The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-05-04
ry1rcn connected with the explosive"
ender the second bridge received MS
,-.ors We afterwards said that the

nros,:,onS our entire unit was ordcfcH
10 V:t.y 10 l.. Assem- hled in front or
The cathedral With sigh or reilel
ue hurried away. for the french ar
tillerv began a..c,' mere - send SheiiS
with nuch atcuracT Owe: lhS 9N'lr'
ruuntrys:lp. Wounded men from oth"f
d,tncilrents whom We PASSED on I've
road told US that I'll" Erench had ~
ready crossed the Name in SeFcfai
different places Everyone among Us
voiced the same opinion. We had al
ready sustained great losses on beL-
gian soil and each day brought new
sacrifices Our lines became thinner
and thinner. Many companies were
entirely destroyed and all units SUI
fered heavily. These companies whose
forces had been reduced to a minimum
and with the survivors half starved
were opposed by an army Wen
eonippod with supplies and arms. me
enemy constantly brought M frt'~h
II oops while CIR forces hyt9lae fe""F
from hou. q hour. We realized tiMt
It uss po.s.hie TO make " stand
mere. NJ i'-.+ +ii'f ''-Si'H''+-7
fro,a so,.u-r~ Ell a'!4 aHntil. his t,'at
.il.ir 3o>~.- j." .,..,. Jll r-dt .at.S w.
eno!a".~.
7 ,l4t.-.- Of Tire Cod 81 the c.
nan-. u.. D.. fo~ea&.a .'..a:
! the.... e. -a rera th.t Ia others
cortl J..
...-." va another. "~hon the
IorH Wishes ra vua.-a . rr~r e-.i.'-en
viii ILL., Ines 1'cHGl5y he thou2ht
& nel.nut. raec..-rv. Sommcny and
Supp,<. aH3 stl May 3'Aer places
and let ris r,n int ,Ai> pe"dij.oa like
flying tieus;>.'
We reached Witty. Here the misery
seemed to be still, greater than ever
before for in the entire town there
was not a single house that was not
overcrowded with wounded. in the
MIDST Of all this misery robbery -four
ished All residences had been emp
tied of their furnishings and every
thing was thrown into the streets to
make room for the wounded.
town and took everything of any value.
The munition and railroad columns
followed the same practice. They had
| plenty Of room for plumber. This was
amply proven by numerous seizures
afterward Of parcels put in the mail.
which contained gold rings. watches.
precious stones, etc. The business OF
the marauders fourished here in Vitry.
The soldiers in the supply columns en-
countered very little actual danger;
they had an easy time as compared
with soldiers fighting at the front.
We soon reached the cathedral and
reported to Lieutenant Elm. He also
had defended his fatherland at safe
distance and here in the city, freshly
, shaved and in immaculate attire he
looked very presentable.
The contrast was vivid as he stood
before us who were torn, dirty and COW
cred with blood, with unkempt hair,
with boards grown and caked with
mud and dirt.
We were obliged to visit so we sat
down and looked around us. The
church was full of wounded: many
died under the hands of the doctors.
They were carried out to make room
for others. The dead were carried to
one side, where whole rows of corpSes
lay. We counted more than sixty.
On oar way to Vitry we had begged
some bread but we were still hungry
and our field kitchens We're nowhere in
sight. The crews of our field kitchens
as we'll as our forage officers and nom
commissioned officers prefer to defend
their fatherland many kilometers be-
hind the battle fronts. They did not
care about us as long as they were
not obliged to go within range Of the
artillery fire. Comradeship has Its
limitations with them.
Other field kitchens were near by.
They had prepared more food than
their companies needed. Many for
whom they had cooked will never eat
again. We were invited to come and
get whatever we wanted.
We had scarcely finished eating
when we had to march on. Presently
we were Joined by more members OF
our company. Our captain appeared.
One of our officers reported to him the
number missing. He stepped In front
Of the company and said cheerfully.
"Good morning, men," although it was
seven O'Clock in the evening. A grOwl
was the only response. We were then
ordered to go to the wagons standing
at the north side Of the town, where
each man was to supply himself with
cartridges and three hand grenades.
We gathered at the wagons at $50
O'Clock and each man took 500 car
tridges, his three grenades and matches
to light them On the way to the wag.
ons we saw everywhere formations be-
ing hastily organized from stray SOL
diers and we received the impression
Of some great activity in preparation.
The rain had begun to fall in tor.
rents. As we took our places we saw
the streets filled With troops wearing
special uniforms to protect them