Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1915-10-08
DIED LIKE HEROES
Two Companies Hold Position
PMe Days Without Relief.
Only HANDFUL 81 Wrecks Left Of A.
sauitlnS Party With Mission to
Capture chapsl-They Cap
tueed L.

SOAR~A@SS
faAtry took . chapel defended by Ger
man trenches AID held their narrow
strip Of captured ground for i've days
under . continual are hom German
artillery 10 related in . letter pub
lished In the Figaro Of recent date.
TIE letter was written by tho officer
commanding the party, who was one
Of the handful who remained when
they were at last relieved. The ap-
2alling gruesomeness of modern war.
fare Is told in thrilling phrases in this
recital Of = heroic act. Parts OF the
story have been elided by the French
censor, but enough Is left to glvo q
graphic description. 1t is Is follows:
There was much agitation upon the
plateau. The order had been given to
my majcr to take the chapel at all
costs. Ny company had the honor OF
being designated as the attacking
company. and am sent to reconnoi-
ter tho point Of departure.
THE chaseeurs who man the
trenches from which We are to leave
look at US with interest, because we
are going to give the ANAL blow, and
because everyone Is sure that the
chapel has been mined and that tho
storming company will be blown up
with It
II give my last orders, then the
whistle signal and We start of on the
run. For two hundred yards, q great
distance In an attack of this kind
we run through shell holes at points
deep As = mans height. We take
three trenches that are not heavily
defended. But by tho time We arrive
at the chapel half the company Is
down behind US, for We made the trip
in tho cross IRE Of three machine
guns.
my sub-lieutenant, . cashier Of the
Rank Of France in times Of peace. but
. lion On the battlefield, at the head OF
ten men, jumps into tho little trench
that surrounds the chapel and drives
out the German sections. We have
taken tho chapel, but 1t has been a
hard task; then my lieutenant signals
to Captain ks company. Without an
instant's hesitation he leads his COM
pany behind mine, through the cap
tured trenches. He joins ne and Is
killed just a. he shakes my hand.
take command Of his company as well
as mine, and throughout the night a
savage struggle takes place.
"The positions We occupy are in the
form Of q spoon, the captured trenches
form tho handle and the chapel the
large end. Through the trenches am
munition and food are sent to US, as
We are being attacked on three sides.
"The next day, seeing that they
could not drive US out by assaults and
not having been able to blow US up.
for the precaution had been taken to
cut all electric wires which the shell
explosions revealed, the Germans be-
gan bombarding. All their artillery
In that neighborhood was concentrated
upon the small space we held, and !
humbly pray to God that l may never
again ind myself In the midst of such
, hell.
Huge shells burst among tho liv-
Ing and the dead uninterruptedly; we
breathed only q thick and nauseous
vapor Everything was burning, every
thing was whistling all about us. The
reinfofcements that were sent In to
me melted away and l was obliged
to send again and again for more men
to add to the handful of heroes whom
l have the honor to command.
I'VE could no longer get supplies,
and for more than twenty-four hours
We had to 60 without food or drink.
What . sight! When, both day
and night, hands and feet slip cease
lessly upon unnamabis things which
once were human bodies, when OF
these things ono has before one tho
thickness of four men, one realizes
how small ono really 10 In the scheme
of things, and 1t restores religious
ideas to tho most skeptical. For Ave
days that continued. and for i've days
my colonel, who was watching the
BON bardment Of the chapel. kept say
Ing to his stan oficers: How can
you expect . company to hold out In
that helli It 10 not Dossible!'
But hold We did! We held until
the moment whom . huge twenty-one
centimeter shell struck three yards
away from mo, tearing everything
about me to . horrible mess and bury
Ing me with i've other soldiers. We
dragged ourselves out. and finding that
no one OF us was wounded W tool
OF our kepis and on our knees VI
thanked tho Blessed Virgin for having
saved ~.
Shortly afterward We vers relieved
And when l descended that slope tc
the plateau with the handful Of mel