Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-11-04
STORIES OF INDIVIDUAL HEROISM
DISPLAYED ON FIELD Of BAT7IF
Germans Drop on Enemy as Though From skArerv work.
Awful Havoc But Rifle Fire Not so Good-Wo,ndad p,,.a
Tells of Heroic Work of the "Dirty shirtsv-
Bombs Success in War.

eA0dI WOrk at the front in fact
eney were the means of putting 10 00O
oeilnans to their fate on Sunday
liorning l will never forget tbat
uay, as our regiment left a town on
Tue french frontier on Saturday morn
rns at three o'clock and marched till
a. IN. on Sunday into a Belgian town
| was ABOUT to have an hour in he'd AT
ieast lie down in a shop. when was
wakened to go on guard at the gener-
al headquarters, and while 1 was on
guard captain of the crack French
cavalry came in with the official re-
port of the 10000 Germans killed
Inc Scots Greys early that morn
ing had decoyed the Germans right in
front of the machine guns of the
french, and they just moved them
down. There was no escape for them.
poor devils; but they deserved it, the
way they go on. You would be sorry
Ior the poor Belgian women having to
ieaVe their homes with young children
clinging to them"
Bombs Are a Success.
Bombardier A. E. Smith. who was
wounded by a bomb dropped from a
German aeroplane, in a letter to a
friend in Edinburgh, says:
Those bombs have proved a great
success In the war, as they find the
enemy's range very accurately. The
bomb, when dropped, leaves a thick,
black, smoky line to enable the gun
ners to take the exact range We
were in good position, but suffered
loss. The enemy could not find us
until the aeroplane came on the scene.
Then we had 1t rather hot. The gun
ners had to leave the guns, but later
saved them all after being re-en-
forced by other guns.
"The Germans have a funny way in
fighting. Their infantry, when ad-
vancing, fire from the hip and come
on in masses, splendid targets for
our guns. AS soon as one lot gets
moved down the gaps are filled
up with fresh men. They are In terri
BILE numbers-about ten to one in
some places. Nearly all the mems
wounds are from shrapnel, and heal
wonderfully. Men almost cripples
day or two ago are going on splendid
ly since being treated here"
like Blue Murder"
A wounded private of the Royal
Munster Fusiliers (the DIRTY Shirts')
tells the following story:
For some reason or other we we're
left in the lurch, and had to bear the
brunt of the whole German attack.
while the rest of the brigade fell
back.
"They came at us from all points
horse, foot, artillery and all-and
the air was thick with screaming,
shouting men waving swords and blaz-
ing away at us like blue murder. Our
lads stood up to them without the
least taste Of fear, and when their cav
airy came down on us we received
them with fixed bayonets In front, the
rear TANKS firing away as steadily as
you please. All round US we saw
them collecting until there was hardly
q hole fit for wee mouse to get
through, anu LH6n IL Was ludI CHC
hardest fight of all took place, for we
wouldn't surrender, and tried our
hardest to cut through the stone wall
of the Germans.
at was hells own work, but l can
say that we never hoisted the white
flag, and if the battalion was wiped
out. as they say, it fought to the last
gasp. The spirit of our lads was that
grand that you couldn't help being
proud of them, and they accounted
for a lot of the Germans. First OF all,
I got a wee taste of punch in the
ribs with sword, and then | got
bullet in me, but when / was able to
see what was going on the men were
cutting their way through the Ger
mans. 1 was fioored for / can't tell
YOU how long, but when / got back
nv senses the Germans were gone,
leaving only heaps on heaps OF the
diving and the dead, our boys and the