St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1918-07-13
CHAPTER VI.

CHAF Ell Via
AZ 70 O'Clock, midnight, We
harmed and half an hour later
on the march. The cool night air felt
good. and despite our WEAKNESS, we
made rapid progress. Toward four
O'Clock IN the morning we arrived at
Cheppy. 1t had been completely plum
dered. We halted here. for a brief
rest and watched preparations being
made for the execution of W frac.
tireurs. They were two little farmers
who had supposedly concealed a
French machine gun with Its crew
from the Germans. The sentence was
executed in such a way that the peo-
ple were shown who their real rulers
now were.
The little town of Pogny, located
midway between Chalons-sur-Marne
and Vitry-le-Francois. Jared no bet
ter than Cheppy, a fact which we dis
covered when we entered there at nine
o'clock.
We were now considerably nearer
the spot where the guns were o
ing, and retiring of wounded and the
munition columns showed Us that west
of Vitry-le-Francois, a terrible battle
ragged. At four o'clock in the after
noon, we arrived at Vitry-le-Francois
after a forced march. The city was
filled with wounded, but the town it
self was not damaged. The battle must
have beer going badly for the Germans
because we were ordered into action
without being given any rest. We were
within three kilometers of the battle
line, when we came within reach of
hostile fire, a terrific hail of shells tore
up every foot of ground. Thousands
of corpses of German soldiers tndi-
Gated at what enormous cost the Ger
mans had brought up all available re-
serves. The French did everything
they could to prevent the Germans
from getting the reserves into action
and increased the artillery fire to I'M
heard-of violence. 1t seemed impos-
-sible for US to be able to break through
this barrage. We saw hundreds of
shells exploding every minute. We
were ordered to run the gauntlet OF
this hell in single file.
Lying prone upon the ground, we
saw how the first of our men at
tempted to pass. They ran. unmindful
of the shells bursting around them, like
madmen others were buried under
ground thrown up by the ~high-power
explosives. or torn by shrapnel or gren-
AIDES. Two men had scarcely reached
the line when a well-directed shot from
q gun Of q large caliber burst directly
at theirffeet. When the smoke cleared.
there was no trace of the men.
You d imagine the feelings of
those who lay on the ground not 100
feet away witnessing this spectacle,
and waiting their turn.
An officer cried "Nextt' 1t was
my turn. AS if aroused from a night
mare. | sprang up, my gun in my right
hand. sidearm In my left, and ran
ahead. | lodged two shells just as
they burst and ran close to several
others. bursting the same instant. a.
number of times ! sprang back, then
ahead again, running to and fro like q
madman. seeking a loophole. But every
where there was iron and fire. ran
like d hunted animal seeking d way to
pass TO save myself. with a hell In
front of me, land an officers revolver
always ready behind.
Throwing caution to the winds,
prepared to Aieet death and the devil
u AIrn~Alf I aka i1eF rO ~ h1Snllrv ohnod !.
ran. ran. ran, until someone seized my
coat tail and shouted in my ear:
Here we are. Are you wounded?
You had better look. Perhaps you are
wounded ana don't know It."
was among those of my comrades
who had gotten through. Trembling
all y / stopped and looked around.
"Sit down and you will feel better"
said one of the men. we also have
trembled."
Presently some wounded were
brought up. There we're about As men
and Il sergeant took command. Moth
ing more was seen Of our officers.
We continued to advance and passed
several German batteries. Many had
suffered heavily In dead and wounded.
which lay around their guns destroyed
by eneIny fire. Other batteries still
manned were useless because no more
ammunition could be gotten through.
We paused to rest. Several artii-
lerymen approached us. and a Honeom-
missioned officer asked them why they
did MOI fire.
Because we have used up all our
ammunition" was the answer of one OF
the battery men.
rs it impossible TO bring ammuni-
tjon through this barrage2"
NO" replied the artilleryman. "but
there is no more ammunition. That Is
why we cannot get any. At Neuft-ha-
teau we started like wild men after the
enemy. Man and beast died from the
cheat, railroads and other medIAlns u