El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-11-02

Darts. France. Nov. 2.-out Of 25s
L documents that were taken by one
Of the French armies. nearly all OF
which are antecedent to the first Of
the reverses OF July Is. the general
tone indicates a terrible degree Of IA
tigue and great dissatisfaction. Again
and again there are letters advising
men in the field to be made prisoners.
and the view is repeatedly expressed
that the Spanish fever. from which
Germany is suffering tremendously,
is nothing else than famine fever.
A color sergeant writes on July s:
The cursed French have already
caused Us many losses"
a letter on the 2sth 10 a man IN the
472d regiment. 241st division. states:
Tt appears you have had cOnsidera-
bic losses"
Another man writes to his brother
in the third reserve division. speaking
OF terrifying losses which the broth
er's unit sustained. "ss men out Of
On June Is a man writes that his
company (222d infantry diyision) is
stiu &c strOngi
Hnu Shortage Of Men.
A woman. writing on June % from
Oesterweg, explains how all the 1918
class have gone. and how on that day
news had been posted in the church
OF the 1920 regiments dead. on July
: a man informs a oomrade in the 22d
reserves
June % was the worst day Of all
The French showed over heavy stuff
On A ara - . = .
night We had occupied a small wood
with the fifth company and three
heavy machine guns. After Il hours
rolling fire there was not much left
The first battalion on our left had
only about 100 men, ] was the only
man TO escape All the rest were
made prisoners. In the fifth com
pany next morning only one noncom-
missioned officer and eight men got
back Out Of the machine gun com
parry I was the only man TO return
Tie battalion has been completely
Ieved-"
Regiments Consolidated.
Many or the letters bear directly on
the problem of the German manpower,
and show in instance after instance
how units have been remade and how
men who had been drafted into spe-
cial service have since been brought
back into the ranks. Thus a young
man in the LandWher writes.
You must be surprised that Il
should be possible for a young man
ike me 10 be among the old gray
birds Last year they had to give $50
men for new formations. I had the
luck 10 get away then and lose my
self az Dusseldorf From there We
went tc guard the Dutch frontier. The
Gs5th. TO which we were attached,
had too many disaffected men, and 50
we came to Beaurettes and were 10
Join the 159th Landwher that had had
a grueling time Of it. On the way we
learned that the 32Sth had been con-
stituted out OF this and several other
regiments. and that 1t was already
relieved. So we are back at the same
place, where il Is relatively calm"
CoHvalescezfs Sent Into Action.
4 convalsscent soldier says;
1t is very doubtful whether shall
Tor all the time men are being sent
Off Even the company OF the conva-
lescents has had 10 supply 100 men
because the other companies could not
supply any reinforcemeuts- Men over
% all have to 90 east There must
stil be row on there"
SiZty-four documents contain ref
erences to high prices and to the lack
of various materials. Thus. one wom-
an complains that the children have
often 10 be sent fasting to school
The bread ration has been still further
diminished, and the potatoes for the
most part are rotten An invalid
writes that It is impossible TO buy
fruit or meat. and reports that the
authorities requisitiOn all clothes and
bed linen An officer in Belgium COM
plains that pigs eat better food than
the soldiers do
Persons over IS have had their
bread ratious reduced BY half 4 mound
A woman on the 23d Of June writes
from ESSEN
Children Cry for Food.
1T IS the children who grieve ne
most. They are continually crying,
Mother, ] am hungry" Another
woman writing from Zunsweiser on
June 81 states- Here things are still