New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-07-03
THE DRIVE FOR AMIENs

ii. sE#s
Americans and British south Of the
Sonme
Viewing the lines Of defense, the can-
non, howitzers, wire entanglements and
trenches Of the British, one would not
think it possible to attempt to push
human flesh against steel to the extent
required to break through. For every
gain there must be price, there must
be a measurement of loss of life against
ground gained. Men OF experience and
sanity can figure in advance to some
thing of certainty as to what the cost
will be. B
MiIitarism must prevail for Germany
at all cost; the war party must make an
other showing, whatever the loss IN life
to the men in the ranks, who with their
ancestors had had training Of more
> than century in nothing but taking
) orders. II, i
And so on the twenty-frst day Of
March, the blow was struck, the British
resolute, determined, believing they
could hold the line, the German generals
striking with that madness and reck-
lessness that comes Of desperation.
Hundreds of thousands of men had
been moved from the Russian front to
help in the struggle. Smoke screens
were thrown up to hide the movements
from the observation balloon and air
planes; some of the screens. had been
thrown up as early as the week before
when we were there. The German
guns coughed harder, louder, and more
| often. The coughing and barking OF
guns and the whizzing Of shells made
the din we heard the week before seem
like child's play. The Germans were
shooting over their own line OF trenches
into the first line of British defense.
That is the method of starting an often
sive. =. ..-.,.
! The German men in their own
trenches had been dressed in new uni
! forms, had been made to drink rum and
ether so that they would be reckless and
in frame of mind to face any ordeal.
| The captains had not been trusted with
the information that they were being
marched to slaughter. At given time
they were to open written orders, and
at another given time the heavy guns
were to change their range from the
first line of British defense to the second,
and it was then that the Germans
were to make the rush from their trenches
to the first line of the British. -
1t was then that the Germans came
in solid mass. formation, the same for
nation that Napoleon used in his last
desperate struggles. Many ,of the Brit
ish had been killed in the barrage, but
others were there hanging on with
British grit. ...a =.
mass, came across the land between the
British and German trenches, the heavy
guns of the British opened on them:
They had but to fire. They could not
miss the enemy. The Germans sank to
their death by thousands before those
guns. But the war-mad managers be-
hind them had planned for just such a
slaughter of their own men. With the
death struggles of the first wave of
Germans, came second, uniforms new,
hearts beating fast and brains borne
up with the stimulus of rum and ether.
They, too, went down before the terrific
fire of the same British guns.
The third wave of men came and a
third wave of men died.f4 . l,fr' ffgl.<
Thousands more came IN the fourth
wave, and were piled dead above the
bodies of their comrades. .~ -
| So it went, wave after wave, the Gers
man generals determined to make "the
kaiser's own battle a victory by wear
ing out the British guns with German
human flesh. ~-'.'@
The British gunners actually became
heart-sick with killing the poor beings
who marched to their death on the orders
of their own cruel generals. ~
When the ninth wave OF men lad
come and died, the cannon in the first
| line of British defense became, so hot
that they could not be fired any more.
The gunnels took off the breech locks
! and retired to the second line of de-
| Tense. 49, vs.
On came the tenth wave Of Germans,
there to meet the fate Of the nine that
| had gone before. On came others, sac
rifces to the will Of an autocracy de-
termined to fasten on the rest of, the
world the same militarism that made.
these subjects give up their lives. .. =:
| But the German generals had more
men to feed into the barrage Of the
second line Of British guns, and fed
them;' fed them until more British gum
ners were sickened by the sight and.
fired more from duty than hatred - ex-
cept such hatred that must arise IN men
with red blood and hearts of human
| UeluSS lOI SeIleldlS wiz Will l1AdhS2 SUCH
sacrifice of human life. NAL 4. s.sss
So human flesh wore down more
steel, men paid the toll with their lives
until more British guns became too hot
to be fired. Wave after wave and co.'s
umn after column persisted before the
defense after defense. StalWart men
brought from the Russian 'front.', old
men forced into service, mere boys III
their teens, gave up their lives to tie;
god of war; militarism was showing off
at it's best and it's worst.
At terrible cost OF life human be-
ings wore down the last line Of British
defense and troops shattered and weary
but still buoyed by remaining effects Of,
the stimulants bore on to the west, even
past Albert, and dangerously close to
the coveted goal, Amiens.
And there they were when we reached
that city on the fifth day Of the BATTLE,
the day Of great slaughter, the day on
which it seemed to many that they
might succeed, but the very day on
which thew were stopped in the open.