The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-11-01

lNI short. and / was back on the
job at P~operinghe all too
Ypres, which was six miles away
had been comparatively quiet all win
ter. In fact. 1t had been SO quiet that
Twenty-seventh divisional head
quarters had moved In there. AS the
drew rear the Germans began
to shell around the city again, but
very few shells landed directly in the
city proper.
There was a big gas tank on the out
skirts down toward Krustadt, and
this place the shell fire would
b rather heavy at times. The city
was much knocked about even then,
but it was nothing to what it was at
the end Of the Second battle for ca
Before the beginning Of this battle
the kaiser was quoted as having said
that IL he failed to break us this time
he would hy the city Of Ypres to the
ground street by street. He failed to
break ~, al right, and he kept his
word, for today the fine cid city Of
Ypres s acthing but a shapeless heap
Of broken bricks.
Fer weeks before the attack our air
men e bringing in reports that the
Germans were massing heavy bodies
OF fresh troops just in trent Of u po-
sition. All our transport trains went
through the city, u men were billeted
there, and one of our divisional head
quarters had moved into the city.
The Germans still continued to bonn.
bard our positions in this vicinity, but
they left the city itself severely alone.
All winter It had been as safe to 60
through Ypres ~ It would be to go to
church, consequently an order to 60 to
Ypres did not bother anybody very
much.
was at the divisional headquarters
in Ypres with a stan officer on the aft
ernoon the bombardment started. We
had gone to the city on horses, and we
naturally expected to come back that
way. I suppose it was about 2 o'clock
when We arrived there, and I put the
horses in the yard behind several build
ings.
AS 1 was still on duty, 1 didn't dare
60 very far away, for 1 didn't know at
what moment the officer might show
up. The first inkling 1 got Of anything
unpleasant was when l heard the
scream of several shells coming through
the air at once.
Right then | acted on the impulse
that seiZes every one at such a time
and went through the nearest cellar
window, where / landed or a pile Of
potatoes. | was content to stay there.
too, until an orderly found me and told
me that my officer wanted me. The
Germans had been bombarding us
about half an hour then. and there was
no sign of any letting up yet.
The orderly told me thai the shells
were dropping in at the rate Of forty
one to the minute. and l remember
wondering who OF earth would be fool
enough to count the number Of shells
falling. | reported to my off Ger and
found him as cool as q cucumber. He
asked me where the horses were, and
when | told him he said for me to leave
them there and to go and find a a of
kind.
l knew it was mighty serious when
he would abandon the horses, and |
out with the fear of God in my
heart and wondering where in the dick
ems l would find Il car in that inferno.
AS a matter of fact, l did find one, Or
at least it had been a a at some time
or other. 1t was an ambulance which
had had the body blown off, and some
one had built Il couple of little bucket
seats out Of empty bacon boxes.
Bacon boxes or not, it certainly look
ed like a million gold dollars to me at
moment. and / wasn't so slow
about nabbing it. The engine was all
right, SO I decided to take a chance on
the rest of it holding together until I
got my officer through the city anyway.
I pulled around in front of the head
quarters, and the officer jumped in.
1t seemed as though the whole city
was being torn from its very founda-
ions so terrible was the din. The
aouses were going down In every quar-
,er, and on the face of it it looked like
madness to 60 through at all.
Wagons, horses. autos, bicycles, were
'iled up everywhere. Men, women and
soldiers and civilians were ly-
ng dead and dying IN every street.
'hould say that about 90 per cent Of the
'hells were landing IN the Grand place, |
md the buildings were falling all
round and practically covering up the
aad-
- had . straight run Of about 200
ards before we got to the worst part
t 1t, and I certainly saw 10 It that the
Id bus made the most Of what she |
ad. We were going at a pretty good
ace when We hit the main square Of
be city, but it seemed to me that we
just crawling.
There IL q sharp corner as one turns
at of the square, and l knew it would !
. impossible to twist her around it ut
be pace we were going, 30 I tried 4
tunt I had read about racing drivers
ON the hairl'tn curves. I gave !,