The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1914-09-19
WAR IN ALL ITS
WORST HORRORS
Moments When No Man MAJ
Boast of His Courage.
FIGHTING FOE EYE TO EYE.

Charging Over Heaps of Bodies, Coin.
Almost Mad From Thirst After Civ
ing Horses Last Drop of Water-"A
Gentleman Has to Do That" Says
Zouave Hero Wounded at Meaux.
'"That is the story, without any re
touching of my pen, of a young lieu
tenant of ZouaveS whom l met afteT
the battle of MeauX, with blood still
splashed upon his uniform says
Philip Gibbs of the New York Times
London Chronicle war service in dis
patch from Creil.
Said this ZOuaye, who was put out OF
action by piece of shell:
'They did good things, those zouaYes
of mine. but it wasn't pleasant work.
We fought from village to village, very
close fighting, SO that sometimes VIC
could look into our enemy'S eyes. The
Moroccans were with us. The native
troops arc unlike my boys, who are
Frenchmen, and they were like demons
with their bayonet work.
"Our gunners were shelling Germans
from pillar to post, rs it were, and
strewing the ground with their dead.
1t was across and among these dead
bodies that we infantry had to charge.
Quick Firers' Clever Style.
1.-The enemy's quick tirers were mar
velous. They always maneuver them
in the same style, and very clever
style it is. First OF all, they mask
them with infantry. Then when the
French charge they reveal them and
put us to the test under the most with
ering fire. 1t is almost impossible to
stand against it. and in this case we
had to retire after each rush for about
25O meters. Then quick us lightning
the Germans got their mitrailleuses
across the ground which we had yield
ed to them and waited for us to come
on again, when they repeated the same
operation.
at is quite untrue to say that the
Germans have Il greater number of mi
trailleuses than the French. | believe
that the proportion is exactly the same
to each division, but they handle them
more cleverly, and their fire is much
more effective than ours.
'"The German aeroplaneS are really
wonderful in the way they search out
the positions of our guns. We always
know that within half an hour Of OBJ
servation by aeroplane shells will begin
to fall above gunners unless they have
altered their position
''For four days this hunting among
the villages on the left bank of tie
Ourcq went on all the time, and we
were not very happy with ourselves.
The truth was we had no water and
were four days thirsty. The heat was
terrific during the day, and some OF
us were almost mad with thirst. Our
tongues were bliStered and swollen.
our eyes had a silly kind of look in
them and at night we had horrid
dreams. 1t was intolerable agony.
Thirsted That Horses Might Drink.
II have said we were four days with
out drink. and that was because we
used our last water for our horses A
gentleman has to do that. you will
agree. Even then tho horses had to
go without drop Of water for two
days. and I'm not ashamed to say.
wept salt tears TO see the sufferings Of
those poor innocent creatures who did
not understand the meaning of all this
bloody business and who wondered at
our cruelty.
1.-The nights were dreadful. All
around us were burning villages and
at every faint puff OF wind sparks
doated about them like falling stars.
But other fires were burning. un-
der the cover of darkness the Germans !
had piled the dead into great heaps
and had covered them with straw and
paraffin, then they had set torch to
these funeral pyres.
"Carrion crows were about in the
dawn that followed One of my own
comrades lay very badly wounded, and
when he wakened out Of his uncon-
sciousnesS one of these beastly birds
was sitting on his chest waiting for
him to die. That is war.
"When Every Man Is a Coward"
"The German shells were terrifying.
I confess to you that there were times
when my nerves were absolutely gone.
| crouched down with my men 1--WE |
were in open formatiOn) and ducked |
my head at the sound of the bursting
shell, and L trembled in every limb |
as though had fit of ague.
"1t Is true that in reality the Ger |
man shells are not very effective Only |
about one in four explodes nicely. but
it is bad thing when, as happened to |
me, the shells popped around in a
diameter of fifty meters. One hears
the zip-zip of bullets, the boom Of the
great guns, the ste-tang of cur French
artillery, and in all this internal ex-
perience Of Loise and stencil the
screams at times of dying horses and