Tombstone epitaph., 1918-09-15

ated. The artiiierymen who were fight blocks of the guns.
 Three Germans fought four French men at the third gun whiSh was just to my right. They were all that was left around that piece. At another gun 70 men lay dead or wounded. A pio- neer went 10 the mouth of this gun and with astounding calmness pushed shell after shell into the barrel. touched them of and ran. Friend and foe alike were torn hy the terrible explosion. The gun was completely demolished. Seventy to eighty men were killed for nothing.
 After an hours fight. all the guns were once more iD our possession. We were now able 10 approximate the ter rihle casualties. Tn the battle for this battery. Dead and wounded by hun dreis. infantry. cavalry. artillery and pioneers. covered the narrow strip of ground
 once more we received re-enforce- ments This time four regular compa- nies Of infantry had been taken away from another detachment Even if 8 soldier takes part in everything. he can ger only a very restricted view Of what is going on and has absolutely DO 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 10 conclude that we could only resist further attacks provided fresh troops reached us. If only we could get something to eat. But there seemed no way to relieve the hunger and thirst which tortured us.
 Now. horses gallopei up to remove the guns we had left and al the same instant the French artillery opened ;=TiagH,."is fire from guns 0: a.! cali bers. The shells fell among the 30 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 ani- mals ran directly into the heaviest fire. only to be torn to shreds with their drivers.
 The enemy now transferred his fire 10 the battery position which We occu- pied! For us it was only a question of advance or retreat Retreat? No, The order came to retake the positions which we had toSi at the opening of the battle and which the Frenchmen presumably had made ready to with stand q uew attack. By this time We had been re-enfOrced with more can- non fodder and the insane fight could begin anew.
 We advanced over wild field. GOV 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- tions. 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 unmoeSted.
 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- stant later We again sprang up and continued our march. once more we encountered destruction. By this time we had lost almost a 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 completely cut off and we saw our men throw up their hands and surrender. We who were in the center were un- able to come to their assistance; our ranks were being decimated from min ute 10 minute.
 "Revenge for SomrIepy." 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 heart bursting with horror and fear as the result of the enemy's murderous fire.
 After running long time we reached hamlet northwest of Vitry-le-Fran. coIs. Without guns. helmets. or knap. sacks the few who had been able to save themselves gathered here.
 As 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 diers who participated in the battle. scarcely 100 were left. The others were 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 ed as cowardly and degenerate!
 To be Continued