The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-07-04


over them clouds of smoke and flames
made the air fI,ick. Bur we were al
rads too hardened to feel much pity.
Humanity WAS thrown to the winds
aud the cries and begging of the
wounded left everybody cold.
Some Catholic sisters lay dead In
ron; 'sf their ess:sseat The only buIld-.
Ing that was spared In Donchery was
the arInory OF the Twenty-third French
dragooDs.
There was not much time In which
TO do anything. for at seven o'clock
the French began To huri shells into
the village. We fortified ourselves be-
hind a thick gnrden WILL directly Ia
front of the Meuse. The river bank
at this point was hat. hut on the oppo-
site side II WAS steep Here iir.. ff'r-s,s.,
infantry had dug itself in and estsb-
iished three lines. one above the other.
The artillery firing was too far. We
did not come within its range. 20 that
We were able TO observe the effect OF
the shelling Of our own artillery on the
enemy infantry positions before un
The 21-centimeter shells raced by
above our heads and burst with fear
ful noise in the enemy's trenches.
The French could not resist this hail
OF shot very long They soon aban-
doned all the heights on the river
bank They abandoned Soudan with
out fight and it was left intact, which
had not been the ease with Donchery.
Hardly house had suffered.
When the bugles sounded in Dom
cherry, 1t was discovered that our COM
n, fs.h hat
sition was taken behind the dragoon
srn,cry and our company, which now
was reduced TO 80 men, was ordered
to attempt the building of 4 ponsoon
bridge over The Meuse. After we had
been reinforced by so men. We
marched in small detachments In or
der not to draw the enemy's attention
to Us. After an hours march we
stopped in small forest about 200
meters from the Meuse to rest until
darkness set in. At twilight a division
bridge train was driven up close to
our hiding place. This was soon fol-
lowed by Il corps bridge train As a re-
serve. After all preparations were
made and the main advance work.
such as setting mp the bridge stays and
landing platforms, were ready, the
single pcntoon wagons drove up. They
were speedily but silently unloaded
We completed four pontoons. that is,
% meters of bridge, without the enemy
discovering anything.
Then suddenly the searehlight Of
the enemy was set I'm action and
scanned the river. We dropped to the
ground at once. The enemy must have
for he v,r-
here aud there and kept our bridge
position under continuous glare. We
were discovered hardly before We
knew what had happened. and = rain
of IRE fell in the water in front Of
rs We continued TO lie Sat on the
ground as four more shots struck the
water. this time little nearer to the
bridge and one shot hit the bank. At
once third rain OF shot followed and
| two struck the bridge. Two men fell
In the water and two lay dead ON the
bridge Those In the water swan
ashore and escaped none the worse for
their experience except for a bath.
In spite OF the continued volume Of
artillery fire. we brought the two dead
men 10 land. The bridge WAS now
greatly damaged and there was no
choice except to replace the damaged
pontooDs by new ones. We began this
difficult task as soon as the artillery
Ore let up- Hardly had we begun It
again when = sslvo struck and greatly
6amssed the bridge. Fortunately we
had no losses. We were now ordered
to retire. and after half hour begin
anew. The enemy's searchsishts were
now dark. We brought about ten pou-
toons np without interference and then
we were suddenly bomharded again.
We had attracted the attention OF the
enemy's patrol.
Several batteries now opened fire on
us nj one time and after ten minutes
the entire work was only q pile OF
wreckase. Two more men were killed.
The order now came 70 retire. Eight
men were detailed to sttend to the
dead and wounded and we were taken
out of this danger zone. After we
marched about two kilometers up the
river. we were halted. and discovered
that the corps bridge train was In
place. We were told that we would
get the bridge ready on laHd Sections
consisting of two pontoons each were
firmly fastened together. equipped with
anchors. everything else made ready
and then put in the water. The Local
ton for the bridge was indicated to
us and we rode with all our might
down to the bridge position. The en-
emy did not see through these tactics
and did not Interfere. SO that all tho
parts reached the position In very
short time, where they were fastened
together. IN less than twenty min