The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1918-12-20


came from all pores. The new and
stlff leather trapplngs rubbed US sore.
especially upon our hips. 1t was a re-
lief at 2 D. m. to halt Mt an abandoned
farm and rest on the grass. We
might have lain down about ten min
utes when suddenly we heard firing
We jumped up like lightning and hur-
ried to our guns. The firing which
was about three kilometers away grew
more lively. At once we were on the
march again.
From the expressions on the faces
of the soldiers we could read the minds
Of the men. Something took posses
sion of them which they had never ex.
perenced before. AS for myself
became very restless. Fright and curl
osity dashed my brain. Everything
whirled around In my head and my
heart was beating wildly. But strove
| to conceal my fright from my COM
rades. am sure that tried energeti.
| cally don't know that l succeeded
better than my companions.
Although / knew we would be In
| the fight in an hour, l tried to per-
suade myself that our interference
| would not be necessary. / chung tight
! ly to everything which might strength
| en- this hope.
The bicycles lying in the road indi-
Gated 1hat the bicycle division was In
the fight at this point. How strong
| the enemy was we did not know as we
raced toward the firing line. Every
body crouched down as low as posi-
BILE while jumping to the right and
left. Before and behind us the bullets
were flying continuously. yet we
reached the firing line without losses.
We were greeted joyously by our hard
| pressed comrades. The bicycle regi-
| ment had not suffered any losses ex-
cept for few slightly wounded men
| who were still able to take part In the
fight.
We were lying nat on the ground
and firing In the direction ordered for
all we were worth, even though we
had not seen our enemies. That was
apparently not interesting enough to
some of our soldiers. They wanted
to know how the people were looking
whom they had to shoot at. They got
up to kneeling position. Two men OF
my company had to pay for their Curl
osity with their lives almost instantly.
The first victim Of our party went
down without a sound. The second
threw his arms high In the air and fell
on his back. Both were dead In
stantly.
1t is impossible for me to describe
the feeling that overcame me In the
first real volley as we advanced and
came directly within the range OF the
fire. no longer felt any fright, only
an impulse to get into action as quick
ly as possible. Yet at the sight Of the
first corpse a terrible fear seized me
For minutes was completely stunned
lost oil self-control and was absolute
ly unable to think or do anything.
pressed my face and hands clos'
to the ground. I wanted to clutch my
gun and shoot blindly. Presently
Gained down. suddenly became con
. tented with myself and condition.
about me and when soon afterwart
the command was sounded along thu
" whole line, Spring outw "Forwart
march" I charged as did everyone
else like one possessed. The order t.
hnlt followed Like wet bags w
pumped to the ground. Firing had be
. gun anew.
Our firing now became more livel.
momentarily and increased to a fear
full loudness. II we had occasion L
say anything to our comrades we hat
to shout SO loudly in their ears that
hurt our threats.
Under the effect of our fire the enc
my grew restless, the fire weakene
and his line wavered. As only 80
meters separated us from them W
could observe exactly what happene
there. We saw about half the enem
retire In the following manner: Ever
other man quit the line, leaving his a
ternate In his place. Those remainin
held on until the retiring party haltet
J. We used this moment to inflict tn
most severe losses on the retreatin
/, enemy. AS far as we could scan tn
N horizon 10 tn6 TlB1t uuu iclt VIC %
- the Germans advancing In several Sc
tors. Also for our detachments II
order came to advance as the enem
retreated.
The task of clinging to the hee
= Of the retiring enemy so tenacious
!, that no time would be allowed to NAL
new stand fell to us. We follow'
"a the Belgians, scarcely stopping
90 breathe on the way. In order to pr
vent their terrifying themselves In
4. village situated just ahead. We kne
"A that bloody house-to-house fight II
~ before us, yet the Belgians never Q
90 tempted to establish themselves, b
?. managed to escape with astonishil
-. cleverness.
=, In the meantime we received rec
forcements. Our company was nc
:. pretty well scattered and fought wi
- whatever unit was nearby. The boz
a., l Joined had to remain In the villa
49, to search systematically for scatter
. soldiers. From this village we 81
- that the Germans had gained on
- sides. Field artillery, machine &
20 detachments and other equipment