The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1915-01-09
Dangers of Withdrawing ,Fatigued
Forces From the German Trenches

| the leads were covered with black
hair. Our men would have gladly bur-
leu the fallen enemies, but IL was i'm
possible to leave the trenches One
mas Dut TO show the point OF the hcl-
met, or attempt to stretch the cramp-
ed and stiff limbs II draw hail OF
iron.
"A yellow mud fioated about in the
trench and ran down the sides. And
In this our soldiers stand day and
night. They are heroes. No doubt
this term has often been misapplied
but 1t certainly is due the men who IN
the cold and wet OF the trench and af-
ter long and dreary weeks or tiiiy
know how to smile and crack n ioke.
For eight hours the man leaned
against the wet sides of the trench.
ihen the relief force creeps along to
give the others a chance to live for &c
hours IN damp cellar. To guide tho
men at night white ribbons and pieces
or paper are fastened here and there.
Like beings OF another world these
men light no fires and speak no word.
"As we returned l noted a number
OF broken chairs and other pieces OF
furniture and was told that these
were danger signals marking points
Mt walls where the. enemy could see
what passed beyoal. Death lurked
everywhere
,,i so we gent pack through the tun-
mel. through the houses and. cellars
and ant across the yards, and finally came
10. the narrow street which had to be
crossed at. q Jump. Evidently =. tho
FRENCH had seen us sllD across... tue
SIP across the open place. and thaving
probably observed the automobile at
Eessen, they must have concluded that
some members or the star were MAX
Ing an inspection of the position at
pixmude. At 2 o'clock in the. after
noon they began to shell the place:
One shell after another hit the
ruins about the market place and re-
duced the debris to still smaller di-
mensions. Standing in a doorway
o.ose to the scene I WAS impressed by
the terrific noise of the bombardment
as q sort of sublime spectacle.
"A she'll fell In our street, and the
major ordered ds into his cellar. But
we found it hard to leave the iron
concert which whistled and sang,
crashed and rolled through the ruins
in thousand keys.
of a sudden was thrown against
the corporal WHO. had been standing by
my eide, and the two OF lls flew to the
ground. A shell, had struck the
ground SO feet away from us and the
Iairwave Of the Explosion had knock
ed us over tift'p -, -" -
= g. AFTER that we followeds the mayor
Willingly enough to his room in the
cellar. It was very still there and the
dreary fickerinE flame Of ID candle
seemed to make more SO. But above
oir heads the detohat ations continued.
Whenever one of the shHfIs :hitA&iose
enough to the R3uee to, lshAke 1T 10 Its,
very fotiuation, itfls fhajofs would say.
:" " ""'Now!s"is' -
t.Tor a while that was tie sony
sound among those who sat about tie
home-made table In the cellar. Later
somebody tried to mast ttie peculiar.
excitement which neid us all, in,s . Hts
grip by telling funny stories. %Bi2 I'm
spite of tfe.atories and thesdigarettes,
the excitement. CAUSED by the runcer-
it1intFl whessaa Ii - next '}sheii aa,d
strike, held un.ol $40 ".s4
When the bombardment, had sub
sided the correspondents made their
way back to their automobiles. con-
tending en- routeowith two unfriendly
elements-mud and more shells and
shrapnel. '-'q.s 80. 4