The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-07-26

river. me pan was To- permit enougi.
Frenchmen to pass so hat they could
be taken prisoner. yet. no. too large
a force. lest 1t might prove menace
to the German arms.
After these hostile troops had
crossed. the plan was TO destroy the
bridge to prevent their being re-
enforced. That was why the sergeant
manning this switch had been kept
waiting for the order to blow up the
bridge. But the sergeant in the ex-
element and confusion thought that
the cable to which his phone was con-
nected had been disconnected and blew
up the bridge on his own initiative
while it was crowded by Frenchnen
and long before the enemy could have
had an opportunity to cut that cable,
At the same time the officer at the
switch connected with the explosives
under the second bridge received his
orders. He afterwards said that the
order he received was hard to make
out and that he had lost his presence
of mind and threw in the switch,
thereby killing thousands on the bridge
and leaving many other thousands to
the mercy of the enemy.
Before there was time for more i'm.
pressiOns our entire unit was ordered
to Vitry to be assembled in front Of
the cathedral. With q sigh of relief
we hurried away, for the French ar.
tillery began once more to send shells
with much accuracy over the entire
countryside. Wounded men from other
detachments whom we passed on the
road told us that the French had al.
ready crossed the Marine in several
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 suf.
fered heavily. These companies whose
forces had been reduced to a minimum
and with the survivors half starved
were opposed by an army well
equipped with supplies and arms. The
enemy constantly brought up fresh
troops while our forces became fewer
from hour to hour. We realized thai
1t was impossible to make a stand
here. We were constantly learning
from soldiers of other contingents THAI
their losses in men and materials wers
enormous.
1 thought of the God of the Ger
mans. Had he forsaken them?
! thought it so loud that the other.
could hear.
"Yes," said another. "whom tn.
Lord wishes to punish is first stricken
with blindness. Probably he thought
Of Belgium, Donchery. Sommepy and
Suippes, and still many other places
and let us run into this perdition like
flying fiends."
We reached Vitry. 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 thu
midst of all this misery robbery flour
ished. All residences had been emp
tied of their furnishings and every
thing was thrown into the streets tt
make room for the wounded.
The sanitary squads went over tn,
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 o,
the marauders flourished 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 ant
reported to Lieutenant Elm. He also
had defended his fatherland at SAT,
distance and here in the city, freshly
shaved and in immaculate attire hs
looked very presentable.
The contrast was vivid as hc stood
before us who were torn. dirty and GOV
cred with blood, with unkempt hair
with boards grown and caked will
mud and dirt.
We were obliged to wait so we sa'
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 tc
one side, where whole rows of corpses
lay. We counted more than sixty.
On our way to Vitry we had begged
some bread, but we were still hungry
and our field kitchens were nowhere liz
sight. The crews of our field kitchens
as well as our forage officers and non
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 this
artillery fire. Comradeship has iti
with them.