Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-07-05


ture of the Picardy battle, SO far as
the French are concerned, is the small
loss incurred Reports thus far re-
ceived show that one army corps which
took a prominent part in the fighting
lost Just 500 men. The regiments
which took Flaucourt did not lose a
single man. All the wounded who have
been brought to Paris hospitals speak
of this extraordinary immunity.
What pleasantly surprised u.s." said
one, was the few losses. When we
climbed out of the trenches we ex-
pected to walk into hail of bullets.
Well, 1 covered a mile and quarter
without hearing one whistle past. 1t
was when we entered the enemys INES
that a Mauser bullet struck my arm.
Few of my comrades were hit.
The Germans literally had been pull
verified by our bomba rdment Those
who were still alive In underground
shelters came out at our approach and
quietly surrendered.
The six-day preparatory Smelling
was terrible. When the time fixed for
the attack came our major said. Sim
ply, Now boys, the general is counting
on you Then he explained to us the
object our attack had in view, end
ing with the caution, And when you get
there. not an inch further.
I'VE were given three days rations
and off We went. We accomplished the
task set us an hour before the time
| fixed Helped by sappers, the troops
soon put our positions into state OF
! defense AS for me, / walked back
| to the ambulance and on the way met
| cooks carrying pals of hot soup and
stew to the newly won trenches"
Story of an Eyewitness.
An eyewitness account of the bat
tie of the Somme sums up the results
of the first stages of the conflict as
follows:
| Our objectives reached within few
| hours first and second German lines
taken along our entire front; villages
! than 1000 prisoners. This was the re-
| suit of the first day of the great bat
! tie, in which every man did his duty.
While it is impossible for any one
| observer to reconstruct the entire
scene of this vast action north and
| south of the Somme, yet this picture
| of events in an important sector of
| the colonial corps will give an idea Of
| the entire range of the operations.
AT O'Clock in the morning the rum
| shells hurtled over our heads; the
| earth fairly trembled and the air it
self palpitated with the explosion OF
monster guns. The effect of our fire or
| the German position could be plainly
| seen great masses of smoke and
! debris rose high in the air from the
burning shells. Before us the villages
| of Dompierre and Becquincourt were
| only scattered ruins
| Wait Cheerfully for Word.
| batteries burst in a greenish cloud
| around US every now and then. In our
trenches the men, fully equipped, rifles
| in hand, ready. They face the
| ordeal lightly, one of them saying
Now we are going to dance the tango,
at which his comrades Joined in a
laugh.
| AT $50 the chief of the battalion
| gives his last instructions to the off
GERS. Toward o'clock the word runs
| along the line that the British have
already advanced and have taken
Mametz.
| Two minutes of silence-and the
| French artillery resumes it's fire with
| increasing violence.
| The 18th Company passes; then sec.
| tions of machine gun operators
| exchanging goodbye and good luck.
From the observatory Is seen the
churning up of the ground and bits OF
| barbed wire What Dompierre is
under the bursting shells
Ten minutes later one man who had
been waiting for long time in the
same place marches off. Then others
follow slowly and with caution across
the debris of barbed wire. Suddenly
thew begin to run. Clouds of black
smoke mixed with that from the 1o5s
descend on them. Now it is the ma
chine guns that fire. The French pass
disappear and advance. Dompierre ap-
pears to have been reached.
Prisoners Beg for Water.
IAN artillery officer appears behind
the assaulting waves. a certain sign
NJ an advance. Soon prisoners are seen
They are pleading for water. For thres
idays they have had neither drink nor
food The losses they have sustained