The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-12-21
Letter Gives Insight Into the
Methods of Germans in
Night Fights
BLOODY FIGHT AT
DEVILS TRENCH
Germans Cut Their Way on All Sides
of Trench and Allies Wake Up to
Find Themselves Surrounded.
Kept Without Food As Hours


following is taken from letter written
by an officer, who is now a prisoner in
the hands of the Germans:
'I want to explain to you how | be.
came prisoner of the Germans and what
has happened to me since fell into their
hands. You know my regiment had beer
in the thick of the fighting round Ypres
and that we have had terrible losses
Often I wonder that l am alive We hac
been resisting the German attacks fol-
several days, and on this particular night
my company was in reserve about two
miles from the advanced trenches in 6
village. We were fairly comfortable II
the houses, and looked forward to hav.
ing our first real sleep for several days
aroused by my picket, who said wound
ed officer had crawled into the villag,
badly hurt and wished to see me-
Il went outside and found poor Lieu
tenant -. He was very badly wound
ed in the thigh, and has since died. He
told me alarming news-that a trench We
called the devils TRENCH because 1t has
lis
fallen once again into the hands of the
Germans. and that all the men of oui
regiment who were in it had either beer
killed or made prisoners. He had advised
me to collect my company and go anc
retake it. / called my coior-sergeant,
who got the men out of the houses al
soon as possible and mustered them ir
the dark.
Troops Respond Readily
These brave fellows, although worr
out by days of lighting responded readil,
to the call and | never heard a word OF
grumbling or complaint We marched gu
of the village in the darkness, and tool
the we'll known road to the trenches. Or
our way we had to pass through another
village about 600 yards from our advanced
lines. Passing through 1t we received
volleye from one of the houses, which
wounded two of my men. The remainder
of the company, without waiting for or
ders, battered In the door, whereupon q
German soldiers, under an officer, sur
rendered.
street. when we were again fired upon
seized the German officer by the scruf
of the neck and told him to shout out tt
his compatriots to surrender. He imme.
diately did so, and 100 Germans and two
officers gave themselves up. When W,
had dsarmed them I sent them back un.
der strong escort, which left me Will
only a little over half company W.
left the village and continued our march
II decided to send on Lieutenant -
to reconnoitre. He took three men with
him and disappeared In the darkness
Shortly afterwards we heard heavy fir
to- LOFT ha NO,
return. I subsequently found that he hat
wandered off to the left, and had come
upon one of our trenches which had beer
captured by the enemy. Instead of re
turning to me he seems to have charged
the enemy with his three companions. AL
were at once shot dead.
After waiting some little time / moved
on and found the DEVILS trench unoccu
pied except by the dead and great mum
Der of wounded men of our regimen
mixed up with many wounded Germans
The trench. in fact was a horrible sight
Many of these poor fellows had been bay
oneted and had fearful wounds. One o
them told me that the Germans had takeI
them by surprise two hours before ant
had captured the position. | asked hin
what had become of them. He then ex
planned that they had continued their ad
vance. and l then realized that the 10
we had captured III the village were thos'
who had taken this position.
''I did not know what to do. / though
| fthe enemy had captured this trencl
they had probably taken others. Gu
trenches are not continuous. or were no
at that time, and you have no conception
of how difficult 1t is to know what 4
happening elsewhere during the night
The Germans take one of our position
and then push on. and when morning
comes you find them right in your rear
You may then be surrounded unless you
supports are able to drive them out.
Held Out Until Daylight
"Under these circumstances l decide,
it was my duty to hold on to the devil
trench until daylight. I knew 1 woul,
be shelled as soon as the sun rose, s.
/ had all the wounded bandaged up. an,
those who were able to walk were show
the road to the village from which ! ha,
just come.
Directly the light appeared a terribl
fire of shrapnel was opened on us.
counted as many as 60 shells bursting t
the minute. We huddled in the trench, blu
in spite of it's cover, lost great man
men hit.
Suddenly I heard heavy firing on m
right. and through the slowly disappear
ing darkness / saw a mass of the enem
rush the trench on our right. Many o
our men made good their escape by run
ming out at the back. but the remainde
were taken prisoners When I saw tn
trench was captured I wished to ope
Aro ts,k Aa~oA mt do t.o~o xsuo r1f mr.