Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-02-27
United STATES ENGINEER
TROOPS IN FRANCE
tContinled from page eieven.)


iers weer to go and where to stop and
ley We're not to go bit farther. They
ad thoroughly mapped it out. 1t was
be pulled off at 5:45 and everybody
al been so instructed. Fortunately they
licked up a German prisoner and they
Dund on him an instruction to be on the
bokout for an attack at that time. Ger
pan spies had contributed that inform
aid a word. / asked him no questions
nd he gave me no information, but at
# 40 in the morning he directed that the
ght start at 5:15; the boches were
Taught asleep and they had to fight with
ut breakfast, and the Germans will not
ght without breakfast, so they captured
Il they did not kill. They have to cap
ure some now they have to- get over
heir desire not to take prisoners. They
nave to do it for this reason: they must
nave the German prisoner write back
nome how well he is fed by the English
land there is nc censorship on the pris
pner s. mail. That gets back to the starv-
ng wife and family, and it has what the
politicians call today psychological eff
plies TO everything. So they take priS-
pners. However, taking prisoners is not
the whole object. When | studied army
tactics some years ago we had five points,
represented by the five fingers of our
nand, and there was nothing said about
killing anybody. But an army order today
to kill the Germans; (b) to reach Hill
number so-and-so; (c) to stop at hill
U number so -and-so;" and woe betide the
man who goes beyond the stopping point!
because the enthusiasm of the French
and the British soldiers cried him beyond
the objective and the German counter
attacks always drove him to frightful
slaughter; so q Imitation is put on him.
IT very hard to restrain him because
he sees what appears TO be a field un-
occupied which too often proves trap,
and so they set out to reach these OBJ
4 Jectives, but the first order is to kill the
81 Germans.
After this raid of October 13, in which
81 the British had lost quite a number of
men killed through their own barrage
3 fire, the general said to me- II would like
to know how this happened" And SO we
went out to see. On our way out we
q passed q brigadier-general who was liv-
Il ing under ground. He had some CORFU
gated rooms he said resisted shrapnel,
81 and he had bedroom and dining room.
a Because the cannon had smashed all his
n window glass he had substituted bot
g toms of beer bottles set in cement, which
q gave him light and resisted shock. They
had a Iatrine constructed in general AM
q er1can fashion, surrounded with canvas
q to give privacy, but he was informed that
q 1t would arrest the attention of an aero
q plane and he would be bonbarded. and
that it would have to come down, 30
down 1t came, and the men went out to
h the latrtne unprotected against immod-
esty.
We went on and moved along about
two miles of trenches the duck
boards and examined where all the
fighting had taken place. and the general
asked a sergeant about the loss in this
barrage. He said, 1.-THE time was a min
ute and thirty seconds but the men got
so enthusiastic after minute that they
ran into our own FIRE. The time ought
to be shortened to one minute" After
that it was shortened / just allude to
that to show you that Encouragement is
perfectly willing to talk with and get in
struction from q private soldier in his
own ranks. This general came from one
of the most illustrious families in Eng
land, but he was willing to get their
viewpoint, and he tried to graft that in
his military experience. He said Ser
geant how many did you kill Yesterday
And the sergeant. replied, Fifteen, Sir.
That excited my interest. He said, "Sir,
came TO dugout and / heard voices
and 1 yelled Surrender! and the boche
said, Go to hellp and threw three
bombs down" He said that with less
excitement than am telling you here
The general said That's pretty good; I
will send for you in few days" 1t does
not take a congress, twenty years after
you are dead, to give you medal of hon
or British army commander has
perfect right to confer distinguished
service medal on any member in his
army; he has the right to give war
medal to any man. 1 saw parade in
which twenty men were, decorated for
events which had happened within thirty
days. You could see the tension in every
man in that brigade as they saw their
men, their own associates. called out to
be honored in the name of King George
by the presentation of these medals that
would go down to their children as a
distinguished honor. for bravery in the
war We have got to come to it,; we
have got TO get rid of our American
prejudice of rewarding men who do faith
full things. The little piece of bronze is
nothing for the risk he runs but it is the
stamp of his country's approval, and that
IS the greatest thing his country
can do for him. To have congress
pass an act after you are dead and buried
does not meet the BILL 1t must be done
on the spot, and those men are encour
aged to deeds Of valor by seeing other
men promptly rewarded for what they
have done.
But / am getting away from the sub
toned to dealing with engineers, and I
suppose there are some here who, hav-
ing large contracts in mind, do not look
to the salvage at all. But the British
engineer made up his mind that nothing
should be lost, and the engineers, dumps
to which were brought back all wastage,
Izrirn potaUglamPntS. wheels