Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-04

I wagons. The other way, coming lroH
the battleline, were the walking
wounded and prisoners and stretcher
| bearers. On one side was the spirit
Of victory moving forward, and or
the other side the human price OF
victory and the tragedy Of defeat.
| Crowds of German prisoners came
| stumbling back in small groups OF
twenties and fifties, odd dozens Of pairs
of men and single figures hobbline
slowly and painfully, with dropping
bodies and their big steel helmets bent
to their chests. Many were wounded
their heads all bloody and their faces
like masks of blood, or with broken
arms or bullet wounds in their legs
others were worse than that, so that
| they could not walk and seemed al
ready dead. They were carried shoul
der high on stretchers, trudging
slowly down that crowded way.
Our wounded and the German
wounded mixed together and helped
each other. Some of the Germans
carried one badly wounded man as
they carried their own. I saw many
groups of English and Canadian and
German soldiers walking together with
arms about each others necks, prop
ping each other up, tumbling together
resting together for a time in the
shelter Of bitches and under ruins by
tho waySide SoOe af tberp bad pirk ed
up bits of timber and were using them
as crutches or sticks to help them on
their way. and others. after coming
SO far dropped and waited for an am.
bulance to pick them up later in the
day. Companies of wounded prison
ers marched down in military forma
tion with their own officers at their
head, without escort. The officers
called out words of command to them.
as though on their own side Of the
lines, and l saw some battalion com
manders among them, walking gravely
through with a beaten look
Prisoners UnescOrted
There were hardly any escorts a,
this stage. Our troops were too busy
fighting to provide escorts and the
prisoners trudged back alone, perfect
ly harmless now and eager to gel
beyond shell range. They passed and
passed as the guns went up, houl
after hour; so there must be a 10,
of them. For the most part, I am
bound to say, they looked tall and
proper men, though they came from
such mixed units and scratch re-
serves.
There were many boys among them
but sturdy enough to make good
fighting men, and their high steel hel
NETS gave them grim look. Many,
however, wore their field caps, and
by the numbers on their shoulder
regiments. After their first terror
they showed gladness at their escape
and many Of them showed gratitude
to our men by stopping them on the
roadway and offering them iron
crosses or pictures from their pocket
books. Some of them spoke bits OF
English and held wayside conversa-
tions with their captors. l overheard
some of these remarks:
when will the war end, Fritz?'
asked one Of our men; and the man
answered.:
"This year"
"Then it will be win for u.s." said
the English lad.
Perhaps" was the answer, land
don't care. as long as peace comes"
Are you fellows tired of the war;
asked an English officer; and the an.
swer was:
"The whole world is tired of war
and so are all of u.s.
as England hungry" was a cues
tion put by German prisoner, ant
he seemed surprised when our mer
laughed and said, mot a bit of it
we nave neapS 10 eat.
"Our U-Boats Are Finished"
''Then you get plenty Of food from
America" said the German.
Some" was the reply. "You,
U-boats don't stop us much"
"Ach." said the German sadly, "ou1
U-boats are kaput-finished"
How many Americans do you think
we have in France?" was one ques.
ton of our men, and another German
soldier said:
Perhaps a million. and that is
very bad for Germany"
So they passed and passed, mer
going up and men coming down, oul
wounded and theirs.
The battle was so.ng wei: so far
but the German strength OF resistance
was growing as the hours passed. The
Canadians had swept through the Dro.
court line and were beyond CagnI.
court and into Dury and Buissy
They had very hard fighting at Dury
where there was a sunken road be.
hind a windmill crammed with ma,
chine guns. They came up agains
the German third reserve division
brought up from Mauberge with order.
to attack at dawn today and take a.
much ground as possible.
These men, whose attack had beer
frustrated, fought well and are still