Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1914-12-17


Some of our boys who got away
told me that the Dirty Shirts had
been almost cleaned up ny the Ger
mans, but made the Germans pay
dearly for thinking they could cut on
an Irish regiment without having to
fight"
Admlres German Artillery.
Private Charles Dudley Moore OF
the YNrkshire light infantry, who was
at MoLs and is now at Lynn. had the
misfortune to be wounded half an
hour after ne went into action.
The shrapnel shells of the Ger
mans were bursting over the trenches
where we were lying, and | was struck
In the foot with piece OF she'll whlcn
took the sole of my shoe clean OH.
Five minutes later when | was trying
to help fellow near me who had
been hit in the shoulder, ! was struck
in the right thigh by pellet from a
shrapnel she'll l fired one more shot
after that. | fred at the driver OF
German machine gun and hit him.
This was my first experience OF actual
fighting, and l can tell you 1t is
funny sensation at first to see the
SHELLS bursting near and around you.
to hear the bullets whlstling by you,
and to see men being killed and
wounded near you, but you soon get
used to 1t all 1t tries your nerves
bit at first but you soon get In the
way of it,
Il have the greatest admiration for
the German artillery, but their IN
fantry is absolutely useless. They
fire from the hip and take no aim at
all. The Germans are also badly fed.
At the hospital at Amiens | saw
wounded German officer who told me
he and the Others had been living on
anything they could lay hold OF, ana
that they had even eaten grass"
Do Not Like Bayonets.
Private ]. r. TAFT of the Second
Essex regiment, who was wounded
at Mons, also speaks with respect OF
the German artillery. Writing home,
he says, in a description of the hight
ing:
I'VE had several charges with their
infantry. We find they do not ike
the bayonets Their rifle shooting Is
rotten don't believe they could hit
a haystack at 100 yards. Their field
artillery is good, and we don't like
their shrapnel. / heard our men sing
ing that famous song. Get Out ana
Get Under and know that for an
hour in our trench 1t would make any
one keep under, what with shells ana
guns. l have been In three
battles In four days"
The following is an extract from
letter written by Ohio Bromf1eld OF
the signal section (Territorials), Roy"
al Engineers:
I'm doing and going as I'm told,
not worrying. but taking things as
they come. I've slept In barns, wool
stores, cinemas, casinos, dock sheds,
and for bit had the stars as coun-
terpane. The fighting has been very
fierce and close as one pal said: On
Amt 1t 'ot!' We are outnumbered
sometimes 10000 to 1000, but our boys
stick to them, and have played havoc
with their mass formations The
Maxims have cut them down like corn.
and when we charged with fixed bayo-
nets, see 'em run. They will get no
quarter from our mob. Their dead
were so thick that their reinforce
ments couldn't advance over the top.
Of course, we lost, too"
Fred Wilson of the Fifth Royal |
Lancers, who was wounded at Mons |
and reached Leeds invaded, says he
has seen the Germans bayonet our
as they came across the
field, and force women and children
In front of them as they passed our
guns. He reckons nothing of the fight
ing powers of the Germans. They
we're fairly peppered in five charges,
and when their cavalry saw us com
ng they whined like dogs. Our blood
was up after witnessing their terrible
atrocities" The British soldiers, he
adds, sing and jest while bullets are
lying thick and fast.