Evening star., 1918-06-30
When American Soldiers I'm France Flesh Their Bayonets

with black eyes-When !
the fist is more satisfac- |;
tory than steel-One !
phase OF the struggle.
have, a happy ending. It would be
wrong to give the impression that our
fine, brave boys are here in France
spending their days sharpening up
bayonets and their nights in plan
ming red use for them. But T. the
very opposite were said. 1t would also
not be true, for bayonets must be
sharpened at some time and use must
be made of them, for that is, in part,
the force which President Wilson has
promised for winning the war. Let
one who has been with soldiers in
England or France for three years,
and with our men for the last six
months, knows that we can shoot and
bayonet, that we can kill and get our
hands sticky with German blood. and
yet not lose anything of our civiliza-
tion. One Of the best little stories
circulating behind the front is the
alleged COMPLAINT Of a Junior officer
to his superior:
ported to have said, II get my men
worked up to the point when they can
go into an attack cold and use the
bayonet Then along comes out one
Of the 7. NJ C. A. men or the minis
ter or the priest and says:
NY boy. have you written home
to mother this week?
And then I have to begin my work
Here on the Toul front, where the
heaviest fighting has been done, /
have also heard two high officers ex-
press themselves directly ON the sub
5ect One Of them was the colonel
OF the 10th Infantry, who came to
bring q message from the French
general and from American had
magnificent spirit in attack.
-
The colonsls address was a short
one. for the colonel IL better fighter
than he is q speaker. but what he
said contained matter II 1t lacked
rhetoric. He concluded with these
words:
Despite ths presence Of two men
who are here beside me and
who preach differently, I want to
preach . little gospel Of hate. You
have now been in several battlsaL You
have seen men whom you knew well,
and whom you liked well. men who
were your pals. killed by the Ger
mans. some in open battle, some by
gas attacks or by the other means the
Germans have introduced into this war.
You believe the German is yellow.
believe so. too. You know now that
you can get the best Of him In any
fair fight I know that, too, and we
know that we can get the best of
him when he makes a nasty game of
it;
The boche is yellow. He IL a bully.
but the boche, like the bully, can
hght- Especially when he is superior
In numbers. You know that when we
take them prisoners. even the storm
ing lot;
$50 long as they have numbers.
they will continue to try to kill you.
and to make you suffer by any means
they can find. You have killed lot of
them and taken lot Of them prison.
want to tell you that this is not
enough. We must not be content
with ten to one, Or twenty to one, or
a hundred to one until we have de-
stroyed his attacking power.
7 want you to remember three
things: Cool Of head, hate in heart,
venom in bayonet!
Il want you to remember that
every boche you get brings nearer
the day Of the liberation of all
nations. You are fighting for Amer
lea, and the freedom Of America de-
pends on the number Of Germans you
kill now. So go and kill"
By q scoincidence, the next day the
general who commands this unit re-
quested the correspondents to come
in for q little talk. He asked us il we
had heard Of the heroic acts Of .
certain regiment in a certain attack.
+ would like very much for the
people. At home to know OF these in
ci6ents," he said. Then. more remark
able still. he mentioned those which
he knew, a brave deed Of . corporal.
the fne action of a buck private, the
splendid leadership Of . second lieu-
tenant. Then he concluded:
This war is nerve heart and-sonl.
Yes, soul, too. I think IL 10 . gsn.
erals job to keep the soul in ths
Army. u.
"a general must think Of his, men.
and what he demands Of them, and i1
It is just. to them and to the nation.