The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-23

ne picture of our British troops
rowded with refugees.
nd tired, dirty and dilapidated.
the worse. for wear, and the
become unravelled and were
like long hairs.
wore in the hospital Little things
please them.
1t is just this simplicity which has
made it possible for German agents
to spread lies and work ont a scheme
of insidious propaganda.
I saw something of the ravages of
the Hun in Belgium. I saw more of
the same brutal work in Serbia,
where L was with the Scottish Wo-
mems Hospital detachment through
the worst horrors of the overrunning
of that country. What 1 have seen in
Italy strikes me as infinitely moro
terrible than anything in either of
those countries, for the reason that
the transition from the peaceful calm
of village life to the naked horrors of
panic-stricken flight before the red
ruin of war was of itself sudden
enough to give one a terrible shock
Hun Shells Dropped in Hospital
The gunfire had been terrible in
its Intensity. 1t had come nearer and
nearer each hour until the hospital in
which we worked was in a circle of
fire, with shells bursting all around.
The patients were wonderfully calm.
Even when shells dropped in the
wards the poor men bore it with a.
fortitude that impressed me great
ly. There were some bad cases of
me lingering on the borders of death,
The ordeal was too much for them.
and they died.
A Chum's Sacrifice
One pathetic incident 1 will never
forget.
There was young lad who was
feverish with a steadily-increasing
temperature. When he was moved
he made inquiries about his chum,
who had been killed by one of the
first shells. We had to lie to the poor
lad, and for time has was satisfied
with our story that his cnum was
lsafe.
When the flames reached the main
ward he would not be satisfied with
cur story, and in spite of all we could
do he made his way back, searching
amid the burning building for his
chum. He found him dead, and when
he saw the body there came from
that poor lad a wall of anguish that
will never forget to my dying day,
His cry of anguish had hardly died
away before the roof fell in with q
terrible crash, and the lad was bur
led in the ruins along with the dead
body Of his chum.
Huns Fire on Red Cross FLAG
AS our convoy moved back it wa.
under observation from the rising
ground now occupied by the enemy
and the gunfire from the ridges was
turned directly on our ambulances
There could be no mistake about it
1t was not matter of heavy guns
Smelling at random by mathematical
rules from the rear, but there were
light field guns moved into position
: and fired from a point where the
= Red Cross flag could be seen plainly
l flying over our convoy as it moved
, back.
t The Valley of Death
For more than half a mile we wer,
4 shelled in this way, the shells burst
n ing right on our path, and knockin.
( over stretchers and ambulances il
y which our wounded were lying. Tn
t further we pushed on the worse be
t came the sights. The villagers fly
v ing before the invaders were crowd
t ing on to the roads, each hamlet con
s tanning its quota, and soon the road
were so congested that it became i'm
g possible to move except at sloy
h pace.
e One terrible period came when /
:, was necessary to pass through a val
d ley dominated by the enemy gun fire
n 1t was truly valley of the shadow o
death, for as soon as the helples
n mass of humanity got into it the enc
i my guns began to rain death.
n The panic was indescribable Whe
the shells burst.
IS The women screamed and becam
It hysterical, children moaned and wall
e ed. Even some of the men were ter
h ror-stricken.
ct How we got through I cannot tel
lie but when I looked back from the hig
Sc ground and saw that valley of deaf
1T beneath me a shudder ran throug
my frame. The valley was full
ut dead and dying, some of them tran
II, pied out of all resemblance to any
s. thing human.
j. The Roadside Births
= Saddest sights of all were the roat
- side births. Woman in labor ha
- fled on the approach of the Huns
+s The ordeal had brought on prem;
"a ture confinement, and there by tt
~ roadside expectant mothers had fal
No en- to bring into a world of war IL
Eoffspring whose coming had bee
looked forward to with such pleasuI
he only few days before.
Nv With the gunf1re creeping hard a
cir ter US, it was almost certain deal
lie to stay behind to give attention to II
les poor mothers in this terrible a
g couchement, but what human bell
nd could think of self in such moments
ad Our nurses risked their lives to a
Sc, such cases. and in too many cas-
ITS the price was paid.
he was lucky enough to escape wit
is out injury, but one pretty Italian g
lost her life in attending to one
ok these poor women.
is The enemy's gunfire was bursti
rse on the road not more than two hu
ng dred yards from where We had n
pie lticed an expectant mother sink do1
lys by the roadside. The Italian g
ley nurse I have spoken OF went to h