The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1918-12-05


For God and France.
70 over. Our officers always led us,
but I have never seen a German officer
lead charge. They always were be-
hind their men, driving instead Of lead
ing. l do not believe they are as brave
as they are said to be.
Well, we went over this time, and
the machine guns were certainly going
1t strong. We were pretty sore about
the chaplain and the Swiss and all
that. and we put up an awful fight, but
we could not make 1t and had to come
back. Only one company reached the
Boche trenches and not man Of 1t
came back who had not been wounded
on the way and did not reach the
trench. They were just wiped out.
The captain was missing, too. We
thought he was done for, but about
two o'clock in the morning, he came
back. He simply fell over into the
trench, all in. He had been wounded
four times, and had lain in a shell
crater full Of water for several hours
He would not go back for treatment
then, and when daylight came, it was
too late, because we were practically
cut off by artillery fire behind the front
line trenches.
When daylight came, the artillery
fire opened up right on us, and the
Germans had advanced their lines into
some trenches formerly held by us and
hardly forty-five yards away. We re-
ceived bombs and shells right In our
feces. A Tunisian in our company got
crazy, and ran back over the parados
He ran few yards, then stopped and
looked back at US. / think he was
coming to his senses, and would have
started back to us. Then the spot
where he had been was empty, and q
second later his body from the chest
down fell not three yards from the
parados. do not know where the
top part went. That same shell cut q
groove in the low hilltop before it ex.
ploded. He had been hit by a big
shell, and absolutely cut in two. ]
have seen this happen to four men, but
this was the only one in France.
About seven o'clock, we received re-
endorsements, and poured fresh troops
over and retook the trench. No sooner
had we entered it, however, than the
Germans turned their artillery on us.
not even waiting for their own troops
to retire safely. They killed numbers
Of their own men in this way. But the
fire was so heavy that, when they coln.
ter-attacked, we had to retire again,
and this time they kept after us and
drove us beyond the trench we had
originally occupied.
We left them there, with our artil.
lery taking care of them, and our ma.
chine guns trying to enfilade them, and
moved to the right. There was q
bunch of trees there, about like small
woods, and as we passed the Germans
concealed In 1t opened fire on us, and
we retired to some reserve trenches.
We were pretty much scattered by this
time. and badly cut up. We reformed
there, and were Joined by other Of our
troops, in small groups-what was left
Of squads and platoors and singly.
Our captain had got IT. a fifth time.
meanwhile, but he would not leave us,
as he was the ranking officer. He had
scalp wound, but the others were in
his arms and shoulders. He could not
move his hands at all.
But he led our charge when we ran
for the woods, We carried some ma
chine guns with us as we went, and
the gunners would run piece, set up.
fire while we opened up. for them, and
run on again. Some troops came cut
Of trench still farther to the right
and helped US. and we drove the Ger.
mans out Of the woods and occupied II
ourselves. yrsi
From there, we had the Germans In
our old trench almost directly from
! the rear, and we simply cleaned them
out. think all the VOWS were kept
/ that day, or else the men who made
them died first.
! was shot through the thigh some
: time or other after the CAPTAIN got
back. It felt just like a needle-prick
at first, and then for a while my leg
was numb. A couple Of hours after we
took our trench back. started out fol
the rear and hospital The wound had
been hurting for some time. They car
ried the captain out on stretcher
about the same time, but he died on
the way from loss OF blood. Fresh
troops came up to relieve us, but ouI
i men refused to 60, and though official,
" they were not there In the trench
they stayed until they took the cap
| tain away. Then, back to billets- moi
bullets, this time. believe that we re
ceived an army citation for that piece
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