Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-11-18
CALLOUS AMID
HORRORS OF WAR
CreWsome Sights Of Battle Fail
to Shake Nerves of
iankS.
QUICKLY ADAPT THEMSELVES
Admiration Of French and British Vet
Grams Is Aroused by Conduct Of
Americans on Bloody Bat.
tlefields of France.

With the American Army.-'rhe cal
lousnpss and steady nerves OF fresh
American troops in recent advances
have gladdened the hearts of veteran
British and French wlc have observed
. them, as well as filed with pride their
own officers.
The horror of warfare is more APP
. parent during an offensive when an
army is advancing than at any other
time; even during defensive action
in n retreat. Attacking troops advance
over the enemy's positions, dotted with
dead and dying then dig in and fight
among the corpses and manned. Often
In counterattack they are Temperate
ly thrust back n few yards, and there
J dig In and fight again, this time among
the bodies of their own fallen COM
rades.
When their advance becomes deeper
and the enemy's retreat more general,
as In Won Boehm's retirement from the
Marine to the Vesle, the terrain be-
- comes even more ghastly. A wide belt
OF country Is Uttered with dead men
and aead l)rses. The advancing ariYy,
eager to maintain contact with ne
enemy at all times, has no time to
bury U burn these corpSes, respec-
lively. The supporting troops follow
ing up the advance guards must I've
and eat among these grewsome sights.
Never Feased Them.
Fresh, untlied Americans, who had
not seen the frightfulnesG Of war, al
though they had been trained in its
artifice and had been In the line IN
quiet sectors, traversed the CHASTITY
country like veterans, never turning
hair at the sight Of dead, friends
or foes, even when they came upon
such sights az Reddy farm. Bellevue
farm, Cierges Serlnges ct Nesles and
Sergy.
In these places, particularly the
first two mentioned, the bodies Of the
Pfussian Guardsmen were literally
lying in heaps, for these picked troops
had been told to maintain their
strong point positions until death, and
In most eases thcy followed orders.
The dead were in the distorted posi-
tlMs that Indicated how the end had
come TO them. Those killed in ma
chine-gun pits were smashed to bits,
the effect of Rnnd grcnades and bombg
which American advance guards had
tossed IN among Them after working
round their tanks and getting in be.
hind them.
Occasionally enc saw German snip.
ers or machine runners sprawled fiat
on the ground at the foo of a tree
after they Mad been shot out of their
camouflaged positions among 4s foli
age. The most sickcning sights were
where bodies Of the enemy had at
tempted to make stands in bitches or
beside sunken r0ad.S and had been
trapped by American entlade machine.
gun fire. The deadly Automatic rifles
had ripped through whole lines Of
Germans, and investigation frequently
showed that every mans body was
pierced by seven or eight bullets and
Tint frequently the same bullet passed
through three or four men. These
corpses looked like heaps of rags of
discarded uniforms and equipment, SO
closely did they overlap one another
No Trace Of Nervousness.
But despite all, the Americans
marched forward, stopped three ~
four times a day for meals, and then
made camp, and slept at night amid
the horrible surroundings without ever
doing more than showing Il surprising
preliminary interest in the matter. II
they saw corpse in khaki they looked
1t over closely to see if they knew who
1t was. Only occasionally did they
have time to inter 1t; that was left to
the burying parties that followed them
MP. AS they walked through woods
and fields to get water or supplies, they
implanted rifles, bnyonets down, IN the
ground to mark the spot Of every dead
American they discovered.
But there was no trace Of nervous.
ness and no evidence Of any of the
men worrying or brUoding over tn.
fate of their fallen comrades. The
corpses were entirely impersonal tt
them and never ratified even The new
est recruit, -------. - - -