The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-12-17

lace was still warm. We had evident
y surprised him at his horrible task.
The roof and windows bore an i'm
r1cnse red cross. Can you imagine
anything more horrible.
I will skip a bit here and go into
t,le last stage Of the fight. II five
days we pushed him back nearly
twenty miles. 1t was great sport
but little trying on the nerves.
We sat up all night the night be-
fore the push began discussing plans.
Everything suited me fine for it
| looked like was out of it but at the
last minute I was ordered to get
ready to go with the first "wave." I
as too late to start with them but
to my sorrow, I caught them and
then "business picked up" I start
ed through a village which had
reason to believe our infantry had
passed through but when I reached
the center of the town I had better
reasons to believe that they had not.
Machine guns opened up on every
side and we had merry half hour.
There was only one thing to do and
we did it. That was to fight our
way out and as there were as many
behind us as there was in front, we
kept on pushing. Fritz couldn't un-
! derstand that move 50 he quit and as
usual called "Kamerad." We took
five officers and $50 men prisoners
and counted twenty-five killed. Pret-
ty good I think when there were
less than fifty of US and we only
lost two men killed and a few minor
casualties. He must have found out
how few of us there were for he
tried to counterattack, but he was
too late. We had my four guns
mounted then and we cut them to
: pieces. I had the distinct pleasure of
sending three to the happy hunting
grounds. 1t sounds heartless to talk
that way but after you have seen
evidences of their work in French
villages you cease to regard them as
human. Our outfit hilled and took
prisoner more that day thar we had
men involved.
Next day we pushed again and
captured a little ~ With about a
thousand civilians in it who had been
prisoners for four years. they were
|; wild. After I saw their condition
and their joy I felt that the war was
worth while. They were kept in ig-
norance of what was taking place in
the outside world and none of them
knew that the U. S. was in the war.
Every able-bodied person (both SEX
/ esq had been drafted and sent to the
rear long ago.
We can imagine their fate-The
houses were looted of everything Of
any value and things they couldn't
carry away they destroyed. They
made no effort to bury their dead.
At this stage of the game had to
:! drop out I had been gassed several
! days before but thought nothing of
/ it. But when the excitement was
over, I realized what sad condition
I was in so I reported to the nearest
| first aid station and was sent to the
rear and here I am one hundred
miles behind the lines enjoying all
the comforts of home.
Perhaps it would be interesting to
know how the wounded are handled.
1t is the greatest proposition we have
When our stretcher bearers are with
us it's easy but its very seldom we
ever see one so we have to devise all
manner of methods to get them to
the rear. If we have prisoners it
simpliies matters a great deal. We
make a stretcher out of a blanket or
an overcoat and two rifles and detail
4 couple of prisoners to carry him
back. During the village fighting we
used old doors for stretchers for the
bad cases. The wounded are sent to
the nearest "First Aid Post" where
they are hastily bandaged. From here
hey are relayed on more stretchers
to the Advanced Dressing Station,
where fresh bandage is put ON if
!