Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-06-07
TELLS OF NIGHT
RAID VICTORIOUS
FOR OUR FORCES

gfau patrol abstracts German mi
tratIleuse. (By an eyewitness
Belgian front. February, 1918.
The Belgian communique OF the
18th of February states that in the
night between Feb. and 10 one Of
our patrols entered an enemy shell
ter for machine guns near Klippe
and after a hand-to-hand encounter
they defeated the occupants and re
turned to our lines bringing a Ger
man mitrailleuse. When ! tried TO
learn the details of this daring per-
( Torrance, Sergeant Bertrand since
! promoted TO adjutant- told me the
story.
( Bertrand is still quite young
/ fellow, as are also Dubois, Coos
sens and Deco, the soldiers who
made up his patrol along with
/ kimpe lie comes from Moustier
Isar-Sambre, near NamuT. His man
uer is frank, his language si-A~1e
and 10 the point:
We had gone out as pickets from
/ AsTgkem TO recOnnOiter the posi-
ton OF boche sentinel" said Ber-
traud 1T was q black night-an
Z iuky sky Not a single star. We
iquickly found the iron wire of the
Germans, A. few blows OF the wire
nippers and tie two wire entangle-
meuts wersSfOosed. l left Goossens
and Decq on the spot to assure our
return when We should have to go
back to our lines With Kimpe and
Dubois I immedi lately crept toward
shell hole WHICH l had found the
/ evening before and which was un-
occupied We took up our post Of
/ observation there. Half an hour
went by Like Sister Anne, we saw
1 nothing at all We advanc-
ed about thirty meters, turning off
. TO the fight a broad trench bar
/ red our way, but We discovered a
plank which the Germans had been
/ so obliging as to throw down there
f.. We crossed. Again We waited
! Again nothing doing.
! LET us 90 further, said I to
/ my companions Twenty meters be
yoDd we came upon an infantry
/ track parallel to the front. We no
tiCed some traces of footsteps That
ought to be a good spot for a look
out More sitting tight. A sheer
waste The Germans Obstinately
/ kept out of sight We hear not
/ sound. We were on the point of
going back defeated when we no
/ ticed on our right. in the extension
( of the track, q dark mass, topped
/ by something which resembled a
/ wagon upside down, its shafts in
/ the air II was impossible 10 go
away without having a look. On
{ our bellies. without sound, we
cTawled and hitched along. A Ger
man rocket lit up the sky. Now we
distinctly saw machine gun, aim
I'd, the gunner seated at his post
We each cooked our pistols and
drew our swords. With one ges-
ture and a single movement we
plunged into the station
The gunner jumped up at our
approach, drew back. and felt for
his gun. Three shots threw him
back against the parapet He was
not alone. His comrade, spryer
than he, shot at us and missed
Then he took a bomb and threw il
at kimpe. who received it full in
the chest But Kimpe never missed
q trick With magnificent presence
of mind he seized the bomb and
threw it far away. 1t exploded
with a good deal OF noise, but with
out doing any great damage The
boche had fed at this juncture and
Kimpe chased him Meanwhile
DubGis, seeing a shelter where
there was a light and which was
occupied, sent three pistol shots at
it, Then he came back toward me
and we carried off the mitraiIleuse
I had already seized.
And you. Kimpe|
Oh said Kimpe, who comes
from Oudenburg, near Ostend, I
ran after my bOche, who was hit
ting it up for home as fast as his
legs could carry him. I tried to
give him a pistol shot, but my gun
was jammed Bad luck, I ran
faster. Thirty or 80 meters far
Their on I caught up with him and
GOT my hands on him. In Flemish,
N German and in English | call
upon him TO surrender. He resists.
I lefty at him with my fist. He
defends himself fuTiOUslv He let's
out a yell Of him Enough for me
Great evils require heroic rene
dies. l finished him up with two
or more blows of nv sword And
the "kameTad" goes down into a
shell hole. / retrace my steps and /
see that there is still light in the
shelter that Dubois had sent some
pistol shots into and where there /
were three bOcheS / took a gre
made out Of my pocket, | carefully
set it, and then threw it into the
shelter / waited. Several seconds I
passed, the grenade exploded and .
heard cries. Now ! can 60 back TO .
my companions +
But the alarm had been given" +
continued Adiutant Bertrand. The
German rockets plowed the sky.
The shbts kept popping It was not .
an easy job for us to 20 back .
through the enemy's entauglements
loaded down with our trophy. How
ever, the earthwOrks OF our trench /.
IS and our Euuners and snipers
protected US from their fire. At last
We got back 10 our lines unhurt"
"Eimpe came back quarter Of .
an hour later finished CAPTAIN
3IeTsemer, who was present at my
interview with his men. Then he
gave me some details Of his work
in the patrol, and when | congrat-
llated him he said, My brother was
a soldier in the third Of the line;
re fen in April, 1915, at Steen- \
5traete- ! am very happy to have
Siiled some Germans and to have
: yprpa1 his death Npua III got