The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1918-07-25

t u
Sitting, Bitterly Crying, by the Debris
Of Her Late Home.
me and said, Let us go to the camp
and try to sleep so that we might for
get all this"
We were hungry and on the way
home caught several chickens. We
ate them half-raw and then laid down
i'm the open and slept until four O'Clock !
in the morning when we had to be
ready to march.
Our destination on this day was
SMppes. Before the march started the
following army order was read:
Soldiers, his majesty the emperor.
our supreme war lord, thanks the SOL
dfers of the Fourth army and sends to
them his full appreciation. You have
saved our beloved Germany from the
invasion of hostile hordes. We will not
rest until the last enemy lies on the
ground and before the leaves fall from
the trees we shall return home vic
torious The enemy is in full retreat
and the Almighty will bless our arms
further"
After this talk we gave three cheers.
something which had become routine
for us. And then we resumed our
march, We now had plenty Of time
and opportunity to discuss the graft
tude expressed by the supreme war
| lord. We could not make out just what
| fatherland we had to defend so far in
France. One of the soldiers expressed
| the opinion that The Lord had blessed
| our arms, to which another replied:
"A religious man repeating such silly
sentiments is guilty of sacrilege, If he
speaks seriously"
| Everywhere, Oh the march to Sulp-
pes, in the fields and in the bitches,
| lay dead soldiers, most of them with
notwithstanding open wounds. Thou
sands of huge flies swarmed on the
corpses, partly decomposed. and CIV
ing off a fearful stencil. Among these
corpses, unsheltered under blazing
sun, were encamped wretched fugi-
tives, because they were forbidden the
use of the roads while the armies need,
ed them, which was practically all the
time.
In the evening, after long march
we reached the town Of Suippes. Here
our captain told us we would find nu
merous frank-tireurs. We were or
dered to bivouac, instead of being as
signed quarters, and all going into the
village were obliged to take guns ant
cartridges with them. After a brie
rest we entered the village in search o.
+ food. Dead civilians lay in the middle
of the streets They were citizens O
the village. We could not learn thu
n reason for their having been shot Th'
! only answer to our questions was
shrug of the shoulder.
The village itself had not suffered
: to any noticeable degree as far a
u destruction of buildings was concerned
It but never in the course of the war hat
G seen a more complete job OF plumber
J, ing than had been done in Suippes
o That we had to live and eat is true
" and as the inhabitants and merchant
n had flown there was no opportunity t
nav for our necessities. Therefore w
h simply entered store. put on stoci
II inss, laundry. and left the old things
o. then went to another place, took wha
h ever food looked good to us. and the
IN proceeded 10 a wine cellar. there
II seize as much as our hearts desires
1t The men of the ammunition column
ID located in the village us well as tn
ID sanitary soldiers and cavalry by til
er hundreds. searched the houses and too
80 whatever they liked best. The tine'
in and largest business places in Suipnt
I'd served a very large rural district SD
n rounding and therefore were Stoke
in up on almost everything. Within
It short time these places had beer
Se cleaned out. The munition drives
n and train columns carried away o
IT. pieces of silk. ladies' dresses, linen
it. shoes. dress goods and every other q
" ticle imaginable, and stored them aw;
ne IN their ammunition cases. They tot
IL children's and women's shoes. al
pl everything else they could lay the
10 hands upon. although many OF the
II. articles had to be thrown away shol
ID. " afterward Later. when the III
es post was developed and gave regul
l