The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-08-27
~ BERNARD kELLERMANN,
(Author Of "The Tunnel.nl

<USUsOb W U9 U0UN0ysy
ON THE WESTERN GERMAN
FRONT, Aug. 27.-I have seen them
and talked to them. the men fighting
out there In the trenches Of Souchex.
Just now they are resting. but tonight
they will be fighting again like de-
mons. The roads and paths for miles
around are under fearful fire. Al
most every second shell bursts with
deafening roar Through this in.
ferno they must pass. Then they viii
be in Souchez.
What is Souchez: small village
which nobody knew few months ago,
and which now will never be forgotten.
The little hamlet Is marked for all
time, like Gravelotte and Woerth. II
hell keeps books the name Of Souchez
must be entered in large letters.
There is nothing left Of the village
but a heap Of ruins. The houses
left their places, jumped to the street
and collapsed. A little creek runs
through the hamlet, the brook Of Car
ency, but its banks are destroyed and
1t has left the bed through which It
peacefully ran for centuries. With a
sad murmur the yellow, dirty water
flows into the crater formed by ex-
plosions Of hundreds Of thousands Of
shells. -..--. ...-...- To- ....-
Dodge French Shells.
The trenches are few hundred
yards from the village. behind a cur
tain of fire. Through this curtain our
boys In gray must pass. There are
no communicating passages-the
French artillery on the heights of Lo-
retto does not permit them can only
be reached over the open field, through
the unceasihg hail of French shells.
But our men are fearless. The
fact that many Of them may not live
to see the next morning has no terrors
for them, and does not even rob them
OF their good humor. They are all as
brown as berries, and the heat has
pealed the skin from their noses and
ears. Their uniforms were all field
gray at one time, but nobody is able
to distinguish their color now. Only
the first sergeant looks as If he had
just come from the tailor shop. His
uniform Is spotless and his hands are
carefully manicured.
Traces Course Of Trench.
With the long finger nail Of his lit
tie finger he traces the position on
the map. Before the war he was a
high school professor, but now he is
soldier every inch of him.
This is our TRENCH" he said ex-
planning the map to me. "Over there
on the heights of Lorette, the artillery
Of the enemy stands.
Yesterday we were under heavy
fire from o'clock in the morning un-
til 9 o'clock at night. Our trenches
looked as If a giant steam pillow had
run through them. We could not hear
nor see anything.
"Of course We had losses, but that
can not be avoided. A 25-centimeter
shell burst near me. A trench was
destroyed and we were buried.
About 9 o'clock in the evening the
shells began to fly over us. The en-
envy was trying to drive back a re-
lief column and to storm what was
left Of our trench. Our lieutenant, a
young man of 10 years, shouted a
command, and in q moment our trench
an ant-heap. We dug our
selves out Most of our guns had
become worthless, but we had hand
grenades.
Use Had Grenades.
1.-THE French swooped down upon
US, but we sent couple of dozen of
the grenades into their ranks. Stand