Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-11-26

arising from this source are disabling
more soldiers, he says. than are the guns
of the Germans. In the trenches the
men are we'll protected from the artillery
fire, and when they do get out in the
open, most of the wounds received are
like those he got. in the legs. because the
shrapnel bursts low. scattering It's leaden
bullets. Sergeant Fleming has portions
of two shrapnel shells and some of the
balls from them which he dug out of the
sides of German trench, after his
troops had captured it.
Most of the firing is done by the artil-
lery, and there is comparatively little
rifle firing. Bayonet charges are fire.
quently made by the British troops, to
check attempted advances of the Ger
mans While the Germans are very good
fighters, says Sergt. Fleming. they do
not like hand to hand fighting, and are
usually easily driven back to their
trenches when the Britishers descend up
on them with fixed bayonets. The Ger
MANS he says, are usually shot in the
back, when it comes to infantry fighting.
Their artillery is the Germans strong
est fighting agent. The German infantry,
Sergt Fleming says, is very ineffective.
and would be easily conquered were they
not so well protected by artillery. AS
he expressed: 1.-The artillery is all We
care about We don't give a hang for
their infantry
The field of battle is lined with
trenches, dug by the troopers themselves.
and the trenches of the extreme front
are continually changing hands. A trench
which is occupied by the Germans today
may protect British tomorrow, or vice
versa. The soldiers carry in their equip
ment small picks and shovels with which
they can throw up trench in short or
der When time permits they dig
trenches deep enough for them to walk
around in without being exposed. or one
behind which they can lie down will do
for temporary protection. until they get
time to make 1t deeper.
Evidence of Atrocities.
Evidence of the barbarous treatment of
women and children by the Germans is
brought back by Sergeant Fleming. He
himself saw the bodies of mother and
her three-weeks old babe who had been
bayoneted to death in their bed by the
German troopers, after the husband and
father had been bayoneted at the door.
The priest who rescued him was an eye
witness of the triple murder, and has
filed In London signed deposition of
what he saw Almost all of the residents
of the territory where the war is raging
have fled.
Sergeant Fleming is a veteran of sew
eral campaigns. Coming originally from
Dublin, he was in India in 1897 and '9S
in the Tiara campaign against the Zahki
Kels, and in the Boer war in South
Africa.
He has also been first sergeant in the
Maine National Guard.
1t was In the Boer war, says Sergeant
Fleming, that the British learned many
of the ruses that they are now employ
ing successfully against the Germans.
Sergeant Fleming was in the hospital
in London from Oct. % to 26, in Scotland
from Oct. rs to Nov. 5. when he sailed Tor
America. He landed In New York Mon
day, and was on the Fall River line
boat that struck on shoals at Hells gate
Monday night, and had to put back into
New York. For a time he wondered
whether he had survived the great war
to come home and be shipwrecked In
Long Island Sound He came through
to Portland by rail and will reach his
home in South Paris tonight. still carry
ing a bandaged leg and suffering from
disorders incident to the life on the bat
tlefield, but the first veteran of the great
war to settle down in Maine