Evening star., 1916-04-27
TW0-DAY SHELL|NG
DOOM OF REGIMENT
Only 1870 Men Left of 5000 in
Crack Command at Verdun
Struggle.
SURVIVOR TELLS STORY;
UNABLE TO SEE ENEMY
Blames Company Because Thirteen
Left From Total of 200 Could
Not Hold Line.
Copyright. 1916D
BY HERBERT COREY.


IN FRANCE. April 17.-For two days
the 164th Regiment sat under the rain
of shells at Verdun. This is a literal
statement of their experience. They
did not fire back. they hardly saw the
enemy: they did nothing but fear and
die. At the end of two days the 164th
| was no more.
| II have received letter from the
repos camp" said the man who told
this story, "in which the corporal says
| there are but $50 unwounded men left
l--1s0 out of 5000"
He gives clearer idea of the power
Of modern artillery and of what some
times happens to men in modern wah
than any other man I have talked with.
| There is absolutely no braggadocio
| about him. He is as lucid and convinc-
| ing in his statements as can be asked
of a man who has literally been
through hell. A French peasant. young
| and lusty, he has neither nerves nor
| Imagination. He knows nothing of the
| strategy, the causes or the results of
| the battle. He only hopes it will be a
very long time before his wound heals
| so that he goes back to war.
The 164th," said he, had been in
repose for a long time, getting ready.
They fed us very well. 1 put on fifteen
pounds"
It is one of the regiments de choc,"
| is the 164th. 1t is reserved for the most
desperate duty. Its men are all young.
| in the pink of condition, and proved
soldiers. Between times these "regi
ments for shock" are called on to do
little of the drudgery of war. They
hardly enter trenches. 1t is such men
| who do impossibilities under fire.
The day before the battle began we
| were given three days rations and
sent forward to the trenches at the
wood of Haumont. We relieved a regi
| ment Of territorials who had been hold
| ing them"
Trenches Formed Tip Of Salient.
These trenches formed the very tip
Of the salient which at Verdun thrust
a blunt horn into the German mass.
At first the men of the 164th thought
nothing would happen. Then, early on
the morning of the 10th of February.
the Germans began firing. The 164th
| could do nothing. They could not even
see a German. The shells fell with
monotonous regularity about them.
The craters marked off the terrain
as though 1t were great checker
board The edge of one cut the edge
of the next sometimes.
eve sat in our dugouts and trembled
with fear" said the man of the 164th.
1T made me sick al my stomach"
At $50 o'clock that night the Ger
mans suddenly rushed forward through
a gap in the 164th's line. At the very
center of the arc the 4th Company
gave way" The Germans poured
through and got behind u.s." so that
the 164th could do nothing but run
Several times he referred to that 4th
Company. which had given way He
blamed the whole disaster of the day
upon them evidently. He was asked il
the 4th Company ran.
There were only thirteen of them
left to rum" said he.
Had "Crisis Of Nerves."
There had been go men in that
company before the battle began.
In the night which followed there
was comparative peace. The men of tho
164th sat in the dugouts In the sec
ond line OF trenches and nibbled at
their iron rations" and talked over
| the day and the future. None of them
slept They had crisis of the
| nerves" as he quantity expressed IT
Not only were they on the alert
| against a possible attack. but all night
| long the brancardiers were carrying
the groaning wounded past them. and
| passing the word that this man and
that was dead. In the morning the
shelling began again. 1t was worse
| than before.
1--WE were ordered into our bomb
proofs"
| Second line bombproofs are built to
Withstand anything. But nothing can
| Withstand the enormous shells which
dropped point down from the German
| thowitZers. The men in the bombproof
well under ground. remember-cup-
ped their hands behind their ears to
hear one another speak. The ground
trembled with the continuous explo.
| sions of the huge shells. Dust flled
the air from the shaken roof, SO they
| could hardly breathe. Dense fumes
altered in through the door in spite of
the sackcloth curtain. They threw
| water on the curtain to lessen the
smoke There were thirty-eight OF
them in the bombproof when shell
came through the roof and exploded
inside.
Returninp to Consciousness.