Imperial Valley press., 1916-08-15
"C0driers of Verdun."


ditions of fighting before Verdun have
developed a new type of soldier called
tie "couriers of Verdun." They are
the men who maintain communication
between the troops in the midst of
the melee and officers commanding
from the rear. The battlefield into
W hich they dart with orders or after
is a desolated' zone where
but thick smoke, sometimes
black, sometimes white, gives ap-
pearance of life; excepting during the
brief time of an infantry attack, it is
to all appearances deserted; the sharp
est eye discovers no movement Of hu
The earth is everywhere fur
rowed by freshly stirred earth, but no
one sees the hand that stirred it.
Occasionally form is seen going
over this desert land something after
the manner of rabbit, bounding into
sight out Of the herbs and above uneven
ground to disappear again; leaping
from obstacle to obstacle, from ditch
to ditch, from shell hole to shell hole as
it approaches the front line, at times
vaulting, at others crawling, and some
times kept motionless for considerable
periods by showers of projectiles sent
over from the other side of theline for
his personal benefit. This is the mes
senger of modern battle; he was never
more needed nor more useful than at
Verdun and the type will probably bear
the name for years to come of the
. courier of Verdun."
Not a telephone line can resist the
incessant bombardment that digs up
the soil and levels all field work along
the whole line in front of this fortress;
consequently to assure communications
between the front and the rear is a
difficult problem.
Communication by carrier pigeons
are very uncertain and optical signals
are insufficient for various reasons.
Nothing is certain excepting the man
himself and to transmit information
and orders across that beaten field re-
quires something extraordinary in the
way Of man. He must be an athlete
with good lungs and above all, he must
have stout heart.
The courier of Verdun is unable to
use the communicating trenches where
he would be out Of sight of the enemy
because that line is crowded always
with soldiers going to OF from the
front line, with wounded being carried
back, with men of the commissary de-
partment carrying provisions to the
men on guard. That is too slow a
route for the courier of Verdun; he
must take his chances Of being sighted
and hit-above ground.
The first formidable obstacle to pass
is the zone that is seaten by drum
fire." where eight-inch, six-inch and
four-inch shells are bursting with for
nlidable explosions, sending showers
OF shrspnel over the whole zone. In
going through this ordeal, the courier
sees everywhere the spectacle of death,
stumbles over corpses, sometimes runs
ir to cloud of poison vapor before he
has crossed it; once through, he is
within range of the smaller German
guns and the quick firers.
During the whole distance of a mile
or two miles, according to the position,
his nerves are at the highest tension,
with his mind on the end of his mis-
sion and at the same time on the OBJ
stacles that are multiplied each in
stant in his path.
Some of these couriers get untouch-
ed, others crawl back to the starting
point bruised or manned. Some of them
never come back to tell the story of
their heroic effort.
The couriers of Verdun maintained
communications from the rear with the
heroic troops under the orders of Com
nandant Raynal-a company of 142nd
infantry and machine gun section of
the -third-who held the Fort of
VauX several days against overwhelm-
ing numbers of assailants. They were
all volunteers selected from a consid-
cradle number of men who offered
themselves for the dangerous mission.
One of them was boy of the contin-
gent of 1916 of childish aspect, who
every time volunteers were asked for
was the first man to the front. "He
had scarcely returned from one of
these perilous missnons," said his cap
tain, "when he pleaded to be sent out
again" Another, literally riddled by
fragments of shell that had burst in
his path, had dragged himself back
and though unable to rise to his feet,
saluted his colonel and said: Colonel,
l am done for, but / have got enough
left in me TO give an account of my