The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-01-14
AMBULANCE WORK
MORE HAZARDOUS
Although the Number of Deaths at the
Front in Northern France and
Belgium Seems to Be on
Decrease.

Correspondence of the Associated Press
Paris, Jan. l4.-Since hostilities set
tied down to siege along the rivers
and canals Of the north, the average
number of casualties per day seems tc
have lessened. But the work of the am.
bulance department is all the more haz-
ardous. Men who fell in pitched BATTLES
were often lost in concealed places, but
what is worse now is that they often
lie in plain sight obliged to wait for
hours, sometimes for days before it is
possible for their comrades to pick them
up. 1t is often too late.
When man is wounded in the trenches
he is able to get back to the field hos
pital, if he can walk; if not he must
wait until night because the trenches
are so narrow that the stretcher bearers
cannot carry wounded man through
them; he must be lifted out and carried
above ground.
When a charge is made between the
lines of trenches and proves TO be unsuc
cessful, the wounded Of course must be
left; in too many cases they are actually
sacrificed and their comrades obliged to
see them lying helplessly between two
fires. Sometimes they see them raise
a hand and occasionally they hear their
despairing cries, but to attempt to save
them is out of the question.
Cases have Deen reported in which men
charging against barbed-wire defenses
and wounded in the attempt, have been
left for days hanging in the tangled
wire.
The chaplain of French regiment,
describing the work of the ambulance
corps after a great battIe, says;
Owe had long evening tour to make
as we We're obliged to visit the advance
posts of RozeIieres, RemenonvilIe and
Gerbvillers. Without lanterns, in order
not to betray our position we advanced
silently over roads gashed by shells and
deeply rutted by heavy artillery. From
the hill tops we saw a ruddy glow from
burning villages.
Here and there were flashes Of light. /
followed by the explosions of shells and I
through the sky veritable burrows Of /
fire. II was all that revealed the sinister
presence of hostile armies. The silence
was impressive at times; cut only by
the cawing of crows and the reports of
artillery.
we found Rozelieres, deserted. ruined;
only few houses still standing and
they were burning Renonyille was un-
recognizable. We found 30 wounded,
hut We could take only 10 Of the worst
"The road 10 Gerbeyillers, bordered BY
tall poplars, runs along the Prussian
lines; in daylight we should have been
wiped out
at was nearly midnight when we
reached the entrance to tie village the
theatre Of deadly conflicts for 10 days.
"The little hospital there seemed asy,
hum in hell; alone il stood in the midst
Of the collapsed town, saved, thanks TO
the presence Of wounded Germans. Built
to accommodate 30, il sheltered 1870 and
rocked with the odor Of blood powder
and drugs; we could take only 30 Of the
most serious cases. The task OF sorting
them out was heart-rending they were j.
lll in such sore need. As we started
lut, the shells began 20 fall again thick
and fast an around as and between the [.
.oaring crashes we heard the groans and
OF the wounded in the am.
balances behind; one crying constantly :
or mother"