New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-07-16
EIRST ARTICLE.


This is the story Of the American Amou-
lance Field Service in the words of the boys
themselves who drove the cars. rresh 10
their experience, they jotted down the Things
that happened to them in this strange ne"
life Of war. These notes. sometimes IN pen
Gil, sometimes written with the pocket iouh-
tain pen, they sent TO their chiei' a. ri'''
Andrew, and he has placed these day by DAY
records of a hundred and fifty men at my
disposal. Anybody would be stupid VINO
tried to rewrite their reports. am Simply
passing along what they say
One section of the field service, with twenty
cars. was thrown out into Alsace, for the
campaign on the crest Of Hartmannsweiier-
kopf. Here is some of the fiercest hghtlng
Of the war Observation-Disclosures IS the iaSt
mountain before the plain Of the Rhine, ana
commands that valley. The hill crest was
taken and retaken. Here, too, is the one
sector of the Western front where the
French arc fighting in the enemy's country.
Alsace has been German territory for forty
three wears. But Preston Lockwood saw
General Jofre in an Alsatian village, and
next day saw the sign swung out;
&c General Joffre,
Generalissime des Arm6es de la Repuo-
liaue a dejeune dams cette maison.
lie l5eme Battalion de chasseurs Apins
occupant cette region.
Delivree par lui lie Ao1t, 1914"
Nowhere else" says Lockwood ARE our
soldiers upon German soil. And surely no
where else are Detroit manufactured auto
mobiles competing with Missouri raised
mules in the business of carrying wounded
men over dizzy roads"
Mountain Work.
The district known as Haute Alsace Is
range of mountains, running roughly north
and south. To the east lies German Alsace,
to the west the level country of french
Alsace On the crest of the mountains the
armies of France and Germany faced each
other The business of the ambulances mas
been to bring wounded from those heights to
the railway stations in the plain.
John Melcher, ir., says of this work;
"The mountain service consists in climb
ing TO the top of q mountain. some 1000 feet
high. where the wounded are brought TO us.
Two cars are always kept in a little village
down the mountain on the other side. This
little village is a few kilometres behind the
trenches, and is sometimes bombarded by
the Germans. The roads up the mountain are
very steep, particularly on the Alsatian SIDE
They are rough and so narrow that IN places
vehicles cannot pass. These roads are fuI
of ruts, and at some points are corduroy
the wood practically forming steps. On one
side there is always sheer precipice'
of you 60 OF tina road writes one of our
Young drivers. at is probably TO stay. and
all the while grade that in some parts has
TO he rushed in low speed TO be surmounted.
Add to this the fact that in the rainy (or
usuaO weather of the Vosges, the upper
half is in the clouds and seeing becomes
nearly impossible, especially at night. Be
fore our advent the wounded were transport
cd in wagons or on mule back. two stretch
ers enc on each side of the mule Two of us
trisL this method Of travel and were nearly
sick in few minutes. Imagine the wounded
five hours for the trip That so many sur
vived speaks well for the hardhood Of the
blue devils Now. with our cars, the trip
takes one and half or two hours. We ge-
as close to the trenches as any cars go. Our
wounded are brought to us on trucks like
wheelbarrows, or. at night, on mules, about
one half hour after the wound is received.
This is hard service for both cars and driv-
ers. and it is done in turn for five days at
time, then we return 10 st. Maurice TO
care for the cars and rest; the ordinary
valley service is regarded by us as rest
after the spell on the hills.
Soldiers Appreciation.
"Car ITO (the E. J. de Coppet carr has been
doing well on this strenuous work. The two
back tenders have been removed, one by
rock in passing an ammunition wagon, and
the ether by one OF the famous 75s, going
down the hill
The men appreciate il. Often, back in
France, we are traled as the 'voitures they
have once seem or as the car which brought
comrade back. They express curiosity rs
TO cur exact military status The usual
thing when we explain that we are volunteers
is for them to say chic When they learn
that the cars are given by men in the United
States, whose sympathy is with them, they
nod approval"
Another man writes of the condition Of
the service:
at the Headquarters Of the automobile
service for this section we reported 10 a cap
tain. and were informed by him Of the terms
on which he had decided 10 accept our SER
vices. We were to draw our food, wine,
tobacco, automobile supplies, such as tires,
oil, gasolene, from the It'll Army, as we'll as
our lodging, and one sou a day as pay. In
short, we were to be treated exactly as the
French ambulance sections. and to be sub
ject to the same discipline"
Rations consist of a portion Of meat, hard
bread, baked some weeks previously, rice.
beans, macaron or potatoes, a lump OF
grease for cooking, coffee, sugar and little
wine. For soldiers on duty there are field
kitchens, fires and boilers running on wheels
But billeted men have their food cooked by
some village woman. or a group build wood
fires against wall. Our men made ar
rangements to mess at a restaurant.
THE cars were sent up the mountain and
carried the wounded of the fighting in the
Feeht Valley down the mountain TO Kruth.
"The work was so continuous that some Of
the men drove for as long as fifty hours
without sleep and no one had time for more
than an occasional nap of an hour and
half"
The Croix de Guerre.
Durant Rice of Car 1875, tells of the ex-
perience of his comrades:
"rhe Germans bornbarded a road that runs
along the top of ridge several hundred
wards from the most at One Of the