The Robesonian., 1918-03-11


he infantry and five to follow it. The (
;wo groups upon the American ex-
rene right went around this flank I
and the group upon the extreme left
carried out a similar movement there.
There two groups in the centre had
American defense changed the plans.
planned to attack directly, but the
officers he presumed that the Ameri-
lean defense changed al 1.-The plans.
When they were met by the heavy
machine gun fire from the Americanl
lines, they saw it would be impossiblel
to gain footing there, changed their
direction and followed the other groups
around the flank. The duty Of the
pioneers preceding the infantry was to
clean up any wire that had not been
broken by the artillery, while the
pioneers who followed carried large
quantities of explosives for the pur-
pose of cleaning up the dugouts.
Doubts of German Victory.
Official reports of the Interrogation
of the prisoners taken by the Amerl-
cans show that all Of them did not
believe Germany would win the war
One of the men told the intelligence
cans, like the Germans, did not want
to fight, but had to-. The offlcers
quickly changed the Germans view
point by informing him that all OF the
troops in the attacked positions were
volunteers. One prisoner. whose nome
is in German Lorraine, said he though
the Fatherland would lose the war, but
he hoped not. He knew nothing about
the Americans, except that they were
in the war, the German newspapers
not printing much unon the subject,
4
the front lines because OF mall COLI
gestion.
This prisoner said he was convinced
that the recent strikes in Germany
were caused by a desire for peace,
/ adding that all Germany wanted the
| war to end. He was certain that an
offensive was coming, but did not De-
lieye it would be launehed before
April 1.
None of the prisoners had seen any
German tanks, they said. All of them
added thew were glad to have been
taken prisoners, especial by the
Americans, because they believed they
would be well treated. ;,
The prisoners account showed thai
the sector opposite the American posi-,
tion was commanded by General
wounded Praise Each Other:
The correspondent talked with q
| dozen Of the American wounded II
| their hospital cots. Everyone OF then
| was anxious to tell of some deed @
heroism or other performed by, nj:
fellows, but displayed great modest5
! regarding his own exploits. One yo1tn
whose home is near Savannah, la
and who looked to be no more 1na'
18 years old, told this story: !.
81 was in the frontllne Wnen !
seemed like every shell IN the WoIl'
started coming our way. Whe1e III
Germans go them is more tian,
L know. never believed that man,
ax;sted One burst near where was
"a niece hit a fellow on the othe
/ side of me who came from Texas. In
| corr cornoral picked him up in his arm
and started with him for a flrst.al
station in the midst Of a per1ee
/ shower of dirt and mud which VIZ
being kicked up. don't know Wheti
er he ever got there or not.
Saw Corporal Killed.
| "Bv that time / got into q macnll
,n emnlacement with another co
coral whose home is in Mlssoul
ieaying my rifle outside. Things 9
en- hot we decided to try to get 20
staei shelter at the end Of trench.
1The corporal went first, but a 1e
foot awav a shell exploded almost
him and killed him. stepped o
and saw that my rifle had been bioV
to nieces. This left me defenseless:
= I started in another direction, nopn
tn find a rifle or pistol, because
. knew the Germans would pc arou
soon soon About the same time piece
she'll hit me on the left side, ana dos
7 went A sergeant yelled an oro
FOR me- to 90 to first-aid station.
ai was Just approaching the stati
in the rear Of two stretcher-Deall ~
teams who were proceeding bent ov
to ~ escape if possible the flying, pee
If If she'll, when shell pumped 90 ,
" " % ton of the station, exploded, a
wiped it out. A piece oI oIe roIn
me in the head. When ! Wohs
come stretcher- bearers had me- nd
mo me over the shell holes. =,
aI'Ve sure got to nand II 70 VI, y.
mon with the Red Cross on their ar
Thev The all worked like dogs IN tnao
ont there. They seemed TO naVe :,
oo ooe ;dea-to do their dHty-anl el'
ra ,antE cared nothing for then o.e
lives while doing it. They were g
ieir' In this connection it may be
that there are certain number