El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-27

mans in the beginning Of April that
there was to be a big French offensive
in the Rheims sector they began
throwing from 1900 10 10000 shells
a day into the cathedral city. and the
greater part of them came from the
BrimOut region Brimonr had 10 be
reraken. The Russians were set TO
the job.
No Fighting on Huge scale.
They had been for SIX months in the
Champagne sector, holding the line in
front of Auberlve- il was quiet there
during their tenancy OF the position
That is. lt had been as quiet there as
IL ever Is on the front. Every day there
was something doing. little actions
that cost a few men To- one side or the
other. Every day @ few shells flew
But there had been no fighting on
big scale
The Russians were picked men from
all their armies. All had volunteered
for service in France and all were vet
Grams of a year and a half Of war on
the eastern front Gen LOChWisky,
their commando, was wounded three
times in East Prussia There was a
rule in the Russian contingent that
none Of their men should ever be left
in German hands. Every wounded man
was 20 be brought back into their own
lines The body Of every dead man
was TO be brought back And this rule
was faithfully observed The Germans
never got a Russian soldier. dead or
alive, on the Champagne front
A COrporHl's Bravery.
/ remember seeing a giant corporal
VINO was on guard at the slurenOuse
Tor hand grenades in little patch OF
woods near the front lines before Au-
Derive, when the Germans began the
D0mbardmeut Of the woods. The de-
strUction Of that storehouse would
probably have meant the loss of sew
eral hundred men. who were held in
the woods as the first supports for the
front line
When the bombardment began the
Russian soldiers scurrled for shelter,
as wise soldiers should But the cor
pOral could not leave his post Bonn
bardment or not, he had 10 keep his
guard. standing at one side of the en-
trance to the storehouse. A German
155 millimeter shell fell less than %
feet IN front Of him. The corporal
moved three feet to stand with his
body protecting the small opening
into TIE s-OrehCuse- The left Shout
der Of his coat was torn with a great
Jagged hole by a piece Of the expl0d-
ing shell He stood with his rifle at
salute and never turned a hair
Only Reward a Handshuke.
The next morning / saw Gen Loeb
wisky shake hands with the corporal
clap him on the shoulder and tell him
he was a good soldier and worthy Of
the Russian army That was his re-
ward. and il was all he wanted
Those were the soldiers who were
moved from in front Of Au5erive 10
take Brimont. the place that must BE-
carried 20 prevent the entire destruc-
tiOn OF Rheims The Foreign Legion
was sent 10 the assault Of AuberlEe.
In the three days action Of the Dig
movement Of the oissous-Auberive
offensive, the Foreign Legion went
attack
strong They were supposed To take
4uberive Iu two hours and la-t- .
They took il IN Two days and uF4L, .
and zoo of them came back from the .
tack The Russians never took BIZ
mont and they vanished in the at
tempt
The experience of the two famous
units in that attack was the
same 10 all inteuts and purposes 1t
was indeed, the experience OF pracu-
caIly every unit along the whole line +.
Of the offensive Too much confidence
was shown by the high command +.
There was too little advance prepara-
ton They thought the Germans were
ready 10 retire voluntarily on the
first show Of an attack by the French .
A Failure Costs Heavily.
Announced plans called for double .
5arrage fire ahead Of the advancing
troops. There was TO be a barrage Of F..
heavy artillery go yards in advance f.
field guns $50 yards ahead Of them I
All experience told that there should /
be from three TO four days BON bard I
ment Of the trenches before the at I
tack. destroying the opposing lines
utterly. II the preparation had been
carried out as Foch did IL on the
Somme, before the big rush there, 4
the French troops would have walked /
over the first two lines Of the German F.
trenches with their hands in their I
pockets The fighting would have
begun at the third line.
But they fought every inch Of the
way Instead Of taking the first Ger /
man positions in two hours and a half, I
they were stil for the most part IN I
taken at the end Of three days. In I
many places the bombardment began F.
only ten minutes before the troops got I
out Of the trenches. There was no
double barrage and the artillery lifted .
TO let the French charge the German
trenches with the German lines still
heavily held, absolutely intact and the
mlIrailleuse positions untouched
Held By Barbed Wire.
The French charged against German
barbed wire that stood as soldly as
the day II was erected. Under a verl-
table hell OF mitrailleuse fire they had
to stand and cut the German barbed
wire with their wire cutters
Brimont was one Of the positions
most tenaciously held by the Germans
It was the stronghold from which
they could shell for miles behind the
French lines. Not only Rheims was at
their mercy from Brimout, but every
concentration camp and munitions
depot within % kilometers
i was against this position, held
with the fierceness that the Germans
were sure TO hold il, that the Russians
were sent with an Inadequate prepar-
alton by the artilery-nor by the
fault Of the artillery. but by the fault
OF the high command.
Russians Fought Well
II matters little TO the Russians now
that Nivelle has been relieved and Pc
tain, who objected 10 the offensive
starting before the artillery had done
its work, is in the high command For
there are no more Russians on the
French front They went against Bril-
mont There was a division Of them
and they stood NJ 10 the work Of cut
ting the wire under the fire Of Ger
man machine guns. About half Of
them got through the wire The 9TH
ers were on the ground behind Those
who got through managed 10 fight
their way about 80 yards into the Gel
man trenches
Then the artillery began the work Il
should have done a week before II be-
gan to shell the German trenches. and
the Russians continued to fight their
way. yard by yard. into the German
lines. while the German artillery
poured a hell Of shells on them. The
Russians ate their way in piece by
piece for three days and established
a f0othOld in the outskirts Of the Ger
man Brimont position. But Brimont
remained in German hands Shells