New-York tribune., 1914-09-28
Bodies LieUnburied Three
Weeks in Forests on
French Frontier.
TOUCHING INCIDENTS
TOLD OF THE DYING
Wounded Enemies Lying Side by
Side Made Friends and
Die Embracing.
[Ry Cahle % The TrIbune. ]


London, Sept. 27.-A correspondent
of "The Daily Chronicle" in q dispatch
from Dion, says;
although great interest Is concen-
trRted upon the northwest side OF the
line Of battle in France, It must not
be forgotten that the east side also IS
Of high Importance. The situation OF
the French and German forces along
the Jagged frontier from the north to
the south is Of vital Influence on the
whole field Of war, and any great move
ment Of troops in this direction al
fects the strategy Of the genera Is IN
command upon the Furthermore wings.
at was the desire to know something
of what has been happening on the east
which led me 70 travel to the extreme
right. Few correspondents have been
in this part of the field since the be
ginning of the war. II Is far from
their own line of communications. For
this reason there have been no detailed
narratives Of the fighting in Lorraine
and a strange silence has flooded over
those battlefields. The spell of II has
been broken only by official bulletins
telling In a line or two the uncertain
result of the ceAseless struggle for
mastery.
There are regiments Of young men
who have the right already to call
themselves veterans, for they have
been fighting continually for six week ks
in innumerable engagements for the
most part unrecorded by any ofticisl
dispatch. / saw them answering the
call to mobilization, singing joyously
as they marched through the streets.
Then they were smart fellows. clean
shaven and spruce in their new blue
coats and scarlet trousers.
"Now war has put its dent on them,
and it seems to have aged them by
fifteen years, leaving its ineffaceable
imprint upon their faces. Their blue
coats have changed TO a dusty gray.
But they are hard and tough for the
most part, and Napoleon himself would
not have wished for better fighting
men,"
Deadly Guerilla Warfare.
For the first time now since the be-,
ginning Of the war there is chance for
q little respite on the French frontier,
and in the wooded country of the two
lost provinces there will be time to
bury the dead which cucumber the
fields. Words are utterly inadequate
to describe the horrors of the region
to the east Of the Meurthe between the
little towns Of Blamont, Badonviller,
Cirey-les-F -Forges, Arracourt, Chateau
Salins, Morhange and Badrecourt,
where for six weeks there has been
incessant fighting.
After the heavy battle Of September
4, when the enemy was repulsed with
severe losses after an attack in force,
both sides retired for about twenty
Kilometres and dug themselves into
lines of trenches, which they still h"ld.
But every day since that date there
has been kind of guerilla warfare,
with small bodies Of men fighting from
village to village and from wood to
wood, the forces on each side being
scattered over a wide area in advance
Of their main lines. This method OF
warfare is even more terrible than a
pitched battle.
at is absurd to talk Of Red Cross
work" said one Of the French soldiers
who had just come out Of the trenches
at Lun&ville; at has not existed as far
as many of these fights are concerned.
How could it? A few brancardios with
stretchers, came with us on some OF
our expeditions, but they were shot
down, and after that the wounded men
Just lag where they fell or crawled
away into the shelter Of the woods.
"Those of US who were unhurt were
not allowed to attend to our wounded
comrades. It is against orders. We
have to 80 on, regardless Of the losses.
My own best comrade was struck down
by my side. heard his cry and saw
him lying with the blood oozing
through his coat. My heart wept TO
leave him. He wanted me to take his
money, but ] Just kissed his hand and
went on. I suppose he died, for ! could
rot find him whom we retreated."