The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-08-08
CREWsOME SCENES
, IN WAKE OF HUN
RETREAT MARKED BY BLOOD
SHED AND DESTRUCTION.
GERMANS SHORT ON SHELLS
Whole Groups of Soldiers Killed and
Left as They FeIl-one Small
House Covered Twenty Three
Dead Men.
(By Lowell Mellett.)

with the french Armies IN IHe
Field, Aug. a. Everywhere the
German beast is going, his Shiny trail
is left behind
stood on Hill 205 dominating the
plateau which leads to Fismes this
afternoon. The landscape was Of
unusual loveliness but on the plateau
the front was all shell battered and
the villages were burned while whole
forests were mangled and uprooted
and the roads were pitted although
busy labor battalion was rapidly
leveling the roads with the use of
crushed stones from the ruined
houses
Helmets Thick as Daisies.
All along the way the bodies Of
grey clad Prussian guards who re-
manned behind to fight the rear guard
sction lay in great heaps and in one
village German helmets were as
thick as daisies.
Helue Woods was all shot to
pieces. In one village between the
Woods and the town of the same name
that there had been bitter struggle
and the ground was covered with
great numbers of unburied dead.
scissors Badly Shattered.
scissors is not badly shattered al
though it well bears out the report
of Chasseurs that the Germans made
some slight resistance. Here and
there were few futile barricades of
the fimsiest sort stretched across
the street
American troops are raiding enemy
positions north of TouI this afternoon
and captured quantity of small
arms, war material and machine
guns.
One of the latter was taken while
in action and the doughboys killed
the entire crew.
Picked Troops Seek Information.
The number of Germans killed dur
ing the raid was considerable. In
the Lorraine area an American artil
lery frustrated a raiding party OF
specially trained troops and cut off
several and captured them. A 'pris-
one rexplained that the parties of es-
peCially picked trained troops moved
about from town to town in the quiet
sectors in small punches of from
twenty to fifty and their purpose was
for the capturing of any valuable in
formation.
The fact that the Germans are
forced to use specially trained units
to capture outposts is proof that the
regular troops are unable to pursue
this duty.
Are Germans Short on Shells?
That the Germans are really hard
put to it for shells is shown by the
fact that | brought away from the
Marne battlefield several used shell
cartridges stamped with the date of
their manufacture, which was May of
this year
From the plateau had an excellent
view of Sundays success, the story
of which was related to me by the
French general commanding in the
action. AS usual, the action started
at dawn and despite the stubborn re-
sistance of the troops under Genera!
Won Eben the poilus carried in an
hour and half the famous Chaumont
butte of 1870 meters (nearly 900 feeD,
giving them wide view over the
entire region of Tardenois.
The defenders were well equipped
with machine guns, but seemed few
in numbers. 1--WE had the impression
that we were fighting against rear
guards" said the general.
Frishtfu Scenes at oIuchy.
Oluchy.la-Ville is henceforth to be
historic as the scene of some of the
wars fiercest combats.
The conquerors had not had time
to clean the ruins and the streets
which teemed with the decaying bod
les OF men and horses. A pest
house smell pervdded the air.
A single small house in the out
skirts of the town contained the
bodies of fifteen Germans and eight
F'renchmen, grim testimony to the
hand.tohand fighting which had oc-
cured there. In another more i'm
portant house the entire staff of a
German battery were still sitting at
table where they were lunching
when the concussion of an enormous
shell exploding in the dining room
killed all present.