The Washington herald., 1915-01-31

firing.-Now The captain appears.
encouraging his men in an undertone,
his watch in his hand. A seconds
pause, the artillery ceases we hear
the command Jump up. march, march!
In less than a second every one Is on his
legs dashing wildly forward. To the
right and left the comrades fall. but no
one has time to heed-there-a little hill
good cover. l and there comrades dash
towards 1t, just as We hear the call:
cover.-There We lay 80 yards of the
enemy, and could neither go on nor turn
back.
The French shot like madmen. One of
the soldiers who lay with me, discovered
a hill. which would afford cover the same
as where We were. at least 20 steps in
front of us. Deciding quickly. he gave
the command Jump up. march. march;
We dashed there and now lay quite near
the French. Now a dreadful fire began.
Suddenly the French left their foremost
trenches. On We go. with "Hurrah" till
the French have to hide in the second
line of entertainments. Now We are in
the hostile trenches in perfect cover. The
ground is covered with the bodies of
dead Frenchmen, but several among
them are only Stimulating. However.
soon their pretence is reality. Just at
this moment one of my comrades is shot
III lilt les anu Allt IOll-GOlIlllloSlOllGu VI
ficer orders me to bring him to the band
aging station. II was an ensign. who
had tried to get a comrade out of the
fire. He had to be taken away at once,
as We were afraid of him losing too much
blood. On my return the second trench
had been taken-and then IL went on, up
the hill into the village before the enemy
could really offer strong resistance.
Machine-guns began their work here,
as the fleeing French had to cross a
bridge Uhere had been three. but our
artillery had destroyed two of them be-
forehandD, and the guns were focused
exactly on the bridge, on which corpses
lay heaped in a few moments. The rest
were taken prisoners. more than 5000
We took Vailly after fierce fighting,
but many. very many of my comrades
paid for the victory with their lives. I
went back to the place where ! had lain
with my companions that morning. You
cannot imagine what a shock 1 got
They all lay. just as l had left them
but all three dead
All, my dear parents. 1t was now / re-
marked the horrors of war. At the rally
ing-point in Nailly. our general appeared,
praised us. and said that in this battle
the lions share of praise must be given
to the pioneers. He finished his speech
with a cheer for the Kaiser in which We
loudly Joined. Then he gave US pioneers
cigarettes. On our way back to 81. Berte
We met infantry troops. who gave US a
warm reception and were loud in their
praises of the work we accomplished
yesterday.
How n Company of Zuaves was De-
strOyed.
From a field letter.
Last night the Black French paid US
a visit We were able to inform our ar
tilIery of the fact by telephone. When
the black promoters OF Culture had
come within about 80 yards there was a
fearful noise. Although we opened a de-
structive fire-machinc guns and can
mons taking part on the attack-the
blacks were still driven on. The French
artillery too. fired like mad on our posi-
tiOns. We got a glimpse Of a gruesome
but wonderful niGht-skirmish. The glow
ing shells, search-lights and the fire balls
presented a vivid picture. The Zuaves
seemed to be quito blended. and dashed
right into teh arms Of death. Almost all
of them-more than lJOO-wcre cut down
In heaps they lay on the whole
ground before us. The French remained
at a safe distance from the fire, aud
again refused to agree to an armistice
for buryinE the dead. which did not
make a sojourn in the entertainments
more agreeable. Although the French