The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-09-26
not WAR, BUT A
HOLOCAUST, SAYS
/ ARMY CHAPLAIN
World Will be Sickened When
Slaughter is Known, De-
clares Priest
STORIES OF GERMAN
ATROCITIES DENIED
Rev. FIR. Malloy Says British
Wounded Were Treated Bet
ter Than Own Men

NEW YORK, Sept. 25.-'It Is not
war, 1t 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
1t will be staggered. sick at heart"
That was the way Rev. Father
James Malloy. who landed here today
from the Mauretania. summed up the
European war. He knows far more
about 1t than anyone else who has so
far reached these shores. For two
weeks and five days Father Malloy
was on the actual firing Line. He
acted as chaplain attached to Gen.
French's personal headquarters. and
he recited q story of conflict, OF men
slain by the hundreds, that thrilled
even skeptical ship news reporters.
| Father Malloy Is native OF Tren-
ton, N. j., but has recently lived In
San Francisco. He was In London
when the war began and on Aug. IL
was invited to accompany the British
expedition to France as Catholic
chaplains which he did.
I'VE sailed on Aug. 49," said the
priest. Il was assigned to the trans
port that carried Sir John French,
the commander of the British expedi-
ton. There were 72 transports In
the expedition. We landed at Bou-
logne, where we were held for three
days. Then we we're sent to Mons to
become the left wing of the great
French army then moving north in
the effort to relieve and aid the Bel
gians and prevent the taking of Ma
muir and Brussels. The British expe-
dition comprised three army corps,
with Sir John French In supreme CON-
mand. and actively In command Of
the center.
I'VE went into action on Aug. o.
The men had been chafing for action
and they were certainly glad when
the orders came to cut loose. The
British left wing was made up of the
crack regiments Of the British SER
vice. They numbered probably 1907
900 men.
1T was q terrible experience for
me. For the next two days we were
fighting continuously night and day.
There seemed an absolutely uncount-
able host of the Germans. AS they
swept down on the British positions
they we're like moving forest-all
|gray-gfeen and hardly discernible un-
til we'll within rife range.
Imagine, IL you can, the entire
horizon filed with a swiftly-moving
mass that at distance bore no re-
semblance to human beings. As the
mass moved forward the shells from
the great German field artillery rained
over our heads, exploding with a con-
cussion that broke great holes In the
air and made II almost impossible
for one to breathe. Then with their
bands playing them into action and
singing die Wacht Am Rhine" and
other stirring martial airs, the Ger
mans would charge at top speed.
Poor fellows, they never had a chance
against our lines. The British we're
strongly entrenched all along the
front. The Germans advanced In
solid masses, every company contain
ing fully 800 men In files five deep.
AS our rifles are the best in the
world and our shots wonderfully ex-
pert. the Germans were doomed from
the outset. Steadying their rifles on
fired at will. They could not miss.
And as the Germans were In massed
formation every bullet found not less
than two marks, and sometimes three
or four.
"The poor fellows would go down
like chaff before great fire. Whole
companies would fall together. The
wounded would squirm out of the
masses Of the dead and try to go on
and then II became necessary again
to shoot them. The sights that
saw there showed me conchsively
that this was not war but terrible
holocaust and that the cost In hu-
man lives would be almost impossible
of comprehension.
Slaughter with the. rifles was var
led with organized killing with the
cold steel. The Germans persisted
in their attacks and the British CON-
manders rushed their men forward
with fixed bayonets. II was hand-to-
hand fighting with q vengeance, but
invariably the longer knife bayonet
of the British soldier prevailed and
the enemy would be compelled to re-
treat In disorder.
While the British were gaining a
series OF great successes the French
were being defeated on our right
They were unable to hold the Ger
mans and their rife fire was almost
as bad as was that OF the Germans.
And finally the British were ordered
to fall back In order that they might
not be enveloped by the Germans and
completely cut on. When ne orders
came the men were In almost open re-
bellion Stalwart members Of the
Scotch and Irish regiments swept At
several points along the line the Brit
Ish actually jumped from their
trenches and charged the Germans
to emphasize the fact that the Brit
fish ought not to retreat. But finally
the officers went among the men and
explained to them II had been ar.
ranged before hand for the British to
fall back so that the Germans might
be lured into trap. This explana-
ton, repeated hundreds OF times
finally sufIiced.
Where the British have an advan-
tagc In their wonderful rife fire.
something the Germans seem unable
TO master, the German shell fire "a
tremendous. IL Is hard TO describe.
There is small hill with company
of British soldiers entrenched on II.
A German aviator flies over their
heads, He signals the range. A mum
Der OF shells are dropped. They OK
plode. The hill has disappeared and
I'm fts Mace In n great hole filed with