Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-10-13
By Major c.. HemmeImann.


,pyright. by International News Bureau,
everywhere. IT was impossible TO sur
, !, ior the German artillery swept
tn e 4 h p Il on Without knowing how
line. where we found nothing LEFT but
DEAD and wounded and a few demented
s inr ;n W. VINO were singing and laugh
others had been driven out by the
french who had taken Ripont. The
french were obliged to stop in their
vine between Ripont and Bratrcuil
Where some German reserves opened
Iii RI, on them. But they would prob
IL, unfortunately for them they had
not come into range of their own artil-
wayd n IRE, Many soldiers said after
Tor they would have surrendered To-
the French. and thuss ended the war.
we profited by the situation TO re-
GERS Of our battalion had been killed.
Lieutenant Eietz persisted and his or
ueriy on his knees prayed for half an
n Ho, TOT him to get up: finally the poor
fellow lost his reason. When we re-
gained our first line we saw how ter
rible the toll had been. We literally
marched over the bodies OF dead and
wounded French and Germans. Their
tnought Tor minute that l. too. would
go mad. a great many OF the men
seemed see. insensible to everything and
spoke: TO them they looked at you with
unsceinE eyes.
AS may be understood We received no
rations That day and we secured what
W., We could from the pockets of the dead
Inc men preferred to rob the French,
VINO had white bread. boxes of sar-
dines. chocolate and coffee in their
canteens. but no alcohol. Luckily in
d r herman there was plenty OF rum
mere in our destroyed trenches we
ate and lived. thinking Of nothing and
taxing no heart in the battle which all
18TH OF September. when the battle had
Gained little, We were relieved in
the night. That was the part we took
III the ohampasne battle and 1t hardly
seems possible that we came out of il
alive When we counted our losses
we were dismayed. More than two
,hlrds OF our electives were lost. The
head OF our battalion, Captain Lind
wurm. whom. as we have said. ken,
himself hidden when the fghtinr vas
in progress, had the audacity 10 call
speech: ne
Dear comrades. thank you for your
courage and heroism. You braveiv
conquered the positions lost TO tho
enemy. am proud TO be your chief.
You have obeyed all my orders and
covered the Second battalion with
glory. Such boasting was almost un-
bcarable from such coward who. now
mat the danger was over. gave him.
self the airs Of having saved the Ger
man Empire. We were told that Lind
wurm had been severely reprimanded
Tor cowardice by Lieutenant- Colonel
Sosse ana ordered TO go at once to
his battalion, but even then he did not
come near the trenches. On the Sth
or october we again went into tho
trenches with new recruits chat we
were to teach and who were to fill our
losses To see them one would have
tnouRht that Germany was at the end
OF her man power. for some were hardly
more more men children and others were
of limb. '"'
On October 4th. Colonel-General Won
ri ninem' In the order OF the day. thanked
o.. read 10 the troops. but Lindwurm
thought 1t was Unnecessary Those
who would be interested arc dead.
, Wounaed or prisoners: those who are
mere now are not intelligent enough
10 understand: as for the newcomers.
1t does not concern them"
BACK IN CHAMPAGNE
For THE THIRD TIME
On the 6th of November we left for
our trenches in Champagne and started
stayed as reserve troops. Our men
lived in the habitants' homes. All in
tercourse with the Bavarian troops
vas forbidden to prevent auarrels and
4 shts. 1t was also forbidden to be
Intimate with the natives, for II was
at Douai and at Lille that the greater
number of the allies spies had been
discovered. This rule did not prevent
women and tIying by every way. even
by threatening them. to win their ia
vor. Lindwurm. himself. threatened to
deport a young girl, the daughter of
a n in, II-hn
unless She would submit to his ad-
vances. However. he was finally
shamed out of his intention. though
not until the mother and daughter had
gone through much suffering.
On the 23d of November we returned
for the third time to Champagne. IT
was comparatively quiet on this front
now compared to the terrible fighting
in september. and we were more COM
Portable. We occupied the same posi-
ton as before. During our absence
the engineers had worked with tenacity
to bury mines that would explode UNI
der the French trenches. Our bat
TALON was to attack Immediately after
the explosion of one of these mines
OF the night OF the 4th OF December
at 1880 exactly. At the given hour
a terrible defamation was heard and
ing UP to the sky in the midst of
clouds of dirt and black smoke You
could see plainly number of human
bodies hurled up into the air to a
great height by the force of the ex-
plosion.
Commander Lindwurm, as I have
said. gave the command for 1890. but
no one moved save some newly arrived
recruits. Lieutenant Becker, who was
only nineteen years old. then told us
that his company refused to move un-
less Commander Lindwurm came TO the
first line and led the attack. Lind
wurm replied and renewed the order
to attack Immediately, but said that
he would stay In the rear and direct
1t. In principle he was right. but hist
exasperated the men.
The loss Of time caused by this in
cident made US lose the advantage of
the disorder gained by the explosion.
The engagement was failure and we.
ON the contrary. were subjected to a
terrific attack by the French, who
prohted by the occasion. We had to
defend ourselves and suffered many
losses in order to hold our position. The
officer Of the engineers who had
planned the explosion of the mine he
made a counter attack with
fifteen men. for he hoped to gain the
Iron Cross. He was killed, while the
his men save two who succeeded IN
getting back, were killed, wounded
or made prisoners. !
The regiment was severely blamed
for this affair by the general-comman-
<Ior- NJ 4l.o /