New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-23

Of course. was attacked on sunday
Steep slopes led up to the mel
which were held in considerable loIGe'
"'With our weak detachmentS oil tne
! 74th and 9lst regiments we rcached tme
! crest and came under a terrible artii-
| Ierv fire that moved us down. nov,
Ger. we entered st. PriX. Hardly hRd
we done so than we were met win
she'll fire and violent fusillade IRON
the enemv's infantry. Our colonel was
/ hadlv wounded: he is the third We
/ have had. Fourteen men were K'ile 1
around me. We got away III iu''
without being hit. L
"'The 7th, sth and 9th of September
we were constantly under shell anu
shrapnel fire and suffered terrible loss;
| was in a house which was hit several
times. The fear Of death, OF agony
which is in every heart, and naturally
so. is a terrible feeling. How OFTEN !
have thought of you, my DARING, ana
what | suffered in that terrifying oa'.
tie which extended along a front OF
many miles near Montmirail' you can
not possibly imagine.
"'Our heavy artillery was being used
for the siege of Maubeuge. we want
I ed it badly, as the enemy had theirs
/ in force and kept up furious bonn
/ bardment. For four days | was under
( artillery fire. 1t was ike NELL Dut
/ thousand times worse
/ "IOn the night of the 9th the order
was given to retreat, as it would have
been madness to attempt to hold our
nosition with our few men, and we
sbould have risked a terrible defeat
tho next day. The first and third
armies had not been able to attack
with us. as we had advanced too rap
idlv Our morale was absolutely
broken. and, in spite OF unheard-ot
sacrifices, we had achieved nothing
al cannot understand how our army,
after fighting three great battles and
being terribly weakened, was sent
against position which the enemy mao
prepared for three weeks, but naturally
/ know nothing of the intentions OF our
chiefs; they say nothing.
Expects to March on Paris.
"In a word, we retired toward Cor.
montreuil and Rheims for forced
marches by day and night. We hear
that three armies are going to get into
line, intrench and rest and then start
afresh our victorious march on Paris
1t was not defeat, only strategic
retreat. have confidence in our chiefs
and that everything will be successful
"'Our first battalion, which has
fought with unparalleled bravery, is
reduced from 200 to 1874 men. These
, numbers speak for themselves
Among the minor happenings of in
terest is the following: During
| counter attack by the German 53c
Regiment on portions Of the Northamp
ton and Queens regiments on Thurs
Gay, the 18th, force of some 400 OF
, the enemy were allowed TO approach
right up to the trench occupied by
platoon Of the former regiment, owing
TO the fact that they had held up then
hands and made gestures that were IN
terpreted as signs that they wished tc
surrender. When they were actually
or the parapet of the trench held by
the NorthamptonS they opened fire or
cur men at point blank range,
"Unluckily for the enemy, however
Aanking them, and only some 400 yard,
away, there happened to be a machine
gun manned by detail ment Of &c
Queens. This at one opened fire, cut
ting a lane through their mass, anc
thew fell back to their own trench with
great loss. Shortly afterward they
we're driven further back, with addi
tional loss, by battalion of Guard,
which came up in support
IAN incident which occurred some
time ago during our retirement is alsC
worthy of record On August %, dur
ing the battle fought by the French
along the Disc, between La Fere anc
Guise, one Of the French commanders
desired to make an air reconnaissance
1t was found, howeyor, that no OBJ
servers were available: Wishing &c
helm our allies as much as possible, a
British officer attached to this particu'
lar French army volunteered to 60. up
with the pilot to observe. He had
never been in an aeroplane, but he
made the ascent and produced val
uable reconnaissance report.
Incidentally he had duel in the
cir at an altitude of 5000 feet with the
observer of a German Taube mono,
plane. which approached. He fired
several shots and drove off the hostile
aeroplane. His action was much APP
preciated by the French.
"In view of the many statements
' ,rglc in tho press rs 10 tho rs" ~