The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-05-03

hdu ldlu III THIS INFERNO lot TWO Gays
without having eaten anything what
ever.
We were scarcely established wher
the French attacked en- masse. The oe
cupants Of these trenches, whom we
had REINFORCED had already repulsed
/ several of these attacks. They urged
us to shoot and fired wildly themselves
into the ranks of the advancing masses
We responded to the exhortations OF
the infantry officers: Sire, fire hard
err, harder!"
We fired until the barrels of our
guns became red-hot. The enemy
turned. The victims of our fire al.
ready lying In heaps in No Mans Land
between our lines and the enemy's
were increased by hundreds. The at
tack was repulsed
1t Is dark, and 1t rains and rains. All
about us In the darkness are heard
the wounded weeping, moaning, Inn
ploring. Their cries are augmented
by other wounded closer by. All called
for bandages, but we had none left. We
tore strips from our muddy shirts and
with them covered the gaping wounds.
Men are dying constantly There are
no doctors, no bandages, nothing. The
wounded must be assisted, but first the
French must be repulsed.
The rain falls harder constantly and
we are all wet to the skin. We shoot
blindly into the night The fluctuating
fire Of musketry becomes strong, then
weaker, then strong again.
We pioneers are scattered among the
infantry. My neighbor touches me.
"Say," he calls.
"What do you want2" l ask. "Who
are your"
"Come here" he Kissed,
It is eerie, alone in this deyil's night.
''Why are you here7 VIII you muir
der me like those over there. Soon
they will return from over there and
the fun will be on again. Do you hear
the others weep?"
And he laughed.
Suddenly he started again: Il al
ways shoot at them until they stop
weeping. That is fun"
And again he laughed, maniacally,
and louder than before.
realized finally that this man had
lost his reason. A man passed bring
ing ammunition and | asked him to
fetch the commander at once. The Of
ficer arrived accompanied by an infan-
try lieutenant met them and report
ed that my neighbor had been firing on
the wounded, talking nonsense, and
undoubtedly was insane. The lieuten-
ant stepped between us.
Can you see anything?" he asked.
"See No. But | hear them moan
ng and weeping. AS soon as | hit one
he is quiet for he sleeps!"
The lieutenant nodded to me. He
tried to take the gun from the man,
but the latter seized it quickly and
sprang back to cover. From there he
fred while standing among the wound
ed, until moment later, he himself
fell, riddled by many bullets,
The drama had only few speeta-
tors. 1t was hardly over before 1t was
forgotten. Anything but sentiment.
The blind firing continued. The
cries Of the wounded became constant
ly louder.
Why? These wounded lying be-
tween the two fighting lines are ex-
posed to the firing Of both parties. No
one can help them for 1t would be in
sanity to venture into No Mans Land.
Ever louder and with more heart
rendlng pleadings, the wounded called
for the stretchers, for help, for water
At the most curse or an oath is the
only response.
Our trench was filled with several
inches of water and underneath that,
mud. In this rnorass lay dead and
wounded. thrown together. It became
necessary to make room and so the
dead were thrown over the ramparts.
At one o'clock in the night men came
with stretchers and took away some Of
the wounded. but for those wretches
lying in No Mans Land there was no
help.