The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-05-03

IKE DlOOutulTSly DedStS, tHlIhl1S u
nothing else. Part of our men pene-
trated the hostile ranks and fought to
retake the lost cannon. The enemy
recognizing the danger. retreated, and
tried to hold the conquered guns with
all his energy. We continued to stab
to club, man for man. but the enemy
held on 10 the batteries. Every can
non WAS surrounded by curp>tS, and
every minute new victims were ere
at.,l The artillerymen who were fight
III. with us tried to remove The breech
blocks of the guns.
Three Germans fought four French
men AT the third gun Whi&h was Just
TO my right. They were all that was
left around that piece. Al another gun
70 men lay dead or wounded A pio-
neer went to the mouth of this gun and
with astounding calmneSs pushed shell
after shell into the barrel. touched
them off and ran. Friend and foe alike
we're torn by the terrible explosion.
The gun was completely demolished
Seventy TO eighty men were killed for
nothing.
After an hours fight, all the guns
We're once more in our possession. We
were now able to approximate the ter
riblc casualties. in the battle for this
battery. Dead ard wounded by huE-
dreds, infantry. cavalry. artillery ana
pioneers. covered the narrow strip OF
ground.
Once more we received re-enforce-
mentS. This time four regular coil:1a-
MES of infantry had been taken
away from another detachment. Even
if a soldier takes part in everything, he
can get only q very restricted view Of
what is going on ana has absolutely no
way OF determining how the battle is
going
These re-enfnrcements had been
taken from all different arms and late
arrivals had been taken from a division
which had been threatened exactly like
ours was. This led us to conclude thar
we could only resist further attacks
provided fresh troops reached Us. II
But there seemed no way to relieve the
hunger and thirst which tortured us
Now. horses galloped up To remove
the guns we had left. and at the same
instant the French artillery opened a
tremendous fire from guns of all cali
bers. The shells fell among the 30
teams comprising the column. Confu-
sion reigned. Groups of six horses
each team spranS into the
air. then ran in all directions. pulling
their carriages with the wheels up be-
hind them. Some of the terrified ami
mails ran directly into the heaviest fire.
only to be torn to shreds with their
drivers.
The enemy now transferred his fire
to the battery position which we occu.
pied. For us it was only a question Of
advance or retreat. Retreat? No! The
order came to retake the positions
which we had lost at the opening of
the battle and which the Frenchmen
had made ready to- with
stand new attack. BY this time we
had been REINFORCED with more can.
non fodder and the insane fight could
begin anew.
We advanced over q wild field, COW
cred by thousands upon thousands of
torn human bodies. No shot fell; the
only firing was the hostile artillery
to shell our battery posi- |
ho
nor infantry was turned upon us This
made us suspicious and our apprehen-
sion regarding what was to come in |
creased as we were permitted to ad- |
vance unmolested.
Suddenly there was turned loose !
upon us the fire from multitude OF !!
guns. We threw ourselves on |
the ground and hunted cover. An in !
slant later we again Sprang up ana |
continued our march. once more we |;
destruction. BY this time |
we had lost almost a third of our men !
and, exhausted. we halted.
Scarcely had we taken position be
fore we were attacked from the front I
and flank We no longer had IN AIDE i
uuate force to successfully resist THIS !
double blow, as the enemy, in greatly !
numbers, had practically |
crushed our force. The left wing was |
cut off and we saw our men
throw up their hands and surrender. |
We who were in the center were I'M
able to come to their assistance; our |
ranks were being decimated from min
rto RI minnie