The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-07


the swords of flame licked across the
sky-and terror filled the eyes of the
men and women.
We were chased from village to vii
lage, through the traffic of frighten-
through orders and counter orders,
confusion and red tape, until finally
we found place to use as a canton
ment, where we dumped our belong
ings and took up our work at a front
line dressing station, in the midst of
a roaring hell that would make the
original Hades look like a deserted
Alaska.
We were stationed right at the Fort
of B, where the German lines
stuck out in a wedge shape, and
where the French and Russian troops
were shot to pieces. So, after the at
tack was launched, we had a great
many wounded. On an eighteen mile
road there were three solid rows of
nothing but ambulances, crawling
along like a long snake, humping and
creaking over the road until every
thing was slippery from the leaking
blood. The ambuIances rolled along
in this line for four days and nights.
| We carried a great many of the
wounded Russians. There were four
picked divisions of Russian troops
sent over to France to aid the French
in their big push-and if these div1-
sions were picked troops, 1 should
hate to see the rest of the Russian ar
my AS fighters they weren't worth
a d, and great many helped
themselves out of the fight by time
ly shots through their own hands or
feet.
They were all very large fellows
and it was horribly funny to see their
feet sticking out of the back of the
little ambulances. Every time the
car hit a big bump with the front
wheels it seemed as though the am
bulance would stand up on the hind
wheels.
Doctors Strained to Breaking Point
I shall not soon forget the first field
hospital behind the lines at the Fort
de B. It was all hurrying hustle
and nerve straining excitement. Doc
tors strained to the breaking point
cried out orders and Immediately gave
Over the houses came the occasion
al whine of a Boche shell, ending in
a terrible Shrek and a dull thud and
the falling of walls as the missile
found it's mark. Suddenly plunging
out of the darkness of a side street
came a battery of seventy-fives, the
gun flashes showing the helmete6
men leaning over on the foam f1eck.
ed horses, clanking harness and rat
ting wheels, a fast picture of move.
ment that was again plunged into
darkness.
Din of Bombardment
And from without the town came
the terrible drumming of the bonn.
bardment with, as always, the SHARP
staccato bark of the French "75'
heard above all the din. Just at the
Jorte st. Paul great shell crashed
into the roadside obliterating all in
cloud of smoke and mortar dust
Then, past the great Verdun citade
and over the bridge past the sentine
the ambulance rolled on into the ep
en- country. At the very edge of eartT
and sky was a kind of red and white
: inferno. The thousands of fiery jab
of the artillery shot necessarily to tn,
sky, and the great flares of the short
er pieces were seen a hundred time
minute, over all the greenish Iigh
Of the Illuminating rockets.
Now the traffic became more con
; gested. Flying gun caissons, trencl
reinforcements, dispatch bearers OF
their motorcycles, turned and twisted
around shell craters, and in and GU
: the gal1oping horses.
The noise of the French guns a1on,
the roadside and in the open field
: was deafening.
Nearer the lines the traffic becam
less and less and finally died away
y The road now was but mass of fill
ed in shell craters filled with rock
: and broken fragments of wagons an
Il gun caissons and even legs and piece
OF horses. The air reeked with smoke
Il powder and gas and the sinking odo
of decayed flesh, By the roadsid
$ many dazed, blood clotted figure
p walked and stumbled-uncompre
5 dinghy glad to be free from the he
e behind them. The momentary flashe
e lighted up their pasty bandaged faces
l. Gas Elected in Clouds
: Now it became necessary to don tn
u gas masks. Shell after shell crashe
II into the road. One gas shell plunge
II into the soft mud with a hissin
e sound and elected a great cloud @
e the new mustard gas. Then hig
= explosive shell showered mud, rock!
d and steel, and again came gas shell
They come and come, banging int
. the roadside twenty a minute. Ahea
10 half mile up me road behind tn
y fallen camouflage screen shell land
u with bright red flash. Another an
. another fall, each twenty yards clos
e er. They creep down the road, rak
ing its surface In and out the she
notes. over the dead horses, past tn
overturned guns, the ambulance get
tension, and the drivers Impatient
strove to calm them. Inside the dress
ing station dugout a single acetylen
lamp was burning The air was heav
with the smells of bloody sweat, ethe
and iodoform. White-faced, tire
'lstretcher bearers worked over tn