Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-28
LORRAINE WOUNDED
/, HELPLESS FOR DAYS
F, ON FIELD OF BATTLE
No Red Cross Service, and
Unburied Bodies Strew
/. Border Dying Foes
Reconciled.

DION, Sept 2S dispatch to the London
Daily Chronicle).
Although great interest Is concentrated
mon the northwest side of the line of
hattie in France, 1t must not be forgotten
mat the east side is also of high impor-
lance.
Now for the first time since the begin
ming of the war there will be a little res
mite on the Lorraine frontier, and in the
wooded country of the two lost provinces
there will be time to bury the dead which
4 ,ncumber its fields. Words are utterly
region to the east of the Meurthe, in and
around the little towns of Blamont Ba-
dcnviller Cirey-les- -Forges, Arracourt,
Chateau-Salins, Morhauge and Baudre-
court, where for six weeks there has been
incessant lighting. After the heavy bat
te of September 4, when the Germans
were repulsed with severe losses after an
attack in force, both sides retired for
about IL miles and dug themselves into
lines of trenches which they still hold;
but every day since that date there has
been a kind of guerrilla warfare, with
small bodies of men fighting from village
10 village and from wood to wood, the
\ forces on each side being scattered over
wide area in advance of their main
i lines. This method of warfare is even
more terrible than pitched battle.
"It is absurd to talk of Red Cross
work." said one Of the French soldiers
who had just come out of the trenches
at I.uneville. 1T has not existed as far
as many of these fights are concerned.
How could it? A few litter carriers
came with us on some of our exped-
tons, but they were soon shot down. and
after that the wounded just lay where
they fell, or crawled away into the shell
Ter of the woods Those of us who were
unhurt were not allowed to attend to
our wounded comrades; 1t is against
orders. We have to 80 on regardless OF
losses Ny own best comrade was struck
down by my side. ! heard his cry and
saw him lying there with blood oozing
through his coat. My heart wept to
leave him. He wanted me to take his
money, but l just kissed his hand and
went on. ] suppose he died, for l could
not find him when we retreated.'
LAY THREE DAYS INTENDED.
Another French soldier lay wounded at
vile. When he recovered consciousness
he saw there were only dead and dying
men around him. He remained for two
days, unable to move his shattered limbs
and cried out for death to relieve him
Of his agony. At night he was numbed
by cold in the day thirst tortured him
TO the point of madness. Faint cries
and groans came to his ears across the
field. 1t was on the morning of the third
day that French peasants came to res
cue those who still remained alive.
There have been several advances made
BY the French into Lorraine, and sew
eral retircments. On each occasion men
have seen new horrors which have turned
their stomachs. There are woods not far
from Nancy from which there comes a
pestilcntial stencil which steals down the
wind in gusts of obscene odor. For three
weeks and more dead bodies of Germans
and Frenchmen have lain rottins there.
There are few grave diggers The peas
ants have fled from their villages, and
the soldiers have other work to do; so
that the frontier fields on each side are
Uttered with corruption, where plague
and fever find holding ground.
DYING ENEMIES RECONCILED.
have said that this warfare on the
Il
statement of truth to which there are
exceptions. One of these was a recon-
eiliation on the battlefield between French
and German soldiers who lay wounded
and abandoned near the little town of
Blamont. When dawn came they con-
versed with each other while waiting
for death. A French soldier gave his
water bottle to German officer who
was crying out with thirst. The German
slipped a little and then kissed the hand
of the man who had been his enemy.
There will be no war on the other side"
he said
Another Frenchman, who came from
Montmartre, found n Luxemburger ly-
ing within yard of him whom he had
known as n messenger in Il big hotel in
Paris The young German wept to see
his old acquaintance. 1T is stupid" he
said, this war. You and l were happy
when We We're good friends in Paris.
Why should we have been made to fight
with each other?" He died with his
arms around the neck of the soldier who
told me the story, unashamed of his own
tears.