The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1918-08-01

wild confusion oil tried at the same
time to reach the bridges beyond
which lay safety.
At this instant the cavalry which
had taken cover along the river bank
galloped to the bridge position. In a
moment the bridge was covered with
human bodies. all racing for the op-
posite bank. We could see this tenn
porary structure trembling under this
enormous burden.
Our officer saw the situation and he
nervously pressed the telephone re-
ceiver to his left ear. His right hand
was on the switch. Breathlessly he
stared at the fleeing masses. IF only
the telephone connections had not been
broken" he muttered to himself. He
knew as well as all the rest of US that
he was to act on the instant that the
curt order came over the wire.
1t was not much that he had to do.
Merely make movement of his hands.
across the bridge until more than half
were safely over. The bridge further
above was not in such great demand.
and with the lessened congestion at
most all who crossed here were
already safe. We could see how the
first of the French units had crossed.
but the bridge continued to stand
The sergeant who manned the appa-
ratus at this bridge became restless
waiting for orders, and finally on his
own initiative blew 1t up. Some
Frenchmen and hundreds of Germans
upon the bridge found their graves in
the Marne
At the same moment the officer
standing next to me received tie order
to blow up the last bridge. He hest.
tated to obey. for he could still: see
many Germans on the other side. Ie
could see the race for the roAl leading
to the bridgehead as all sought safety
at the same instant. There Il terrible
panic reigned. Many soldiers jumped
into the river and tried to swim across.
The pressure became greater as the
thousands still on the other side tried
to get back.
The message over the wire became
more and more insistent Finally the
officer sprang up, rushed Dy the p;o-
neer standing at the apparatus a:.| a
second later there was terrible !cto-
nation-bridge and, men were 'l..swn
into the air hundreds Of meters. lust
as river at high tide races along,
taking with it all manner of debris. 20
the surface of the Marne was cove":t;
with wood, men, torn uniforms ard
horses. Efforts to swim were futile.
yet soldiers continued to jump into The
river.
On the other side the French began
to disarm such German soldiers as
stood there with raised hands Thou
sands of prisoners, innunerable horses
and machine guns fell into the hands
of the enemy. Several of our company
were just about to retire with the
electric apparatus when something de-
velOped which certain of our number
had suspected. An error had been
made and 1t was too late to s-seee::;;ff;; 4.
The upper bridge, which had not
been used to any great extent by the
Germans. should have been left stand
ing!
1t had been the purpose Of the staff
in command to leave this bridge so
that the enemy might continue Its pur-
suit Of our troops until Il certain num-
Der of FrenchmeH had crossed the
river. The Plan was to permit enough
Frenchmen to pass so ;hat they could
be taken prisoner. yet. no. too large
force. lest it might prove d menace
to the German arms.
After these hostile troops had
crossed. the plan was to destroy the
bridge to prevent their being re-
enforced. That was why the sergeant
manning this switch had been kept
waiting for the order to blow up the
bridge. But the sergeant in the ex-
element and confusion thought that
the cable to which his phone was ron.
nected had been disconnected and b!ew
up the bridge on his own initiative
while 1t was crowded by Frenchmen
and long before the enemy could i;s,ye
had an opportunity to cut that cahie.
At the same time the officer At the