The Clio messenger., 1918-08-16

der "Pour Ia Merite," but Of the SOL
diers he never had thought.
They had not seen a bed for months.
They were never given a chance to re-
move their clothing.
They received only shells and steel
and were almost eaten up by verm!n.
They were covered with lice. There
was scarcely enough water for drink
ing purposes, to say nothing Of water
for washing their clothes.
Our hair and boards were long and
when we were given some hours OF
rest the lice would not let us sleep.
While we were in the trenches the bull
lets did not do much damage but daily
men were killed by indirect fire. The
thousands which whizZed through the
air every minute flew over our heads.
They struck trees or branches and
glanced off, striking the men in the
trenches. Failing to pierce their OBJ
ject directly they tore terrible gaping
wounds as they entered the mems
bodies sideways. Whenever we heard
charges concerning dum-dum bullets,
we thought of these cross-shots, al
though we never doubted the existence
of the dum-dums.
Whether or not dum-dum bullets
were made in the munitions factories
cannot say. suspect they were. How
ever, / did see many dum-dum bullets
made by the soldiers themselves. The
points were filed off from German mus
ket shells so that the nickel covering
was perforated. barring the lead filling.
The bullet flattened when it struck
its object. If, for instance, it entered
a mans arm, the explosive charge in it
would so shatter the arm as to blow 1t
entirely off and leave it hanging by the
skin.
German soldiers were frequently
seen supplying themselves with dunn
DUN bullets in the trenches, preparing
! to inflict terrible wounds.
On January s, 1915, the Germans at
tackled on their entire front of the Ar
! gonne forest sector and several hun
dred prisoners were taken. The hand
| to-hand fight continued until six o'clock
in the evening.
A fellow pioneer and myself found
ourselves in bit of trench held by
| eight Frenchmen. 1t was impossible to
retire so we accepted the unequal fight.
Fortunately we were well supplied
with hand grenades.
We cut the fuses short so that they
would explode as quickly as possible.
/ threw one among the eight soldiers.
Before the men COULD get out of the
way of the first, the second one fol-
lowed, which exploded in their midst.
We took advantage Of the confusion
thus created to hurl five more. Our
enemies were now reduced to four men.
We opened fire with our muskets, clos
ing In on the four. Their bullets
whizzed around our heads. One man
was shot in the mouth. That left three.
They turned and tried to flee.
In such moments as these one Is In
great rage and forgets danger entirely.
We were very close to our enemies
now, right on their heels when the last
man stumbled and fell. -
/ sprang on top of him. He defend
ed himself with his fists. My comrade
went after the other two. Bleeding at
the mouth, this man fought on. After
/ had Knocked several of his teeth out
he raised his hands and surrendered.
l released him from my grip and
looked him over carefully. He was
about thirty-five years old. He showed
me his wedding ring and talked to me.
l knew what he wanted, he wanted bis
life.
He gave me his canteen that might
drink some wine and wept. Perhaps
he thought of his wife and children. ]
pressed his hand and he showed me
his bleeding teeth. called him fool
and told him he was lucky to have got
ten away with the loss Of only a few
molars. 1 was glad 1 had not killed
him. l took him back myself, In order
to protect him against being misused.
AS l delivered him over to where the
| prisoners were being assembled, hs
pressed my hand and smiled.