American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-07-09


forms had been made to drink rum
and ether so that they would be reck-
less and in a frame of mind to face any
ordeal. The captains had not been
trusted with the information that they
were being marched to slaughter. Al
a given time they We're to open writ
ten orders. and at another given time
the heavy guns were to change their
range from the first line of British de-
Tense to the second, and lit was then
that the Germans we're to make the
rush from their trenches to the first
line of the British.
To the surprise of the British. and
to the surprise of humanity the Ger
mans came in solid mass formation,
the same formation that Napoleon used
in his last desperate struggles. Many
of the British had been killed in the
barrage, but others were there hang
ing on with true British grit.
AS that wave of Germans. a solid
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 Ger
mans sank to their death by thousands
before those guns. But the war-mad
managers behind them had planned
| for lust such a slaughter of their own
men. With the death struggles of the
first wave of Germans, came a 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
third wave of men died.
Thousands more came i'm the fourth
wave. and were piled dead above the
/ bodies of their comrades.
So it went wave after wave, the
German generals determined TO make
the kaisers own battle a victory by
wearing out the British guns with Ger
man human flesh.
The British gunners actually became
heart-sick with killing the poor beings
who marched 10 their death on the
orders of their own cruel generals.
When the ninth wave of men had
come and died, the cannon in the first
/ line of British defense became so hot
that they could not be fired any more.
| The gunners took off the breech locks
and retired to sthe second line of de-
feuse
On came the tenth wave of Germans,
there to meet the fate of the nine that
| had gone before. On came others.
sacrifices to the will of an autocracy
determined 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 gun
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 hui
man beings for generals who will make
such a sacrifice of human life.
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
column after column perished before
the defense after defense. StalWart
men brought from the Russian front,
old men forced into service, mere boys
i'm their teens. gave up their lives TO
the god of war; militarism was show
ing off at its best and its worst
At a terrible cost of life human be-
ings wore down the last line of Brit
ish defense and troops shattered and
weary. but still buoyed by remaining
effects of the stimulants bore on to the
west. even past Albert, and danger
ously close to the coveted goal, Amiens.
And there they were when we reach
ed that city on the fifth day of the
battle. the day of great slaughter, the
day on which il seemed to many that
they might succeed. but the very day
on which they were stopped in the
open. With the effects of the ether
and rum gone weary and worn, the
men who had passed trench and can
lnon and entanglements were brought
to a halt where there were no en-
trenchments. There they were. held,
held until reinforcements could come.
held by the valiant British until the
brilliant French troops could reach
them.
Let us pause here for a thought. If