The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-04
That Is Compliment Paid Them
by Australian Troops.
Ben johnson. Topekan, Tells
Great Story of War.
ALLIES GOING TO BERLIN!
They Win Show Kaiser What
Retaliation Means.
Son of Topeka Pioneer Verifies
AtrOcity Stories.

"We were brigaded with the Australians
frdne gTeat th lighters on M the western
against the boches- After we Yanks began
seeing German atrocities our blood boiled.
Then we began fighting the Fritz with his
own methods. Now the Australians are
saying, The Yanks are great scrappers but
list ia, little I! rough. How proud that made
II have seen German cruelty with my
own eyes. L know what they do and what
hear" 1' ~ s ''u
"EYsry day the Americans are witness
Ing the Hun berbarism. 1t is making
them .crazed with ambition to annihilate
1T sounds nshy, probably. but by the
I'VE have the Huns on the run. We are
fighting like mad and there is no stopping
the allies now"
~ don't know what will happen when
the French and Belgians get on German
fi1e kaiser wifi realize the meoninr ow OF f fhe
word retaliation p"
"The wounded boys are coming home.
One look at them will arouse your, action
against the Hun: hope you never have to
zee these .ss, crippled fellows in Topeka-but
There is only one message I can bring
scRIBE' sGbscribe to. everything that
Il se TSe haf acts IS tfe
France and Belgium, when actually re-
salss b tie World a sod fodf Es S
money-it is the cheapest thing you have"
These words were spoken in Topeka
today by Sergt. Ben johnson, son of
the late Judge J. B. johnson. former
, well known Topeka lawyer and pio-
neer. The sergeant is ipathe city visit
ing his mother, Mrs J. B. Johnson,
+ who is wing at the Devon, Twelfth
and Western avenue
: Sergeant johnson has just returned
from France. He has spent six months
with the Australians and the, British.
with a brigaded American unit, on the
western front. He is a scout sergeant
sent home as an instructor in one of
the camps of the south where he will
be given a iel.tenant's, commission as
q reward for the knowledge he has
gained in active service in the
trenches.
Sergeant Johnson tells a thrilling
story. He has fought the boches in
the trenches, in the open. on hill and
valley, in dugout and before fortresses.
He knows the German. He knows
him on the battlefield. He knows him
as an enemy across No Mans Land
ana at the end of bayonet. He knows
him in his occupation of French and
Belgian towns.
= The sergeant sees victory ahead.
Nearly two million Am ericans are over
there with the same spirit. France,
Belgium and England are united
There is no stopping them now. he
says. The German frontier has no ter
rors for them. They excel the Hun
in artillery, in manpower. in the air.
And they have discovered that he is
t'ye1low"-he is afraid to fight in the
open. He trusts to machinery and to
thellish habits to hold back his enemy.
Once in the open. once face to face
with the storning troops of the al
Hes he is a coward.
His First Boche.
L Sergeant Johnson--sorry we can't
call him ''lieutenant' just now-in
describing the change in the attitude
of the Yanks toward the enemy told
of bagging his first boche.
Il was sniping," he said. IT had
a good target and turned loose. I saw
my man crumble. 1t rather sickened
me. It was my first feeling/of killing
a human being. I couldn't quite ac-
custom myself to it. A day or two
later I saw evidences of German
atrocities. I saw MANNED children.
saw some of our own boys herded
back across from the lines after suf-
fering Hun cruelty. Since then I have
changed. 1t does my heart good to
see a boche take my bullet. My
.bayonet goes home with a thrill. And
that's the way it is with all of the
boys who have seen these things. They
are getting acquainted over there.
They know there is nothing too fiend-
,ish for the treatment of Fritz"
Taking Few Prisoners.
Johnson admits that in his sector few