them.
''Perhaps it was the French who got
| are / at the ends. There was heavy
| tir'p". We heard quite close through
| the raised bank Il few slipping down
on the river edge and water splashing
Some of us pulled ourselves up on to
the bank. / heard our men scrambling
| up on either side of me. but could not