River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1915-07-29

Frenchnan Was Armed With a Leg
of Statue Of Venus-Machine Guns
Active.
or all the tragic, intense minor en-
gagements of the war, that of the fight
by which the French captured the Cha
teau of Vermelles, at the end of fifty
days battling for possession of the
town, is most thrilling. The cores
DOndent OF the London Post at the Brit
ish headquarters in France tells of the
fight as follows:
1.-THE story Of the struggle may seem
incredible to those who have taken no
part in this style of fighting. After
several futile attempts at a direct adj
vance the French commenced to carry
a mine underneath the chateau, but it
exploded just outside. An immense
cavern yaWned in front of them. and
the bodies Of Germans were flung in all
directions. All that was to be seen Of
the enemy was the shapeless mass of
what had been a man half driven
through garden wall"
Germans crazed by Explosion.
The correspondent then describes the
condition Of the German soldiers caught
In trenches which had been dug into
the garden in front Of the house.
1.-THE men in the trenches instead of
firing at them (the FRENCH were CROP
ing about confusedy as though it were
pitch dark, paving at each others
faces and feeling about for their arms.
The tremendous shock of the explo-
sion so close at hand had blinded and
deafened some and deprived others of
their senses.
Scarcely understanding their good
fortune, the French leaped on the dis
tracted men, and a weird struggle fol-
lowed in the narrow trenches between
the half crazed Germans and their as
sailants.
Machine gunners in the chateau.
with that happy Indifference to every
thing, tilted their weapons over the
sandbagged windows, determined to
kill friend and foe together. The ut
most depression. however, which could
be given their guns only enabled them
to hit odd corners of the trenches. but
in their desperate attempt to kill some
thing they fired belt after belt, sweep
ing to and fro that awful scythe of
steel and, like Death himself. were flu
riOus at being OutWitted.
Germans Hold Two Floors.
1.-THE garrison of the chateau, irritat
ed by the impotence of their machine
guns, were dragging a couple of the
guns out to play from the sandbagged
porch. The Germans were unaware of
twenty-five or thirty Frenchmen who
had gained the shelter of the house
walls. These, as the door Of the cha
teau. which barred their hopes. so I'M
expectedly opened. leaped with a joy
Gus yell upon the emerging Germans.
who. encountered by guns. tripods and
belts. gave way before the onslaught
and either were bayOneted or shot or
escaped to the first story of the
chateau.
'Thus there were Germans on the
first floor of the chateau and in the
cellar with the French on the ground
floor between them.
A1I6F du dIl0lupL 10 Tie SIoJ~
case leading to the Germans above had
been flung back the French on the
ground floor began to fire upward
through the ceiling, and the Germans
above them fired down. The Germans
even managed to get off part of the
belt of a machine gun. but the effort
proved disastrous. Such a fusillade
from below was concentrated on the
spot that the ceilings were falling in
every direction; the air was scarcely
breathable with dust and smoke; men
were collapsing. shot through the whole
length of their bodies. and the din was
indescribable.
Seize Leg Through Ceiling.
Suddenly a mans leg protruded
through the ceiling. A leap was made
for it, and couple of Turkos hung on
to the boot. The Germans may have
made a dash to rescue their comrade,
but the ceiling was too riddled to
withstand it. Another leg came through
the ceiling, and a cluster OF men set
tied on to it like flies, dragging the
owner through the floor, his face scrap
the ceiling.
Then the beams of the floor began
rending and crashing. The upper sto-
rieS of the chateau. already more or
less in ruins, began to topple.
Through the break in the floor slid
a horrible confusion of masonry, fur
niture, Germans and guns. The French
were outnumbered, but the men that
came down with that debris on top of
them were not we'll placed to make a
fight of it, and the dreadful piece of
carnage ended in favor of the attack
ing party.
1--WE just killed. killed, killed. said
a French officer. we used anything
that was there-pieces of furniture,
pieces of chandeliers, anything. One
man of mine killed his enemies with
q chunk of marble-a piece of the leg