The Washington herald., 1915-01-31

o'clock in the afternoon, the hostile artil-
lery firing on us all the time and the
English marines from the sea; but the
latter shot mostly too fa-. At 3 O'Clock
We got the order Get ready to storm.
As soon as We set about climbing over
our parapets, the infantry and machine
guns began to fire on US. 1t was like as
II handfuls of peas had been thrown over
US, the bullets fell so near. We had often
been under such fire, that We thought
nobody could get out unhurt; but none
of us had ever experienced anything like
this. Now the enemies shells began to
burst quite near us, as you can imagine
We presented an easy target. We went
back to our trenches at once. / got of
safely, and now lay on the open field.
About a hundred yards in front Of me.
there was heap of manure. At the next
vOlley of our artillery l ran to the ma
nure-heap and lay down behind IL. Now
l crept from heap to heap, and had just
reached the canal, when the bridge flew
up in the air. They had blown it up with
contact-mines. Now We got the order to
go into the trenches. / had dug, a fairly
large hole and leaned back TO throw out
the clay before me when ! felt a pain. as
IL somebody hit me with a big stick
across the leg. At first | paid no atten-
ton, and began 10 smoke my pipe so as
to be as comfortable as possible. II was
only then ] noticed that blood was oOzing
out OF my boot and it began to pain me,
but l remained lying quietly until it was
dark; then two strong men took me by
the arms and brought me back. for the
firing had left on somewhat Then we
were taken to the bandaging station by
the ambulance men. There they cut on
my boot and now | saw that / was shot
through the right leg, from the calf down
to the ankle. But | think ! can leave
here next week. a great many fellows
have been sent away cured, and none of
US want TO remain here any longer
(Nordd, AllE. Zeitung.
November 10. 19l4.l
The StormIng of EaiIIy.
A 10 year old volunteer from Berlin.
who is in the West as a pioneer. de-
scribes the storming of VaiIly. in which
he took part, in a letter to his parents
from which We take the following ex-
tract:
Vailly, 9Oth October. 1915.
Sooner than I had imagined, l come TO
send you an account OF what happened
yesterday-The attack on Nallly! OF
course you will have read about II in the
newspapers. but ] shall tell you some
details which made such an impression
on me tnat can never lorBet lneIn. OIi
9Th October the company was called to-
gether in the afternoon and our COM
manding officer told us that the storming
of VailIy was fixed to take place on the
Goth, at s o'clock in the morning. and
that We pioneers were to lead of the at
tack. We were given wire scissors. TO
cut the obstacles. which were erected
in front Of The French positions. We
started from st. Berte on 18th October
al o'clock in the evening. so as to take
our places in the entertainments at once.
It is an hours distance. At II O'Clock
l was sent TO fetch pistols and cart
ridges. Our artillery was firing heavy (el
centimetres) and lighter guns-the enemy
returned the fire with rifles. On the way
back. l had to pass parts of the road.
which were under the enemy's heavy
fire: two gunners who were with me.
were badly wounded. but / escaped. Dur
ing the night We made several patrols.
and cut the wire in different places.
without getting too much Of the fire.
Towards o'clock we had to fall back, as
the artillery fire had begun. At a. m.
the real attack was to be started
1t was a cold rainy mOrning-it is
O'Clock, We were waiting anXiously,
listening to our artillery, which was
playing havoc with the hostile positions.
Now it is 7,45 . Every one is ready
. but we still have a quarter of an
hour to wait . 1t seems ages .
still minutes. The artillery keeps on