Newport daily independent., 1914-10-05

moving mass that aJ ulSlaiiCe bore no resemblance to human beings. As the mass moved for ward the shells from the great German field artillery rained over our heads exploding with a concussion that tore great holes in the air, rendering breathing almost impossible. Then with their bands playing them into action and singing the 'Wacht Rhine" and other stirring martial airs the Ger mans would charge at top speed. Poor fellows, they never had chance against our lines. The British were strongly entrench- ed all along the front. The Ger mans would advance in solid masses, every company holding 300 men, in files five deep. As our rifles are the best in the world and our shots wonderfully expert the Germans were doom ed from the outset. Steadylng their rifles on the top of the trenches the British fired at will. They could not miss and as the Germans were in mass formation every bullet found no less than two marks and often three or four. The poor fellows would go down like chaff before a great fire. Whole companies would fall together. The wound ] ed would squirm out of the mass es of dead and try to go on and it would then become necessary to shoot them again. The sights that I saw there proved conclu- sively to me that this was not war but terrible holocaust and that the cost in human lives
 would be almost impossible of Comprehension. Slaughter with { the rifles was varied with organ Ezed killing with cold steel. The
 Germans persisted in their at tacks and the British command CTS rushed their men forward
 with fixed bayonets. It was
 hand-to-hand fighting with a
 vengeance but invariably the longer knife of the British troops prevailed and the enemy
 would be compelled to retreat in
 great disorder.
 While the British were gain
 ing a series of great successes
 the French were defeated on our right. They were unable to hold
 the Germans and their rifle fire
 was almost as base as that of 1 the Germans. And finally the
 British were ordered to fall back in order that they might
 not be enveloped. When the or
 ders came the soldiers were al-
 most in open rebellion. Stal-
 wart members of the Irish and
 Scotch regiments wept. At sev-
 eral points along the line the
 British actually jumped from
 the trenches and charged the | Germans to emphasize the fact that the British ought not to re- treat. But finally the officers
 went among the men and ex- plained that it had been arrang- ed beforehand for the men to 1 fall back so as to lure the Ger mans into trap. The explana- tion repeated hundreds of times fully sufficed.
 Where the British had an advantage was in their wonder full rifle fire, something the Germans seemed unable to mas ter. The German hill fire is tremendous. It is hard to de- scribe. There is a small hill with a company of soldiers entrench- led on it. A German aviator flies over their heads. He sig nals the range. A dozen shells are dropped. They explode. The hill has disappeared and in it's place is great hole filled with dead men. Their trenches have been their graves. One notable thing of the modern war is the large proportion of wounded lover the dead. The modern ri- files are humane. I have seen many men wounded in what have ordinarily been considered vital spots, taken to hospitals and returned to the firing line in a week. After we had reached 1 the line of the Marne we began to advance. And we moved so fo ct fbn Carroapc xynrn Ylnahlp fO