The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-11-07
SAY BATTLE SEEN BY HUGE
ARMIES.
Stop Fighting Until Germans Fail
1000 Feet.

(PariS correspondence in Washington
post)
The writer Of these notes, Il highly
placed officer in the French army. has
been following the march Of the allied
army corps in various capacities,
which have allowed him to witness and
sometimes take part in the vast drama
being played before the world in the
beautiful plains Of the Marne and
throughout the fertile valleys extend
ing nOrthward through Picardy and
into Flanders
The officer tells of arriving in the
battle line with dispatches and joining
in the conversation with his friends
'Suddenly," he continues, "ovcr our
heads the 'whir' of n motor coming
from the north. About 1000 feet
above our heads, flying slowly--what
nervc.-comeS Il Taube. \ bomb
drops 80 yards from my car in a newly
plOwed field. 1t doesn't explode The
men all laugh. then shout From the
east a French monoplanc at full speed
bears straight for the Ger nan. The
German sees him; up he goes 5000
feet. Up follows the t'renchman,
climbing faster.
THE French machine, Farman.
rises over the German. We hear its
quick-firer quite plainly, but the
German circles away, and for quarter
of an hour 100, 900 pairs Of eyes fol-
low the chase 5000 feet in the air.
With glasses one can see the Ger
mans standing out Of their trenches,
and not a single Frenchman thinks of
firing shot at the exposed enemy
Again the German allows himself
to be approached, and the quick-frers
crack again. The Frenchman lurches,
slips on one wing, falls few hundred
feet, straightens up and climbs again.
The French troops around me go
wild, embrace each Othcr--danco and
shout. Then a long silence. The
whirr of motors can not be heard, but
sound OF the shots mes to us plain
! Is.
The Frenchman is above the Ger
man and firing nearly perpendicularly.
A captain orders us to get under cover,
the bullets from our man above being
just as dangerous for us as for the
German. No one pays any attention.
The quick -lirers rattle still faster.
and suddenly the German seems to
shudder, stands still, and begins to
drop, circling in spirals, tail in the
air. He strikes 500 yards away, in a
marshy land.
'In spite of shouted orders, q
thousand men rush to the spot. l am
in water up to my ankles. The ma
chine is a wreck. The motor is half
buried in the mud. The wings are
smashed. A few yards away is the
pilot, dead, his head SO buried into
his shoulders that only his eyes,
wide open, are visible.
Under the motor. which has caught
! fire, the body of the observer lies,
caught by the legs. The heat is SO in
tense we cannot approach. The mans
hands, white and soft, they seemed to
me--he is evidently Il Young officer
shake in the air cOnVulsively. then
grip the ground around him in an eff
! fort to release his legs. His eyes turn
| toward u. but we are helpless. The
hands move again once or twice and
the suffering ends.
Ten minutes after an automobile
rolls up to the edge Of the marsh.
| The general and staff commanding the
army corps have followed the duel and
come to see the loser. Then come two
young soldiers, plivates. The gener-
! al embraces both. They are the VIC
tors who had landed after their rival
had dropped.
"Iou have just earned the Legion
of Honor" says the general to the avi-
ators, You II get it; count on me-.