Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-09-17
firing a, the ammunition wagon in the

his own anlnld) anu cut lil' utdi oi'
from The traces. didn't care about
being killed. but couldn't l"av" tins
officer, who was standing thor" as
though on parade, except that his
hands wcr" working ten times as fast
as ;hcy ever did at drill. Together we
got the dead animal ire" and harness
cd the Ii,utcnant's horse TO tn" wagon.
We used one uf the lieutcnant's spiral
puttcrs TO mend the cut and broken
harness. The driver of the aminuni-
ton wagon was holding TN" head oil
The. other horse. shaking his fist at the
Germans and swearing at them with
Il heavy Scotch burr
Men were running past us Ike rib-
hits. Some OF them were tumhling
like rabbits, too. when Il stccl-nos"d
bullet found its mark. saw others
stoop. just long enough To get an arm
under the shoulders of Il coniTldc and
then drag him along. \ few lay still
and a single look into their faces
showed that il would be useless to car
RS them. The running men dropped
h,hind stones, hillOckS, trccS--any-
thing that was likely to afford cover
and stop bullets-and their riiics
snapped angrily 1T the Germans. whose
fire was getting heavier. but who still
did not dare an open attack.
At last the harness was ready. tn"
ammunition driver leapcd TO his seat
and the wagon went carccning toward
the ravinc. swaying crazily. with
storm of bullets tearing up tn" turf
around it's wheels. W" needed that
wagon badly. In II moment ii would 10"
over tn" crest of tn" ris" and We would
bc sur" of that much ammunition to
fight with.
"Gct on to the wagon. sir" ] shouted
to the officer. as ii dashed forward:
but he did not heed me.
"In "a second We shall be where W"
can fight them Off" was all hc said.
4 Uhlan's horse, with empty saddle.
gallopcd up to us. | seized the dang
ling rcins.
Mount him. sir" | shouted. He took
the rcins from my hand and attempted
to leap into the saddle. Th" horse WAS
cut and bleeding and unmanaG"ahlc
from terror. He backed toward tn"
ammunition wagon. which had not yet
made the ridge. dragging the officer
with him. followed.
Just rs We thus ncarcd the wagon.
shell exploded clos" at hand. The
wagon bumped mp in the mddl" as II IT
had been made of whalchon". II rock
cd from side To side. almost upsctting.
Then il settled back upon its wrecked
wheels. \ high cXplosiv" shell had
struck directly under il. Th" two
horses fell. dead from shrapncl and
shock, and the driver topplcd from his
seat dead between them a red smear
across his face.
The small-arms ammunition in the
wagon had >s.Dt been exploded. = The
doors of the wagon were thrown open
by the concussion of the shell. causing
the bandolcers of cartridges to scatter.
The officer motioncd TO me to help dis
tribute the ammunition to our men as
they ran past: upon finishing this task
we Joined the last OF our party and
were very soon over the crest. We
had only a few machine guns but we
got them in place. The Uhlans were
charging across the field.
\ Shrill whistle blew. The machine
guns began to rattle. Down went In"
horses and riders. plunging about
where some Of our own men lay. our
rife fire. too. was getting stronger.
better controlled. more co-ordiHat"d.
We were sheltcrcd; the enemy was in
the open His artillery was useless.
for we were coming 10 grips. Line aft
or line. they broke into the field. lanc"s
set The horses were stretching out
low over the turf-ovcr the turf whcr"
q moment later they were to kick ont
the last OF their breath. pinninc under
them many rider TO whom We were
paying the debt of tn" Munster F"si-
lccrS.
\ huglc sounded. Thosr who were
left OF the lrhlans gallopcd of: Tho
little machine guns had done their
work.
But the rcpulSe of on" attack was
followed hy another. The rCtrcatinE
army had little time 10 eat. or sleep.
or look after its equipment. Men
dropped. mangled hy artillery. struck
down by bullets. There was no re-
spite:
We had to trudgc on. watching for
the next attack, planting one bleeding
foot before another. with nobody knew
how many days of forced marching
before us--marching ESQ we thoughO
to let the Russians get to Berlin. |
don't think anything else would har"
induced us TO resume our retreat aft
rr the brush with the uhlans.
At evening we found ourselves at
the village OF Disc. about six miles
from the above scene. Az
we arrived at the bridge over the RiV-
or OLse. the engineers who were ON
the other side. and who had fused the
bridge. shouted for us to keep back.
but our colonel gave us the order to
double. We had cleared the bridge by
only about 200 yards when it blew up
into atoms!
After trudging. mostly uphill. in
down pour of rain. we reached place
called Guisc at > a. m. Here we man
aged to get some food. was glad
enough to throw my waterproof
sheet over me and fall asleep. On be-
ing awakened felt as though | had
slept for weeks. but found that it had
only been for one hour and twenty
minutes. We then received some gun
fire" and our first issue of rum. We
resumed the march. On arriving at
LAGRANGE. the Camerons, or what was
left OF them. joined us. taking the
place Of the anuihilated Fusileers in
our brigade.
We were so tired that night that