El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-22
DEAD STILL LIE
THICK ON FIELD
French at scissors Retired
Fighting, Some With Guns
Broken From Clubbing.


German headquarters before scissors,
France. Jan 22-The battlefield near
scissors. recently the scene of terrific
fighting in which Gen. Won Kluck
gained the mastery over the French, is
still dotted with corpses by the hun
dreds. principally by French soldiers
who fell during their hasty retire
ment fYcm the trenches. They had TO
Gloss Ulion fields under artillery fire
and death overlook some as they ran
The positions of the bodies show that
most OF the French soldiers retired
fighting. although some of them fell
on their faces IS they were stumbling
toward the rear. Some lie SPRAYING
on their backs, faces to the sun, oc-
casionally with heads pillowed on
knapsacks, showing that death was
not instantaneous and that perhaps
last service had been rendered to them
by their fleeing comrades. Three or
four had managed to draw from their
pockets packages of black cigarets for
q final smoke before passing away.
Most of the bodies lie Wigh heads
pointed toward the abandoned French
trenches with rifles by Tneir sides or
often still clenched N stiffened hands.
Died Making Last stand
At the edge of the plateau just over
its brink, lay a long line of dead men.
They had turned for last stand
against the advancing Germans and
mad met their QeaLu. STUDY Oh Lu6 SlL-
uatiOn showed that they had made no
attempt to rush down the declivity
TO temporary safety. The bayOnets on
all their rifles We're fixed and in
number Of cases the chambers Of their
pieces still held uneXploded shells Two
or three rifles were found, the shocks
of which had been broken off at the
grip, evidence Of the severity Of the
hand to hand fighting.
Somebody Loved Each One
NJ rzrara
or revulsion at the sight OF these hun
dreds Of corpses; their very number
took away the impression of human
slaughter. They seemed like figures in
! a huge panoramic painting of a battle.
The human note, however, often came
I out when one was told of the contents
| of the letters found In the knapsacks
( or gTasped in the hands OF these dead
French soldiers. II was the duty of the
Intelligence officer in the party with
I glance at such letters for the sake Of
/ the military information they might
contain. But of this there was little.
| Far Oftener he found letters from home,
with sentences about the health Of the
children and references to little pres
I ents and delicacies on the way to the
! soldier Sometimes there was home
I gossip and often expressions Of anxiety
/ for the safety Of husband or father, and
/ always the hope for the end Of this
terrible war" and the return Of the
/ loved one.
Grenaders strevyn over Field.
It was necessary to walk with pre-
caution over the battlefield. particular
| ~ in the vicinity Of the trenches as
abandoned hand grenades were sOwn
/ thickly about ready to explode at any
moment from a careless foOtstep. Ger
man burial parties collected thousands
| Of these weapons which are nothing
more than square boxes Of explosive
; bound to wooden handles Is inches
long. Most Of the captured cannon al
ready have been removed from the
! battlefield, the German captors being
anxious to send them In and receive the
reward given each unit making a cap
ture. But I'm the ravine Of La MonceI.
on the eastern extremity of the battle
I field there were stiu six siege guns
! The French had not been able to re-
move them in time and now they were
in possession Of the Germans.
French Open Fire.
a detachment of artillery experts
was busy completing the Interrupted
task OF transferring this heavy artil-
lery TO wheels for transportation to
the rear While the artillery captain
! in charge was exhibiting his prizes
with pride and explaining that they
were l5-centimeter coast defence
weapons. calling the attention at the
same time to the stores of ammunition
also taken by his men, the French sud
denly fired on these guns and on the
road 90 the rear of them Evidently
they had conjectured that an attempt
would be made to remove them, and
knowing their exact location. they
were able TO make il warm for the
German artillerymen engaged in this
task. This fire was a signal for the
opening of a further general lombard
ment all along the line II was the
first activity manifested since the
termination Of the battle three days
before.
Trenches Deep IN Miro.
The trenches and the approaches
afforded complete protection against
ghrapnel fire but their bottoms were
a mass of sticky clay into which one
sank at every step from s to 20 inches
Flooding through miles OF such
trenches has been the daily task of
thousands of soldiers engaged for four
months in this fortress warfare on the
north bank of the Aisne.