South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-08-18
THE Human Slaughter House"-Machine Guns
Now Down Hundreds on Bloody Battlefield
BY WILLIAM LAMszUs.
(Master OF a large public school in
Germany


(Master OF a large public school in
Germany
CHAPTER VI.
Our subaltern, lying a bare five
PAGES away from the grass. raises
himself on his elbows, and gazes in
tently through his field glasses.
know what is vexing his soul. He is
a handsome. splendid lad for whom
even We grizzled old-timers would go
through fire and water. for he meets
you as man 10 man, without shifting
or swagger as IL becomes youngster.
And the other day. when / was
marching with the rear guard, We dis
cussed Lilliencrons novels. Since then
he has always appealed 10 me as II
he had stepped right out Of one OF
these rOmances of war. He is all
ablaze TO CLEAN his first laurels. But
however much ne may twiddle the
focus OF his glasses up and down and
crane his neck, he cannot discover
trace Of the enemy and we blaze
away foolishly at the wood, and may,
for all / know be bringing down
leaves or birds from the trees there.
CLOSE TO the big oak. To the right
in the underground some one of the
rank and file sings out.
1 strain my eyes TO the spot, and fail
to see anything.
And again l hear the guns growing
all round us. But somewhere out of
the far distance a clear, long-drawn
bugle call rings out amid the iron
bass. 1t thrills like nerve and brain
against an iron wall.
Behind there, to the right-they are
on the run therei And from afar the
rifle fire rattles like mad.
Men men! Up with you! At the
double!"
That came from our lot our
subaltern is racing on with his drawn
sword in his hand . am still
prone, and have, almost automatical-
~, drawn my right knee close up un-
der my body they are rising to
their feet to the left and right OF me.
and daShing on after him a
wrench and my knapsack slides lOp-
sided up the back Of my neck 4
then ] jump up with my rife in my
right hand, and am running for all
my legs are worth.
But as we rise to our feet the ma
chine guns in the woods begin to
buzz, and TO rain lead into our ranks
until right and left Of me men yelp
and drop twisted and tumbled TO the
ground.
DOWI- INdDlu llit.
The line is prone and again we are
blazing into the wood, and can catch
no glimpse of our enemy. Never a
single arm raised against u.s. never
the eye of a single man to challenge
us. The wood, the green wood, is
numbering us from afar, before a sin
gle human face come in view.
And while to the right and left of
me the rifle fire chatters necessarily,
the grim mOckery of il maddens my
blood, and makes me see red before
my eyes. / see scale armor and visors
high in their stirrups the knights
burst blazing out Of the wood. and 1
a reckless hOrseman of the past. 1
leap into the saddle-my broad sword
flashes clear and kisses the morning
breeze-and now up and at them like
a thunderbOlt Then eyes are flashing
into mine and hands are raised for the
melee-and stroke for stroke, breast
to breast, the pride OF youthful, virile
strength Ha-ha-ha-ha! What
has happened? Where have horse
and rider vanished2 Where is my
sword? We are not even charging
men. Machines are trained on us
Why, we are only charging machines
And the machine triumphs deep into
our very flesh. And the machine is
draining the life blood from our veins.
and tapping it up in bucketsful
Those who have been hit are already
lying mOwn down in swathes behind
us and are writhing on their wounds.
And yet they are racing up behind us
in their hundreds-young. healthy
human flesh for the machines to
butcher.