The herald., 1918-05-16
Confessions of a German Deserter
CONTINUED FROM PAGE


were once more In our possession. w,
were now able to approximate the ter
rlbie casualties, In the battle for thi!
battery. Dead and wounded BY hun
dreds, Infantry, cavalry, artillery ant
pioneers, covered the narrow strip OF
ground.
once more we received reinforce
ments. This time four regular compa
MES OF Infantry had been taken
away from another detachment. Ever
IL soldier takes part In everything, he
can get only very restricted view OF
what Is going on and has absolutely nc
way OF determining how the battle is
going.
These re-enforcements had been
taken from all different arms and late
arrivals had been taken from division
which had been threatened exactly like
ours was. This led us to conclude that
we could only resist further attacks
provided fresh troops reached us. II
only we could get something to eat.
But there seemed no way to relieve the
hunger and thirst which tortured us.
Now. horses gallOped up to remove
the guns we had left, and at the same
instant the French artillery opened a
tremendous fire from guns Of all cali
bers. The shells fell among the 80
teams comprising the column. Confu-
sion reigned. Groups of six horses
comprising each team sprang into the
air, then ran In all directions, pulling
their carriages with the wheels up be-
hind them. Some of the terrified anil
mails ran directly into the heaviest fire,
only to be torn to shreds with their
drivers.
The enemy now transferred his fire
to the battery position which we occu-
pied. For us II was only a question Of
advance or retreat. Retreat? No! The
order came TO retake the positions
which we had lost at the opening Of
the battle and which the Frenchmen
presumably had made ready to with
stand a new attack. By this time we
had been REINFORCED with more can
non fodder and the insane fight could
begin anew.
We advanced over a wild field, COW
cred by thousands upon thousands of
torn human bodies. No shot fell; the
only firing was the hostile artillery
continuing to shell our battery posi-
tons. Neither the enemy's artillery
nor infantry was turned upon us. This
made us suspicious and our apprehen-
sion regarding what was to come in
creased as we were permitted to ad-
vance unmolested.
Suddenly there was turned loose
upon us the fire from a multitude Of
machine guns. We threw ourselves on
the ground and hunted cover. An in
slant later we again sprang up and
continued our march. Once more we
encountered destruction. By this time
we had lost almost third of our men
and, exhausted, we halted.
Scarcely had we taken position be-
fore we were attacked from the front
and flank. We no longer had an ade-
Quate force to successfully resist this
double blow, as the enemy, in greatly
superior numbers, had practically
crushed our force. The left wing was
cut off and we saw our men
throw up their hands and surrender.
We who were In the center were I'M
able to come to their assistance; our
ranks were being decimated from min
ute to minute.
Revenge for Sommepy." sounded in
my ears.
The right wing broke and carried us
with it in a wild flight. Direct retreat
had been cut Off for us, so we ran
backward across an open field, each
man for himself, with a heart bursting
with horror and fear as the result Of
the enemy's murderous fire.
After running long time we reached
q hamlet northwest of Vitry-le-Fran.
co.'s. Without guns, helmets, or KNAPP.
sacks, the few who had been able to
save themselves gathered here.
As a result of this battle the French
acquired a large amount Of booty. All
the guns which had been the center Of
so much bitter fighting were lost. OF
the hundreds upon hundreds Of SOL
1iers who participated in the battle,
100 were left. The others
we're all dead, wounded or missing.
This is what was done to the invincible
war machine by the French people,
who. before the struggle. we had brand
I'd as cowardly and degeneratel