The herald., 1918-05-16

The Fighting Became More Lively.
wild confusion all 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 q
moment the bridge was covered with
human bodies, all racing for the op
posite bank. We could see this TEN.
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.
Masses Of troops continued to rush
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 al.
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 II up. Some
Frenchmen and hundreds Of Germans
upon the bridge found their graves in
the Marine.
At the same moment the officer
standing next to me received the order
to blow up the last bridge. He hest
tated to obey, for he could still see
many Germans on the other side. He
could see the race for the road leading
to the bridgehead as all sought safety
at the same instant. There q 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 by the pio-
neer standing at the apparatus and q
second later there was q terrible deto-
nation-bridge and men were thrown
into the air hundreds Of meters. Just
as a river at high tide races along,
taking with 1t all manner Of debris, so
the surface Of the Marne was covered
with wood. men, torn uniforms and
horses. Efforts to swim were futile,
yet soldiers continued to jump into the
river.
On the other side the French began
to dfsarm such German soldiers az
stood there with raised hands. Thou
sands Of prisoners, innumerable 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 rsecctt.:ty &.
The upper bridge. which had not
been used to any great extent by the
Germans, should have been left stand
ingI
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 a certain num-
Der OF Frenchmen had crossed the
river. The Plan was to permit enough
Frenchmen to pass so that they could
be taken prisoner, yet, MOI too large
a force. lest IL might prove a 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 con-
nected had been disconnected and blew
up the bridge on his own initiative
while It was crowded by Frenchmen
and long before the enemy could have
had an opportunity to cut that cable.
At the same time the officer at the
witch connected with the explosives
nder the second bridge received his
riders. he afterwards said that the
rider he received was hard to mako
ut and that he had lost his presence
{ mind and threw In the switch,
hereby killing thousands on the bridge
nd leaving many other thousands 10
be mercy OF the enemy.
Before there was time for more I'm
ressions our entire unit was ordered
, vitry 20 BE- assembled In froot Of
As cathedral win q sish q rsiisf
70 hurried svsy. for the rrebeh g.
ilsry bsssn soes more % ssnd shsils
|ILE M1rE aC<urn1y ex9T ne UfIr1 Il