The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1918-11-13
CALLOUS AMID
HORRORS OF WAR
GreWSome Sights Of Battle Fail
to Shake Nerves of
YankS. W.
QUICKLYADAPT THEMSELVES
Admiration of French and British Vet
Grams is Aroused by Conduct Of
Americans on Bloody Bat
tIeflelds of France.

With the American Army.-The cal
lousness and steady nerves of fresh
American troops in recent advances
have gla0dencd the hearts Of veteran
British and French who have observed
them, us well as filled with pride their
own officers
The horror Of warfare is more ap-
/ parent during AN offensive when an
army Is advancing than ut amy other
time; even during defensive action
i'm retreat. ATTACKING troops advance
over the enemy's positions, dotted with
dead and dying, then dig in and fight
among the corpseS and maimed. Often
in X counter-qttack they are temporari-
ly thrust back few yards, and there
dig in and fight again, this time among
the bodies of their own fallen COM
rudes.
When their advance becomes deeper
and the cnemy's retreat more general,
as in Won Boehm's retirement from the
Mnrne to the Nesle, the terrain be-
comes even more ghastly. A wide belt
Of country IS Uttered with dead men
and dead horses. The advancing army,
eager to maintain contact with the
enemy ut all times, has no time 10
! bury ~ burn these corpseS reSpec7
tiVelys The supporting troops follow
ing up the advance guards must live
and eat among these grewsome sights.
Never Feased Them.
Fresh, untrled Americans, who had
not seen the frlghtfulness of war, al
though they had been trained in its
artifce ana had been in the line in
quiet sectors, traversed the CHASTITY
country like veterans, never turning
hair ut the sight of dead, friends
or foes, even when they came upon
such sights as Reddy farm, Bellevue
farm, Cicrges, Serlnges ct Nesles and
Sergy.
In these places, particularly the
first two mentioned, the bodies of thd
Prussian Guardsmen were literally
/ lying in heaps, for these picked troops
had been told to- maintain their
strong point positions until death, and
in most sases they followed orders.
The dead We're In the distorted posi-
tions that indicated how the end had
come 10 them. Those killed in mas
chIne-gun pits We're smashed to bits,
the effect of Eand grenades and bombs
which American advance guards had
tossed hi among Them after working
round their fanks and getting In be-
hind thems
Occasionally enc saw German snip
ers or machine gunners sprawled fiat
on the ground at the foot of tree
after they mad been shot out Of their
camoutaged positions among Ms foli-
age. Yhe most slckenlng sights were
where bodies of the enemy had at
tempted to make stands in bitches or
beside sunken roads and had been
trapped by American enfilade machine
gun fire. The deadly automatic rifles
had ripped through whole lines Of
Germans, and investigation frequently
showed that every mans body was
pierced by seven or eight bullets and
that frequently the same bullet passed
through three on four men. These
corpses looked like heaps Of rags or
discarded uniforms and equipment SO
CLOSELY ulu Allef ONtilup Vlt uhpthVis
No Trace Of Nervousness.
But, despite all, the Americans
marched forward, stopped three or
four times day for meals, and then
made camp, and slept at night amid
the horrible surroundings without ever
doing more than showing IA surprising
preliminary interest in the matter. If
they saw corpse in khaki they looked
it over closely to see If they knew who
1t was. Only occasionally did they
have time to inter it; that was left TO
the burying parties that followed them
up. AS they walked through woods
and fields to get water or supplies, they
implanted rifles, bayOnets down, in the
ground to mark the spot Of every dead
American they discovered.
But there was no trace Of nervous
ness and no evidence Of any of the
men worrying or brooding over the
fate of their fallen comrades. The
corpses We're entirely lmpersonal to
them and never ratified even the new
est recruit.
The doughboys showed no back
wardness about appropriating Luger
automatic pistols. the most priced
souvenir to be had, from dead Boches
nor did they hesitate TO pluck off we'll
camoufaged helmets from the pates Of
Hun cadavers.
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