The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-07-18


enemy advance. and seize the bat
teries. Then we saw him storming
ahead with fixed bayonets. We fought
like wild animals. For minutes there
ragged bayonet fight beyond descrip-
ton. We stabbed through the breast,
through the abdomen, and wherever
else we could. This was no occasion
to employ tbe bayonet tactics taught at
drill. something which must be left for
driIl-ground practice only.
The butts Of the rifles whizzcd
through the air and any mans head
which they struck was broken. Hell
NETS and knapsacks had been lost long
since. In spite Of the superiority Of
numbers. the French couldsnot defeat
this little group of desperate men. We
forgot everything around us and fought
like bloodthIrsty beasts. thinking Of
nothing else. Part OF our mes pene-
trated the hostile ranks and fought TO
retake the lost cannon. The enemy
recognizing the danger. retreated. and
tried 10 hold the conquered guns with
all his energy. We continued to stab.
to club, man for man. but the enemy
held on TO the batteries. Every can
non was surrounded by corpses, and
every minute new victims were Gre
ated. The artillerymen who were nEht-
ing with us tried to remove the breech
blocks Of the guns. Il.
Three Germans fought four French
men st the third gun which was just
to my right. They were all that was
left around that piece. At another gun
10 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 on and ran. Friend and foe alike
were torn by the terrible explosion
The gun was completely demolished.
Seventy 10 eighty men were killed for
nothing.
were once more In our possession. We
were now able to approximate the ter
rible casualties. in the battle for this
battery. Dead and wounded by hun
dreds. infantry. cnvalry. artillery and
pioneers. covered the narrow strip Of
ground.
Once more we received REINFORCE
ments- This time four regular compa-
nies Of infantry had been taken
away from another detachment Even
II soldier takes part in everything. he
can get only a very restricted view Of
what is going on and has absolutely no
way of determining how the battle Is
going.
These re-enforcements had been
taken from all different arms and late
~~~l~ Il. a. a -. 81
which had been threatened exactly like
ours was. This led us to conclude that
we could only resist further sttncks
provided fresh troops reached US. II
only we could get something to eat.
But there seemed no way to relieve the
hunger and thirst which tortured Us
Now. horses ealloped mp TO remove
the guns we had left. and at the same
instant the French artillery opened .
tremendous fire from guns of all cali
bers. The shells fell among the 80
teams comprising the column. Confu-
sion reigned. Groups Of SIX horses
comprising each team sprang into the
air. then ran In all directions. pulling
their carriages with the wheels mp 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 1t was only a question OF
advance or retreat. Retreat? Mol The
order came to retake the positions
which we had lost at the opening of
the battle and which the Frenchmen
presumably had made ready TO with
stand a 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
continuing to shell our battery posi-
tions. Neither the enemy's artillery
nor Infantry was turned upon Us. This
made us suspicious and our apprehen-
sion regarding what was TO come in
creased rs we were permitted to ad-
vance unmolested.
upon Us the hre from q multitude of
machine guns. We threw ourselves on
the ground and hunted cover. An In
stnnt later we again sprang up and
continued our march. Once more we
encountered destruction. By this time
we had lost almost a third Of our men
md. exhausted. we halted.
Scarcely had we taken q position be-
fore we were attacked from the front
and flank. We no longer had an ade-
quate force TO successfully resist this
double hlnW IA the enemy In greatly