South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-09-03
MEN MUST PASS
THROUGH INFERNO
Trenches Taken and Lost Over
and Over Again in Sou
chez Section.
BY Bernhard KeIlermann.

CAuthor OF The Tunnel.")
on THE WESTERN GERMAN
FRONT. Sept. 81 have seen them
and talked TO them, the men lighting
out there in the trenches Of Souchez.
lust now they are resting, but tonight
they will be lighting again like de-
mons. The roads and paths for miles
around are under a fearful fire. Al
most every second a shell bursts with
a ~defeaning roar. Through this infer
no they must pass. Then they will be
in Souchez.
What is Souclez2 A small village
which nobody knew a few months ago
and which now Will never be forgot
ten again. The little hamlet is
marked for all times. like Gravelotte
and Woerth. If hell keeps books the
name Of SoucheZ must be entered in
large letters.
There is nothing left of the village
but a heap of ruins. The houses left
their places, Jumped 20 the street and
collapsed. A little creek runs through
the hamlet, the brook of Carency. but
its banks are destroyed and it has left
the bed through which il peacefully.
ran for centuries. With a sad muir
mer the yellow, dirty water flows in
10 the craters formed by explosions
of hundreds Of thousands of shells.
The trenches are a few hundred
yards from the village. behind a cur
ain Of fire. Through this curtain our
boys in gray must pass. There are
communicating passages-the French
artillery on the heights Of LOrettO
does not permit them. The trenches
can only be reached over the open field
through the ~unceasing hail of French
shells.
But our men are fearless. The fact
that many Of them may not live TO
see the next morning has no terror
for them and does not even rob them
Of their good humOr. They are ali
as brown as berries and the neat has
pealed the skin from their noses and
ears.
Their uniforms were all feId-gray
at one time. but nobody is able 70 dis
tinguish their color now. Only the
first sergeant looks ii he just came
from the tailor shop. His uniform is
spotless and his hands are carefully
manicured.
With the long nails of his little fin
ger he traces the position on the map.
Before the war he was a high school
professor, but now he is a soldier ev-
cry inch of him.
This is our trench." he aid ex-
planning the map to me. "Over there
OF the heights is Lorette, the artillery
of the enemy's stand
Yesterday we were under heavy
fire from z o'clock in the morning till
9 O'Clock at night. Our trench look
ed as if a giant steam-plow had run
through 1t. We could not hear nor
see anything.
"Of course. we had losses, but that
cannot be avoided. A 25-centimeter
shell burst near me. The trench was
destroyed and we were buried.
"AbOut 9 o'clock inethe evening the
shells began to fly over us. The enc
my was trying 10 drive back a relief
column and to storm VIA was left of
u trench. Our lieutenant, a young
man Of 10 years. shouted a command
and in a mOmen our trench resem-
bled an ant-hemp. We dug ourselves
out. Most of our guns had become
useless. but we had hand-grenades.
The French swOcped down upon
us, but we sent a couple Of dozen of
greuades into their ranks. Standing
in the shell-crater we threw more
bombs. The smoke was so thick that
we could not see each other.
For a moment the enemy recoiled.
but then believing us finished, he ad-
vanced again. as he had received re-
Inducements. yelling, singing and
laughing we threw still more gren-
AIDES.
AT the same moment we noticed
that the FrenChmen were also begin
ming TO attack from one of their
trenches at our right, in the direction
Of the sugar refinery. Like peas from
a barrel they came pouring out of the
smoke. The lieutenant shouted, one
man to the front with grenades!' A