El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-02-20


was sent down out Of control"
The car was punctured with NOR,
| than u or Is holes large enough &
put ones head inland one shell frag
ment ripped through the back rest o
the seat, tearing off the coat and be-
! Of the chap with me. and going cleal
| through my coat
The new chap with me was visibll
/ nervous, and, after killing the engine
/ by throwing II into reverse, finally
got started down the road Ee ask
me in a hes-tating voice If II was al
I was like that?" and I've often won
Z deIed If he knew I was kidding him
/ when / told him that this trip was an
unusually quiet one
While the attack lasted, 1 shall
never forget the scene of confusion
! behind the lines. The. we're troops
of every color and race on the ROADS
conveys of wagons, trucks. motors
gun carriages pushing from one vii
lage to another.
have never in all my life heard
any noise, or combination of noises
that could at all hope to equal the
sound OF the bombardment.
Tie ground shook continuously just
ike an earthquake-and even ten
miles behind the lines automobiles
lined up on the roadside rocked up
and down on their creaking springs
earth. Dark clouds blew across the
heavens. driven on by a heavy wind.
Above the battlefield the sky was
ashen, and even in the afternoon flash
after flash of the rolling guns lit
across the sky. Toward the Wes.ern
horizon a long white stripe across the
sky marked the setting sun. and the
staring. empty windows in the de-
serted villages reflected the light in
a hopeless sort Of way.
Roads slippery From Blood.
We were stationed right at the Fort
of B, where the German lines stuck
out in a wedge shape, and where the
French and Russian troops were shot
to pieces So, after the attack was
launched, We had a g4eat many
wounded On an IS mile road there
were three solid rows Of nothing but
ambulances, crawling along like
long snake, humping and creaking
over the road until everything was
slippery from the leaking blood The
ambulances rolled along in this line
for four days and nights We car
ried a great many wounded Russians.
There were four picked divisions OF
Russian troops sent over to France 10
aid the French in their big push-and
If these four divisions were picked
troops, 1 should hate to see the rest
of LIE Russian army. As fighters
they weren't worth a D. and a
q eat many helped themselves out Of
the fight by timely shots through
their own hands or feet
They were all very large fellows
and it was horribly funny TO see their
feet sticking out Of the back of the
little ambulances- Every time the
car hit a big bump with the front
wheels IL seemed as though the am
bulance would stand up on the hind
wheels.
doctors Strained to breaking Point.
/ shall not soon forget the first
field hospital behind the lines at the
Fort de B It was all hurrying
hustle and nerve straining excite
ment. Doctors. strained to the break
ing point. cried out orders and imme-
diately gave contradictory orders. The
hospital was in a great big chateau.
surrounded by large grounds, and
many roads ran in and out Of the
place
often a big French ambulance, af-
ter getting a load OF wounded, would
start off for a hospital further be-
hind the lines. and, getting lost on
the roads around the chateau. would
again land at the hospital building.
where the load had originally been
taken on and here excited, crazy
ssretcher bearers would pull out the
wounded. give them another dressing
and put them again IN an ambulance.
The hospital men wouldn't listen to.
the explanations or questions of
drivers. One wounded Frenchman
told me he had made six different
trips around the chateau grounds be-
fore he finally got on his way to the
base hospital.
R ads All Uttered.
Up at the lines the roads we're all
shell pitted and covered with debris
of the tumbled houses of the wrecked
villages. The national highway.
s.r, Of fr fvrH 90
quite close to the trenches had
been lined with big trees. The
I. ees, knocked down by the shells,
caused US great trouble at night
Fords never were much good at
tree trunks.
When the road on the highway
wasn't badly broken up. good time
could be made with empty cars. One |
day a clap in our section went along
this road in his empty car on the way
10 the dressing station
The Germans. their trenches only !
700 yards from the road. shelled tie 1
car heavily. AS the shells crept up
behind the car the driver went faster |
and faster, and just as the increasing /
noise of the shells told him they had /
aim al their me. cy, the front whee s
Of the ambulance struck a shell hole. /
flew off the road and the wheels still 4
spinning in the air, landed on its back I
in the ditch, just as the shell that
should have wrecked the outfit
screamed overhead
Clever Trick Pulled on Germans.
There were many camOuflagel
SC. Gems along the road; a bunch of
them added greatly TO the diff ulty. 1
Il was in the Champagne that l saw a ]
clever trick pulled off on the Boches.
lust behind the French lines was a /
she'll shattered trunk of a great tle
The French used the trunk, which ]
was about 80 feet in height, as a
NJ ing and observing post, but II
was an unhealthy lookout. as the
Germans kept a rather steady ma
sline gun fl. on the place when they
thought anything was in the wind.
ne night, after French engineers /
mute diagrams Of the tree
trunks outline and coloring. a stCel
Tree exactly a duplicate of The wood
n one was drawn up to the lines: the
I'D natural trunk cut down and the
AXE one put Up. II was quite a long
while before the Boche machine gun
lers found out why their bullets
iidnt seem to affect the French snip
ITS End observers.
Hunt for Warmth Big Problem.
Our dig p oblem when off the roads
vas trying to get warm. We made
itoves out of old oil cans-no Chin
ieys-just the can with the tops cut
IF; so that when the can was fiji ed
With u~no1