The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-12-15
Show Germans in a
Sorry Plight during Famous
Attack by French.

Correspondence OF Associated PresS)
PARIS. Dec. 14.-Letters written
by German soldiers during the battle
Of Champagne. found on prisoners
and dead. throw some light on the
spirit OF the troops.
The battlefront has disappeared
in cloud OF smoke" wrote one.
Nothing can be seen. for the French
artillery fires almost as rapidly as the
infantry. One armored shelter was
crushed In and not ono OF the sixteen
occupants escaped. Men are falling
like flies and the trenches are moth
ing but debris"
Shells are simply raining upon
us another wrote. 1T is as II the
earth were crumbling up. Our losses
arc very heavy. One company of $50
men had sixty killed Last night and
\ battery close by lost sixteen dead.
a shelter FIVE yards deep. protected
by two rows of LOGS and two and a
half yards Of earth was caved In as
II u were only matchy that's 2 spec
ment Of the force Of the French
shells"
Many Of our mon are useless.
wrote the captain of the Twenty
fourth infantry In a rrpor. intended
for his superior officer. We must
have rcinfOrcements nj once. Our
men arc dying Of fatigue. prIvation
aad loss OF sleep"
Nothing to eat; heavy losses, nos
cd another. THE French haven't
ceased firing since the morning Of
the twenty-trst: II has gone on sixty
hours; how long will 1t last? Every
spot Of our position is so bombarded
That II is next to impossible for nu-
man beings to hold out any longer"
Six Of oar men were killed yester-
day morning by shnils." wrote cap.
tain. Our trench has been nearly
levcled. She eleventh battalion has
suffered heavily"
How the reiutorcements were rush
ed up is revealed by another officer.
We We're crowded into autos" he
wrote. and rushed madly from You
Tiers to Tahure. After two hours
rest in the rain and six hours march
TO our position under constant shell
fire, We reached the trench, losing sc
out of ESQ men Of the second COM
pany by the way. We were lis hours
without food in a trench not two feet
deep. Hell couldn't be worse. Six
hundred more men just arrived; they
will only replace the killed and the
wounded OF the last FIVE days"
Surprise and the Generalization of
the German first line troops b. sus-
:ained artillery fire have both been
given a. explaining the considerable
number OF prisoners taken. Orders
of German commanders that fell into
the hands OF the French indicate that
the attack was not a surprise and
there has been a natural reluctance to
believe that German organizations
and there has been i natural reluc-
lance TO believe that German organi-
cation and discipline were in default.
Information obtained by the Asso-
ciated Press from witnesses OF
the operations is to the effect thar
the German counter attacks were nell
thor spirited nor well planned.
II the attack was no surprise the
force Of II was revelation: II APP
pears TO have thrown a certain con-
fusion into the German ranks. result
ing in precipitatc and almost disor-
DERBY engagement o Preserves. The
men seemed both exhausted and de-
moralized Incapable of properly nm
dertaking n general counter-attack.
Over confidence in the solidity in the
first line trenches seemed TO be gen
eral among the officers, for many OF
them were found in bed at Trou-Bri-
cot half hour after the attack be-
gan. Theye were ignorant of the
capture of the first line of trenches
because the telephone lines had been
ruptured
In the counter-attacks divisions
were broken up and scattered. regi-
mentE even were divided. battalions
sent to right aud left in absolute CON
tradicticn OF the German spirit OF or
sanization. There were engaged be-
tween tho Maison de Champagne and
100 Hill. 20 battalions belonging TO
twenty-one different regiments.
What acted most on the nerves Of
the German troops. according to in
formation brought out by question
ing prisoners, was the continuity of
the French artillery fire. the weak
ness Of their own reply, the extent of