Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-04
GERMANS AT TOUL
POSSESSED A MAP
OF us. TRENCHES
Attack Was RehearSed Four
Times Before Charge
Was Made
By associated Press

|
With the American Army in
France, March 2.-(Delayed).
a plan of attack, including a map
of the American positions, indicat-
ing every dugout, which was re-
moved from the body of the Prus-
sian captain who led the recent as
sault upon the sector northwest OF
| Toul, shows how completely the
Germans prepare their raids-if, in
! fact, this was only a simple raid
not having as it's ultimate object the
retention of port of the salient.
The map goes into such detail as
| to show every machine gun emplace-
ment, every trench and every depres-
sion in the ground within the Amer
lean lines. At the bottom there is
simply a line drawn, labeled our
front line" Along this line are 1--WE
shaded portions, each marked
nest"
Four rehearsals were held for the
attack, and the troops who made it
were specially picked from new ar
rivals of fresh troops in the sector.
They were told that the Americans
were in front of them.
After the artillery had nearly lev
eled the American position the Ger
mans started out from their nests,
each of which contained forty in
fantrymen, one lieutenant and three
pioneers to precede the infantry and
| five to follow it, The two. groups
upon the American extreme right
went around this flank and the
group upon the extreme left carried
out a similar movement there.
Forced to Change Plans
The two groups in the center had
planned to attack directly, but the
American defense changed all the
plans. When they were met by the
heavy machine gun fire from the
| American lines they saw it would be
| impossible to gain a footing there,
changed their direction and followed
the other groups around the ftank.
The duty of the pioneers preceding
the infantry was to clean up any
wire that had not been broken by
| the artillery, while the pioneers who
! followed carried large quantities OF
explosives for the purpose of clean
ing up the dugouts.
Official reports of the interroga-
ton of the prisoners taken by the
| Americans show that all of them
did not believe Germany would win
| the war. One of the men told the
| intelligence officers he thought the
| Americans, like the Germans, did
! not want to fight, but had to. The
officers quickly changed the Ger
mans viewpoint by informing him
that all of the troops in the attack
| ed positions were volunteers.
One prisoner whose home is in
German Lorraine said he thought
the Fatherland would lose the war,
but he hoped not. He knew nothing
about the Americans except that
/ Hl,lNv l., l.. -.
newspapers not printing much upon
the subject, he said. and being slow
in reaching the front lines because
of mail congestion.
This prisoner said he was con-
vinced that the recent strikes in Ger
many were caused by a desire for
peace, adding that all Germany
wanted the war to end. He was GER
tain that an offensive was coming
but did not believe it would be
launched before April 1.
None of the prisoners had seen any
German tanks, they said. All of
them added they were glad to have
been taken prisoner, especially by
the Americans. because they believ-
ed they would be we'll treated
Germans Under StaIzmann
The prisoners accounts showed
that the sector opposite the Amer
ican position was commanded by
| General Stalzmann.
The correspondent talked with a
| dozen of the American wounded in
| their hospital cots. Every one of
them was anxious to tell of some
deed of heroism or other perform
ed by his fellows, but displayed
great modesty regarding his own ex-
ploits. One youth, whose home is
l.
ed to be not more than eighteen
years old, told this story:
II was in the front line when it
seemed like every shell in the world
started coming our way. Where the
Germans got them is more than |
know. / never believed that many
existed. One burst near where was.
"A piece hit fellow on the other
side of me who came from Texas.
The corporal picked him up in his
arms and started with him for a
first-aid station in the midst of a
perfect shower of dirt and mud
which was being kicked up. 1 don't
know whether he ever got there or
not
BY that time 1 got into a ma
chine gun emplacement with another
corporal whose home is in Missouri,
leaving my rifle outside. Things
got so hot we decided to try to get
to a steel shelter at the end of a
trench.
The corporal went first, but a few
feet away a shell exploded almost
on him and killed him. stepped
out and saw that my rifle had been
blown to pieces. This left me de-
fenseless, so L started in another di-
rection hoping to find rifle or a
n nl
would be around soon. About the
same time a piece of shell hit me
on the left side and down I went.
Efrst-Aid Station Wrecked
"A sergeant yelled an order for
me to go to first-aid station. | was
just approaching the station in the
rear of two stretcher- bearing teams
who were proceeding, bent over. to
| escape If possible the flying pieces of
shell, when shell pumped down on
top of the station, exploded and wip-
ed it out. a piece of rock hit me
in the head. When / woke up some
stretcher-bearers had me, hauling
me over the shell holes
I've sure got to hand it to those
men with the Red Cross on their
arms. They all worked like dogs
in that hell out there. They seemed
to have but one idea-to do their
duty-and apparently cared nothing
for their own lives while doing 1t.
They were game right to the core"
In this connection it may be said
that there are a certain number of
| men who wear the Red Cross whose
names are on the casualty list.
An artillery man from New Jer-
sey described what happened in the
gun pits.
II was asleep in the dugout when