Washington telegraph., 1918-05-10

at their feet. When the smoke cleared,
there was no trace Of the men.
You can imagine the feelings of
those who lay on the ground not 100
feet away witnessing this spectacle,
and waiting their turn.
An officer cried: "Next" It was
my turn. AS If aroused from night |
mare, sprang up, my gun In my right /,
hand, sidearm in my left and ran
ahead. I lodged two shells just as
they burst and ran close TO several
others, bursting the same instant. A
number of times sprang back, then
ahead again, running to and fro like a
madman, seeking a loophole. But every
where there was iron and fire. ran
like a hunted animal seeking way to
pass to save myself, with a hell In
front OF me, and an officers revolver
always ready behind.
Throwing caution to the winds,
prepared to meet death and the devil
himself, / at last ran blindly ahead;
ran, ran, ran, until someone seized my
coat tail and shouted in my ear:
"Here we are. Are you wounded?
You had better look. Perhaps you are
wounded and don't know It."
was among those Of my comrades
who had gotten through. Trembling
all over, stopped and looked around.
"Slt down and you will feel better"
said one Of the men. 1--WE also have
trembled."
Presently some wounded were
brought up. There were about 4S men
and a sergeant took command. Moth
ing more was seen Of our officers.
We continued TO advance and passed
several German batteries. Many had
suffered heavily In dead and wounded,
which lay around their guns destroyed
by enemy fire. Other batteries still
manned were useless because no more
ammunition could be gotten through.
We paused to rest. Several artil-
lerymen approached us, and a noncom-
| missioned officer asked them why they
did not fire.
Because we have used up oil our
ammunition" was the answer of one of
tne DuIteTy nen'
SIS 1t impossible to bring ammuni-
tlon through this barrageT
mo-" replied the artllleryman, "but
there is no more ammunition. That Is
why we cannot get any. AT Neufcha-
teau we started like wild men after the
enemy. Man and beast died from the
heat. railroads and other mediums OF
transportation were left In their dam
aged condition In the Wild excitement
Of victory, as we dashed into the heart
OF France. We raced on, bllndly and
thOughtlessly. thereby interrupuhg
communication with our bases, ran
directly into the trap set for us by the
French. Before the first ammunition
and other relief supplies reach us we
will all he killed."
Up to this time we had trusted
blIndly In the invncible strategy Of our
great general staff. Now It was brought
home to us on all sides that the
French were fighting at home, close
to their greatest source Of supply, and
had excellent railroad connections at
their disposal. Further than that the
French maintained q terrible artillery
fire from guns of far greater callber
than we believed they owned. This led
us to the conclusion that they were &C.
cupyng positions which had been pre-
pared for long time. Yet we believed
that the picture painted by the artil-
leryman had been too black. We were
soon to know better.
AS we approached the enemy's
trenches, we were met with a heavy
machine gun fire. and In double-qulck
step hurried to the temporary protec'
ton Of hastily thrown up dugouts. A
hard rain had set in. The field around
us was covered with dead and wound
ed. Even our trench was filed with
wounded. which made its occupation
by the defenders difficult. Many OF
the wounded men were paralyzed from
lying on the Shiny ground. All were
without bandages. They begged fol-
bread and water, but we had none fol-
ourselves. They pleaded piteously, Just
for scrap of bread. Many of then
had lain In this inferno for two DAYS
without having eaten anything what
ever.
We were scarcely established wher
the French attacked en- masse. The oc
cupants Of these trenches, whom wt
had re-enforced had already repulsed
several of these attacks. They urged
US to shoot and fired wildly themselve,
into the ranks of the advancing masses
We responded to the exhortations OF
the infantry officers: "Fire, fire hard
er, harderW
We fired until the barrels OF oul
guns became red-hot. The enemy
turned. The victims of our fire al
ready lying in heaps In No Mans Land
between our lines and the enemy's
were increased by hundreds. The at
tack was repulsed.
II is dark, and 1t rains and rains. All
about us in the darkness are heard
the wounded weeping. moaning, i'm
plorng. Their cries are augmented
by other wounded closer by. All called
for bandages, but we had none left. We
tore strips from our muddy shirts and
with them covered the gaping wounds