Evening star., 1915-02-14
Capture of Tete de Faux in
AIsace Was Bloody
Piece of Work.
"HAIRY MEN" ROARED
AS THEY CHARGED UP
Unrolled and Made Fast a Mile of
Wire Netting They Brought
at End of Fight.
'oreisu Correspoudepce Of The Star


PARIS. February "a French AL
pine chasseur tells in letter how
the Alsatian summit. known as the
Tete de Faux, was taken by assault.
''At 10 in the morning" he writes. "a
cannon shot gave the signal to at
tack. The fight began all along the
line. One by one the 75mm. guns. the
Comm, the 105mm., and the Comm. be-
gan to belch forth. The noise was ter
rife. We kept on advancing. All at
once a shell burst on our right: frs
dropped with cracking of branches
and amid a whirlwind Of snow. We
reached our point. Then again there
was silence. the guns ceasing fire one
after the other.
THE roll was called by squads. the
men taking up their place as called.
took a roll of barbed wire. which
mule had just dropped by the roadside.
The pioneers went ahead. some with
shields. others with bags of earth.
cut the barbed wire fenses under
the terrible fire which was about 20
be poured into them. We looked at
them and turned our heads away
Suddenly the cracking of the r1nes
begins. There is shout of "A moi"
(help), and a wounded man with a
shattered arm goes by. He had been
picked up by an enemy patrol. MY
squad formed into skirmishing order
and fixed bayonets. With rush we
reached the outskirt. and dropped be-
hind an eighteen finch stone wall The
Bavarian patrols and main guard fell
back rapidly. In front of us, snow
and stunted frs. We waited.
Bugles Wildly Sounding.
up above, amid the rattle of ma
chine guns, rifles, bombs, we heard
the bugles wildly sounding the i'm
mortal notes. We heard the roar of
the hairy men, l. E., the chasseurs, as
they climbed up the crest.
The captain sends the word For
ward With a bound we are out OF
the forest, lying down, almost buried
in the snow. behind the little frs, try
ing to see ahead. Bullets whistle over
our heads. One ploughs through the
snow four inches from my cap. At that
moment, as ] was awaiting the order to
make fresh rush. 1 moved couple
of yards in order to get under little
fir tree, where there was hardly any
snow. s. Joined me, and quietly
observed: It's destiny. Only those will
pass who are fated to pass.
"Our position became terrible. There
was To- gasp-it was X. shot
through the heart. who turned, tried
to say something to Sergt. G.. and
fell, to rise again no more. The hail
of bullets grew thicker from the
trench.
above the din heard Sergt. P.
OH my left, cry: Pass word along to
the captain that we are caught in the
And this from Sergt. G.: Pass the
word: are we to advance or retire?'
above us the bugles were silent.
The roar of voices had diminished. The
iry
the summit and were at work with
the bayonet.
"a heartrending cry. It's D.. who
is lying by the side of F.. A moi.
voice:
"'Pass word to the captain: D. is
killed, b is wounded: we can't see
anything ahead. We can't hold our
retreat. Is there trench to be carried
ahead of us?'"
Chance to Take Cover.
''The reply came: Take cover behind
the wall c. repeated the order.
With a bound some rose, S. and
myself among them. Avoiding the holes
full of snow and the branches and
roots, we got back to the edge of the
forest, with the bullets whistling faster
than ever.
"Others of our fellows, like hunted
hares, ran in zigzag; others again
crawled along. and every time they
shook a fir as they passed fresh hail
of bullets was rained on them
'Then another cry, 'Sergt. c. is
wounded A few seconds later-they
seemed like ages-I saw him coming
along, crawling like a snake. What's
the matter? What. you are hurt% But
he picked himself up and got over the
wall. He had waited moment, just
then all rose. to retreat, crawling
came and dropped dead two yards
from me. With a last effort he had
freed himself from his knapsack and
equipment.
TT was all over. Each company, each
squad was in possession of the posi-
tions 1t had been ordered to carry, and
putting down their rifles, the men
seized their knives and other tools
and began to unroll the mile of wire
they had brought with them, waiting
until the trench had been deepened
sufficiently to make it possible to set
to work with picks and shovel. The
tricolor flag, which a hairy man has
brought along at the end of his rifle,
was flying from the summit