The Alaska daily empire., 1914-12-19

] NNmHt t A@at tA ANNtANu ! German If he got up knew that he would got Tunisian knife in hia
 throat so put my foot on him, sly. ing him two or three quick jabs with
 my heel He caught my meaning
 and lay perfectly still for 9 minute until had time to order the Tunt
 sians out to attack tho next house, Alter they were gone, ] groDed foI
 a moment to tell tho German Co stay
 where ho was until morning. ] threw a mattress over him and found him
 safe there In the early hours of the
 morning. Another German had, dur
 ing the night, crawled in with him.
 end they were both 50 weak from
 loss of blood that they could not set
 up.
 Shoulders Shot to shreda.
 When picked them up In tbe
 dawn ] found their coats had been
 completely shot away over their right shoulders. Each in turn had been
 working the rapid fire gun, and the
 rifle shots that came in through the hole they had made in the wall for
 It's nose had in turn torn their shoul- ders to pieces. They had not been able Co dress the wounds and they had dried Their two shoulders look ed like raw beef which had been ex. posed to the air until the outer part had hardneped and begun to turn black
 "But at the moment of entering the town had no time to worry about them. Wo had only taken tho first house of long street and we had hours of work ahead of ua fighting
 hom house to house. We went at them both on the street and from be hlnd and left those in the house we had just taken to keep tho Germans across the street busy.
 "I had never seen Ramscappelle in the daylight and had an entirely different idea Of what 1t was like that night After we had been capturing the one street with cost Of about five men to each house, l thought we must be somewhere near the end of our work about 8 in tho morning, when We captured the house on the corner Of the square opposite the church. But in that little open space the Germans were pouring steady stream of men who had been on the march eighteen hours to reinforce the city Imagine marching forty or fif- ty miles, to end up at o'clock in the morning against Q blank wall. with rapid.fire guns tearing at your columns from two side streetsl But they fought like fresh troops No one can ever make me believe somo of these tales we hear about the Ger mans being driven into battle by their officers They came in on the run, and fell in heaps in the square.
 There is no use in trying to de- scribe that square. There was not really anything to describe. You could not see the Germans themselves. You could only toll that they were com. ing by the flash from bursting shello glinting for fraction Of a second on their bayonets. Those dust-gray-green uniforms could not be seen at all.f In that hell of battle you could notf even hear their boots ringing on the cobblestones. and, if they cried out it was drowned All you could seel before you was a glint Of flashing rifles and darkness. in which you sensed the onrushing columns.
 After while of course. I just failed to think any molre. have as. tonishingly few recoliections of that night My memory is full of dis-I jointed occurrences, deadly fire outl of window somewhere, a German l soldier lying with bullet through | his forehead, with his rifle sighted. l He was across a mattress behind 9 window There was n dog that ran out into the street and turned around and around excitedly wagging his .ail. This must have been after day-i break but ] am not 30 sure there | was not light turned on him
 "The killings did not seem so hor tible as you might imagine. Here was man who was trying to kill you half minute ago, and now he WAS dead on the street That was an. There was no emotion connected with t. He merely representd danger hat was gone, and there was untold ianger just like him rushing on you % fast it seemed incredible you could lold out against them for any length 'f time. But have one memory out 1 'f that night which ia moro horrible han anything can conceive.
 Toward down we broke the Ger nan advance. The Belgian Fifth, ai CT standing all night in 9 ditch with water to the waist, received orders o charge at 5 in the morning, and retooll the railroad station and held he road.
 As 1t grew lighter and we realized 70 held the town, we forgot every hing else We had won. never mind he cost. We held Ramscappelle The ne break in twenty miles of line had cen closed.
 Griffiths connection with the Bel jun army would be hard to explain, understand the informal connection ! e was because have seen how de- .gh6ully informal the Belgians arc bout such matters He came over 2