Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1918-11-07
CALLOUS amid
HORRORS OF WAR
GreWsome Sights of Battle Fail
to Shake Nerves of
YankS.
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.-The cal
lousness and steady nerves of fresh
American troops in recent advances
have gladdened the hearts of veteran
British and French who have observed
them, as we'll as filled with pride their
own officers.
The horror of warfare is more ap-
parent during an offensive when an
army is advancing than at any other
time; even during a defensive action
in 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 counter-attack they are temporari-
ly thrust back a few yards, and there
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 CHASTITY A wide belt
of country is Uttered with dead men
and dead horses. The advancing army,
eager to maintain contact with the
enemy at all times, has no time to
bury or burn these cOrpses, respec-
lively. The supporting troops follow
ing up the advance guards must live
and eat among these greWsome sights.
Never Feased Them.
Fresh, untried Americans, who had
not seen the frightfulness 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
a hair at the sight of dead, friends
or foes, even when they came upon
such sights as Reddy farm, Bellevue
farm, Cierges, Seringes ct Nesles and
Sergy.
In these places, particularly the
first two mentioned, the bodies of the
Prussian Guardsmen were literally
lying in heaps, for these picked troops
had been told to maintain their
strong point positions until death, and
in most gases they followed orders.
The dead were in the distorted ri
lions that indicated how the end had
come TO them. Those killed in ma.
chinegun pits were smashed to bits.
the effect Of Eand grenades and bombs
which American advance guards had
tossed in among them after working
round their TANKS and getting in be.
hind them.
Occasionally one saw German snip.
ers or machine gunners sprawled flat
on the ground at the foot Of tree
after they had been shot out of their
camouf1aged positions among its foil
age. The most sickening sights were
where bodies of the enemy had at.
tempted to make stands in bitches OF
beside sunken roads and had been
trapped by American enfilade 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
that frequently the same bullet passed
corpses looked like heaps Of rags OF
discarded uniforms and equipment, SC
closely did they overlap one another,
No Trace of Nervousness.
But, despite all, the Americans
marched forward, stopped three or
four times a day for meals, and then
made camp, and slept at night amid
the horrible surroundings without ever
doing more than showing a surprising
preliminary interest in the matter. If
they saw corpse in khaki they looked
it over closely to see if they knew who
it was. Only occasionally did they
have time to inter it; that was left to
the burying parties that followed them
up. AS they walked through woods
and fields to get water or supplies, they
implanted rifles, bayonets 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 brooding over the
fate Of their fallen comrades. The
cOrpSeS were entirely 1mperSOnaI tC
them and never ratified even the new
est recruit.
The doughboys showed no back.
wardness about appropriating Luger
automatic pistols, the most priced
souvenir to be had, from dead Boches,
nor did they hesitate to pluck off we'll |
camoufaged helmets from the pates OF
Hun cadavers.