The Sentinel=record., 1914-11-22

October. Here is a translation of his
letter:
We are garrison2d at RI. |
cannot complain too much, because
| officers, men and horses are remark
ably well installed and | sleep every
night in very good bed in house
| evacuated by its owner. The village
is three kilometers from the enemy's
lines. All the inhabitants have been
eXpel ed because many signals were
given at night by spies and because
Of the fierce bombardment we have
suffered. This is a measure very
painful to enforce upon poor people,
but it was Indispensable. and the in
nocent have paid the penalty for the
guilty.
1T is veritable siege in this part
Of the battlefield, and our infantry
is advancing very slowly. digging is
self in as at SebastCpol, conquering
200 to 300 meters a day.
My squad holds a supporting posi-
ton at R......... 1t is all that the
cavalry can do at this moment. We
are fortress cava ry,' so to speak.
our foot soldiers play cards in the
| trenches and amuse themselves only
a few meters away from the enemy
| The two lines are so near at certain
-oints, that the soldiers throw hand
grenades into the German trenches,
% or 80 meters away, as the surviv-
| Ors Of the Crimean war relate
zone must give complete approval
to our general staff, since the posi-
tons established by the enemy are
so formidable that it would be use.
| less sacrifice of thousands of lives
| 10 advance over open ground | find
! that we have adapted ourselves mary
| elously to the new situation and our
! troopers, among others, organize the
defense Of villages with great spirit
All very cheerfully they bore loop
holes in walls and houses, build bar
ricades and plug windows with mat
| tresses against fragments of bursting
snells This diverts and amuses
| them. Moral and sanitary conditions
are excellent.
On our left operates the unit of
| Colonel Z........ 1t is a reserve
unit, but the name of its chief even
more than its military valor makes
| it the equal Of units of the active
army When you ask the men of tails
| brigade who their commander is they
respond with pride and almost con
| tempt at your ignorance. why Col
onel Z........, they say. 1t is ex-
traordinary to see how the prestige
Of a name is able to transform a
troop and give it cohesion This
name is more than a flag 1t is for
these colonial reseryists a gage OF
success a fetish.
Yesterday, | was able 10 escape
few minutes. The bombardment
since October has ceased complete
ly our infantry is mistress Of .......
! and the enemy's artillery no longer
fires upon the village 1t is quite
uselessly searching out pieces of our
artillery stationed in the rear of the
crest R.. B.. Our artillery.
men have prepared themselves re-
markedly we'll They have built
shelters and suffered but little from
the German fire.
q profited by a few hours Of liberty
to visit the bait efield near the
woods of ...... to the east of b..
/ saw there the most moving spec
tacle of my life. The dead are no
longer counted One forgets that
these were corpses in seeing the nigh
moral lesson which the spectacle
taught. have sent my officers on
a pilgrimage there. Treasures of en-
ergy had been extnguisned There
were more than six hundred where
they had fought, in the positions
where death had caught them ono
section in the midst OF a bayonet
charge, one section on its knees fir
ing; in front and behind the officers
in their places not an officer or man
with his back turned. They were re.
servists. There were some parts OF
the line where the regularity Of the
intervals Ga FOOT between the
corpses were impressive.
Passing next to the German side,
was able to observe the effects of
our 75-millimeter guns. Men in
trenched in deep shelters were torn
to pieces. A little to the rear, in the
woods, were long rows of dead. They
had been killed by our infantry. In
one place. six men mad crawled to
each others side to die together.
One OF them still held in his hand
this postal card which | send you
and which | intend to send to the
Hubsch family at the end of the war
that tley may know their son died
like a Christian II will be n little
consolation for this unhappy family.
The card is dated at Rastatt, Au
gust 10. and addressed to Landwer
mann Hubsch, ! komp Ersartz Bat
talon, Regiment No. LAP, Mu'heim Z
b. On the side reserved for cor
respondence is the following in Ger
man
Sunday afternoon. 3 O'Clock,
Dear Brother.
We are today at Rastatt with