Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-11-11
tmope's ArmagedCon and
the Last War
CHAPTER v.
Intrenchin9 In Belgian Luxembourg.


the war time. While these terrific dis
closures Of scientific possibility were
happening In Paris and Berlin Bar.
net and his company were induStri.
ou>ly intrenching themselves in Bel.
gan Luxembourg.
He tells Of the mobilization and Of
his summers day journey through the
north Of France and the Ardennes in
4 few vivid phrases. The country was
Drowned by u warm summer. the
trees a little touched with autumnal
color and the wheat already golden
When they stopped for an hour ut Hir-
son men and women with tricolor
badges upon the platform distributed
cakes and glasses Of beer to the
thirsty soldiers, and there was much
cheerfuness. Such good. cool beer it
was" be wrote. II had nothing to
eat nor drink since Epsom.''
A number Of monoplanes, like giant
swallows" he notes. We're scouting in
the pink evening sky.
Barnet's battalion was sent through
the Sedan country to place called
Nirton and thence to point in the
woods on the line to Jemele. Here
they detrained. bivOnacked uneasily
by the railwav-trains and stores were
passing along 1t all night next
morning he marched eastward through
a cold. overcast dawn and morning,
first cloudy and then blazing. over a
countryside interspersed by forest to.
ward ArlOn.
There the infantry were set to work
upon line Of masked entertainments
and hidden rifle pits between st. Hu.
bert and Virton that were designed to
check and delay any advance from
the east upon the fortified line of the
Meuse. They had their orders, and
for two days they worked without Ell
ther sight Of the enemy or any sus
picion Of the disaster that had abrupt
ly decapitated the armies Of Europe
and turned the west Of Paris and the
center of Berlin into blazing minia-
lures of the destruction of Pompeii.
And the news, when it did come,
came attenuuted. I'VE heard there had
been mischief with aerop!nes and
bombs in Paris" Barnet relates, but
1t didn't seem to follow that they
weren't still somewhere celebrating
their plans and issuing orders. When
the enemy began to emerge from the
woods in front of us We cheered and
blaZed away and didn't trouble much
more about anything but the battle in
hand If now and then one cooked up
an eye into the sky to see what was
happening there the rip Of bullet
soon brought one down to the horizon
tai again.
That battle went on for three days
all over a great stretch of country be-
tween LOuvain on the north and Long
wy to the south. 1t was essentially a
rifle and Infantry struggle. The aero
planes do not seem to have taken any
decisive share in the actual fighting for
some days. though no doubt they af
fected the strategy from the first by
preventing surprise movements. They
were aeroplanes with atomic engines,
but they We're not provided with atomic
able for field use, nor indeed had they
any very effective kind Of bomb, And,
though they Unanswered against each
other and there was rifle shooting at
them and between them, there was lit
tie actual aerial fighting. Either the
air men were indisposed to fight or the
commanders on both sides preferred to
reserve these machines for scouting
After a day or two Of digging and
scheming Barnet found himself In the
forefront Of a battle. He had made
his section Of rifle pits chiefly along a
line Of deep, dry ditch that gave a
means Of intercommunicaton. He had
had the earth scattered over the ad-
jacent field, and he had masked bis
preparations with tussocks Of corn and
poppy. The hostile advance came
blindly and unsuspiciously across the
fields below and would have been cruel
~ handled indeed if some one away to
the right had not opened fire too soon
1T was queer thrill when these
fellows came into sight" be confesscs.
land not bit like muneuvers They
halted for time on the edge Of the
wood and then came forward in an
open line. They kept walking nearer
to us and not looking at us, but away
to the right Of us. Even when they
began to be hit and their officers whis
ties woke them up, they didn't seem
to see US. One or two halted to fire
and then they all went back toward
the wood again. They went Slowly at
first, looking round at us, then the
shelter Of the wood seemed to draw
them and they trotted. fred rather
mechanically and missed, then / fred
again, and then became earnest tc
hit something made sure Of my sight
ing and aimed very carefully at blue
back that was lodging about in the
corn. At first l couldn't satisfy my
self and didn't shoot. his movements
were so spasmodic and uncertain, then
think he came to ditch or some
such obstacle and halted for a moment
Got you l whispered and pulled the
trigger.
II had the strangest sensations about
that man. In the first instance. wher
felt that ! had hit him was ir
radiated with Joy and pride.
II sent him spinning. He jumped
and threw up his arms. Then | saw
the corn tops waving and bad glimpse:
of his Tapping about. Suddenly l fel
sick. I hadn't killed him.
I'm some way he was disabled ant
smashed up and yet able to struggle
about. began to think.
For nearly two hours that Prussia1
was agoniZing in the corn. Either BIZ