The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1918-05-09
confessions of a German Deserter
CONTINUED FROM PAGE y

chic encounter and as II we
tcrs ,",ootten entirely the danger we
had Just escaped
Oh. 90 honoring the dead, something
%, had been taught US by our moth
VIZ, lam infancy. or fear which the
es 20 nerson feels toward a body,
se was no sign. NJ pen would balk
"I tried to recall the expressions to
au,.cribe the acts soldiers as well as OF
committed TO determine the ma
n.,;,v or sex Of the dead. In the
pssntime, the battle between our
.Ysons and the French had reached
u ,a, Our troops had suffered great
,.'sss hut now our turn came.
The German artillery shelled as we
-...ad the enemy's position with
., fury. Our artillery succeeded in
t..c,ng the enemy's batteries and we
,5sd to take his high positions by
storm. ...n,. ono ,,o.o-s -,
- onemy's defenses, the French ma
s,,s Guns were turned upon us and
- were driven back with enormous
losses
Ten minutes later, we stormed
..,d time and had to retire again
IN great losses. We again formed
a.. attack within the shelter of our
.saoches. but the fighting spirit was
80 But we dared not lose courage,
.,,hourh the victims Of our useless
s.ormIng attacks covered the field and
no were able to look at our dead COM
rsdes all about us.
The artillery started up again; re-
.,forcements arrived; after half an
sour we stormed third time, over
,hs bodies of our fallen comrades. As
90 halted about 20 meters from the
soemy's trench, he withdrew his en-
.,o first line. Soon after we saw the
Germans advance along the whole line.
The reason for this unexpected retreat
w.s explained later when We learned
that the main part Of the French army
had retired some time before. The
heavy toll Of life among our comrades
uss taken In a mere rear-guard action.
During the next hour the enemy
abandoned all the heights Of the
Meuse. As we reached the crest Of
these heights, we could easily over
look the roads over which the French
had retreated. They were departing in
close formation, In long columns. Our
company and others received orders
IN assemble and soon we pursued the
aeeing enemy. 1t was our work to re-
psIr roads which had been destroyed
20 that they would be passable for our
armies, task that was harder in the
burning midday sun, owing to the fact
that the dead and wounded had first to
be disposed of.
The dead bodies were seized by two
men. one at the head and the other at
the feet, and thrown into the ditch.
Corpses we're handled exactly as was
aboard to be used In building bridge.
Legs and arms were tossed likewise
into the ditch. Dead horses and dam
aged batteries had to be removed. We
were not strong enough to remove dead
horses. We managed to capture horse
which was running wild and hitched
him to the carcasses. Corpses hanging
In the trees were left there. No one
cared anything about them.
Canteens and knapsacks Of the dead
we're searched for food and drink and
whatever we found was eaten with the
greatest relish.
French soldiers who had died OF
sunstroke covered the road. Others
crayled to right and left of the road
and waited there for relief or death
We did not dare to help them. The
order was to advance and we had 70
march on and on. The captain told us
we bad to pursue the fleeing enemy
with all our strength and much dis
content was manifest on receipt Of this
order.
After being on our feet day and
night, staying like barbarians, taking
no time to eat or rest, we continued tC
receive commands to maintain the pur
suit with all haste. The captain un
derstood how we felt and tried t.
pacify.u us by friendly conversation.