The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1916-06-14
Band Sometimes Stand
Ag Target For Enemy.
OF the Wounded After a Battle
Must Make Themselves
Generally Useful.
MUSIC AMIDST THE CARNAGE

Paris, June 1O.-Since the beat
ing of the drums that called France
to arms, comparatively little martial
music has been heard at the rear.
Those who have been allowed in the
zone of the armies have occasionally
met a regimental band with drums
and brass instruments slung over
their shoulders, plodding along the
road toward the first line; musicians
go with the combatants and are sub
ject to all the dangers of the war.
The strains of the Marseillaise
one day revealed the presence of a
regimental band among the ruins of
a town still under bombardment and
close enough to the German lines to
require measures against gas. All
the musicians had their masks on,
giving them a grotesque appearance
but not interfering with their lung
power.
The Coldstream Guards Band, d.
rect from Arras, and the Royal Ital-
ian Caribineers Band, fresh from
the Isonzo, brought little of the
atmosphere of the front to the Tro-
cadero recently and reminded Paris
of the martial strains that stirred
the city during the first days of the
war. They were greeted by big
crowds with the same enthusiasm as
prevailed on the boulevards in the
memorable first week of August,
1914. The immense auditorium it.
self was crowded long before the an
nounced hour for the opening.
The bandsman at the front is not
a mere musician; after inspiring the
troops with martial strains and
when the shot and shell have done
their work, he dlcps his instrument
and, with the Red Cross on his
sleeve, goes out over the field to
pick up the wounded. Sometimes
he helps to bury the dead, and in
some emergencies he brings up sup
Plies and ammunition.
At the assault of Vauquois in Feb
ruary, 1915, the band of a regiment
was ordered to execute the Marseil-
laise from shelter, but at the mo
'ment of the charge the Colonel as
signed an uncovered spot to the
band, which became a standing tar
get for the enemy, only 800 yards
away, but continued none the less
aN6ently it's mission; it played the
Marseillaise eight times during the
engagement; not a man was killed.
A few days later the musicians of
a regiment acting as stretcher bear
ers were ordered to sound the
charge for a battalion that was
sabout to go into action. The twen-
ty-six men took their instruments
and went to the place where the at
tack was to be made. The enemy's
artillery Just then began to enfilade
the crossroad where they were shell
tcIcu VuiiS waiting ioi ehO oiuOA :.
The ground was plowed by shells
and covered with wounded in a few
minutes.
The musicians became again at
once stretcher bearers, and then the
order finally came to sound the
charge. Most of the twenty-six in
struments had been dented. crushed
or torn to bits by the Smelling. TWO
or three trumpets were still intact,
and with three or four musicians
the trumpeters sounded the charge
and alternated the Marseillaise with
1t for half an hour. Other members
of the band became separated and
found themselves in another regi-
ment of the brigade. where there
were trumpets to spare; they seized
them and sounded the charge. OF
the twenty-six musicians four were
killed and seven wounded. The
leader was decorated with the Lee
gion of Honor.
When the regiment is resting be-
hind the front the musicians are the
only ones who work; they give con-
certs for the civilians in the towns
where the regiments are quartered.
while the combatants are resting.
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