New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-10
HOW FRENCH DEFY
DEATH in TRENCHES
Corporal Gives Graphic
Description of All
Night Attack.
GREATEST MENTAL
STRAIN IN WAITING
Dawn Finds Ground Covered
with Dead and Dying Germans,
Victims Of BayonetS.
By {. INMAN BARNARD.

By {. INNAN BARNARD.
/ Paris Correspondent q The New Yors rribun,
/ Paris. Jan. 9.-The most picturesque
description Of night fighting in the
trenches written by any French CORE
/ spondent FL the front is published to-
/ day in lie Figaro" II comes from
| Charles Tardieu. corporal in an infan-
try regiment, and is a detailed record.
/ half hour by half hour. of a night OF
attacks and counter attacks from
/ o'clock IN the evening until dawn.
/ After describing three successive Ger
man assaults. during which search
lights and flashlights played important
parts. the corporal notes:
/ "2:25 n. m.-All the corporals run
/ back for ammunition. We had expend-
cd hundred rounds each. Away we 90
! 20 our ammunition reserve. hid in a big
| hole twenty yards 10 the rear. and we
/ come running back and distribute pack
| ages of cartridges. Each man cleans
/ his rifle. An hour passes in silence,
/ broken only BY the intermittent volleys
and by the moaning Of the wounded
end dying. some Of whom eXclaim
/ 'kamarades. kamarades, drink. drink
We will look after them when the day
B breaks.
/ 3:15-Here they come AT us again.
/ Bullets whistle over our heads. Our
/ captain passes the order in whis-
/ pers not 20 open fire until the bouches
/ sales reach our wire network. then 10
| shoot like hell. We smile grimly and
/ keep still. Every minute the firing
/ draws nearer. We await behind our
/ loopholes. now and then risking a peep
/ through them. These loopholes arc
only fifteen or twenty centimetres vide.
| but If a bullet comes through them Il
Is a skull pierced and certain death.
/ This silent waiting Is tremendous
mental and nervous strain.
I'VE keep still as mice. with clenched
/ teeth. Luminous fuses. like roman
candles. burst forth IN every direction,
/ exploding in dust over our heads. A
moment later a dazzling signal light
4 rocket bursts fifty wards high, Just
/ above our trenches. lighting them up
As clear as dav for several seconds.
/ We crouch down under the lower para
/ pet like molcs. Immediately afterward
mad fusillade. and the German -
guns, having got a better range than
. during the previous attacks. throw
. shells that burst, luckily for us. nearly
one hundred yards behind our trenches.
This attack must bo general, for We
hear fusillades cracking far away 70
the right and left.
Suddenly We trcmble in spite or
ourselves. The hoarse sound OF the
/ short German bugles pierces the night
with four lugubrious notes in a minor
key. funereal, deathly. It is their
! charge. Yells. oaths and vociferations
are heard in front OF US. Our captain
commands us 20 fire BY volleys: Aim.
Fire. They must have felt something,
Grawls out some one of US in a nasal.
Montmartrc-like voice. Then again:
AIM Fire. What sport, Then comes
the cric-crac-cric-crac. sewing machine
like hammering OF our mitrailleuses.
{ Cur captain passes the word: Fire
low, fire low, Aim, FIRE. Volley
follows vollcy. The enemy's dash
seems checked. Their fire slackens. We
hear their officers swearing and Yell
ing at their men in shrill. high-pitched.
penetrating voices. joyful eXaltstion
gives us sort OF fever. Aim! FIRE.!
But the boches sales make another rush
at US. Driven on by their Infatuated
( officers. they again reach our wire net
work Our captain commands, FIRE at
will Then. Fire al repetition, fire UNI
I'll Che magazine is exhausted. Just
as the Germans. in wavering, hesltat-
ing groups, presenting vague outlines
try to cut our networks they tumble
{ ever like marionettes. Already some
4 Of our men, intoxicated with fury,
stard IN in tho trenches.
"Our caDtain commands, In aVant
bat
net.D A fierce roar from our chests,
and the only bugler left alive in our
/ company sounds the charge. Away We
/ 90 with our beyonets. We scarcely
/ roach them when the pouches are put
10 rout. Some Of them escape helter
! SHELTER, throwing down rifles and KNAPP
| sacks. Halt commands our captain.
We lie down and keep up the firing on
] the retreating remnants of the enemy.
! Rack 10 the trenchesi' is the next COM
/ mand. A few more volleys in the di-
/ rection Of the Germans, then comes the
/ command, Cease firing. Take your
/ haversacks, eat and rest All becomes
/ silent again except for the narrowing
means OF the wounded. We learn that
the German assault has been repulsed
all alorg the line. Their losses must
/ have been awful.
"5 a. m.-Gray. misty dawn breaks
from behind the orme trees. SOON we
arc able 10 see what has happened.
Over three hundred bouches are on
the ground in front Of our companys
/ trench, lying dead or wounded. Our
cooks with their soup pots get out OF
cur hole and go to the rear TO prepare
in the underground kitchens our well
earned coffee and cabbage soup. Our
CAPTAIN rubs his hands with satisfsc-
/ ton strong patrol goes out OF our
,rercbee 10 reconnoitre the enemy's
positions in the pine wood. The rest
/ of us try TO get some sleep
The above description, written in the
trenches By Corporal Tardieu, de-
scribes what goes on almost every
nioht at the front. where the French
are making slow but steady progress,
a few hundred yards at time, and
CONVEYS a truthful idea Of this trench
war.