The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-07-11

major Of infantry. with white halr.
took command. Cur unit was placed
with the infantry. hut our -brave" ~f-
6cers Disappeared suddenly. To them
the defense OF tise fatherland was the
business OF = private. Since we bnh
been assigned 10 assist infantry. our
officers considered themselves super
nuous and took French leave
This state of affairs affects erly
pioneer" officers who. when theIr
units are attached TO infantry or cssas-
seur divisions, scarcely ever take part
In battle. This was the case with
our officers during my whole war ca
reer. They reuniued far away from
the gunfire In comfortable security
This is also the case with many In
fantry captains and almost all higher
officers. Majors. coioncls, etc, never
take part in a stormIng attack. was
told. and several times observed this
myself.
Our Instructions were az follows: In
the event OF ca~aiEy attack. every
thing must be quiet. The gun must
he pointed but hidden. The machine
gun must not be fred until the major
In command gives the order. Then
there must be lively. quick fire Our
batteries fired violently Mt a biplane
flying high over them which gave sig
nais with star shells which were read
only ty the observer.
But the expected attack did not
come. the enemy.s infantry was not To
be seen. We prepared TO resume our
march and were all ready 10 move
when the order came tn bivouac. The
spot where we were TO rest was ns
usual fixed by the stnfY so that they
knew where to find US at any time.
Hardly had we reached the place when
our field kitchen. which we supposed
had been lost. appeared as II II had
come out Of the ground Those in
charge of the. field kitchen had re
ceiyed no knowledge OF our losses OF
the last few days and had cooked for
the old number. They were greatly
surprised on seeing i5stead of a brave
company Of strong ..pioneers." a lot
OF ragged, exhausted. crushed human
shadows We were given soup. bread
meat. apples and every one received o
cigarette. which Was more welcome TO
most Of us than food and drink.
The next morning we slept until six
O'Clock nnd even though We were lying
on the hare ground IL was very hard
to wake us. Breakfast was excellent
II consisted of mutton which had been
requisitioned. vegetables. bread. coffee.
q goblet OF wine. and ham. Our cap
tain told MS 10 eat all we could as we
had a hard days march before US
We resumed our march at seven
O'Clock. Everybody was 10 high spirits
and in the course Of our conversations
II became apparent that we had lost
track of the tirne entirely. Nobody
knew whether IL was Monday or
"Wednesday or whether II was the fifth
or tenth OF the month. This condition
becnme more and more general Sol
diers never know the day of the week:
one is just like another. Saturday.
Sunday or Thpss,iay.
We stopped TO rest at noon on q
large fnrm huf were Obliged to walt
ia the rain for>the field Kitchens. Mean
while we helped ourselves. We shot
one of tie cows grazing In the meadow.
,rut open the hide without bothering TO
drain the blood from the carcass. Then
everybody cut on piece OF meat. stiii
warm. which was fried In pot cover
or eaten raw with little salt by
great many OF the soldiers. This XIII
ing of cattle was repeated almost daily
by the soldiers acting without orders
from their superiors. As consequence
they ali got stomach trouble frcn eat
ting meat which was too fresh without
bread or vegetables. In spite of this
the practice was continued. II sol
der became hungry curing pause In
the marching and found pig. cow or
lamb. he shot IL. cut out piece for his
own use. and LET the rest spoii-
Under burniqg midday sun we
marched on amid clouds of dust. along
= road used by munitions columns and
other units. which never gave the dust
an opportunity to settle. In all the
fields which We passed. fugitives had
set UP their camps. where they lived
like poor homeless gypsies- Many came
up to US and begged for scraps Of
bread.
We marched without resting till late
In the evening and at about nine
O'Clock we approached the city hall
OF Sommepy. In and around Som
mepy n battle had started. We were
ordered TO take part OF the north
west section OF the city, II was al
ready dark and once more we halted.
The fields all around us we're covered
with dead. 10 the middle OF the streets
were French batteries and munition
columns. Horses and drivers had been
killed.
After ten-mlnute rest we started
again and In doubie-Quick step np-