The Dermott news., 1918-08-01
CHAPTER VI.


At 70 O'Clock, midnight, we were
alarmed and half an hour later were
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 brief
rest. and watched preparations being
made for the execution of two 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 way that the peo-
pie 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, fact which we dis
covered when we entered there at nine
O'Clock.
We were now considerably nearer
the spot where the guns were roar
ing, and retiring of wounded and the
munition columns showed us that west
of Vitry-le-Francois. terrible battle
ragged. At four o'clock in the after
noon, we arrived at yitry-le-Francois
after forced march. The city was
filled with wounded, but the town It
self was not damaged. The battle must
have been 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 indi-
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 well-directed shot from
gun of a large ealiber burst directly
ut their feet. When the smoke cleared
there was no trace of the men.
You can imagine the feelings OF
those who lay on the ground not 100
feet away witnessing this spectacle
and waiting their turn.
An officer cried: "Nextp 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 l sprang back. then
ahead again. running to and fro like a
mailman. seeking loophole. But every
where there was iron and fire. l ran
like a hunted animal seeking way to
pass to save myself, with hell in
front Of me. and an officers revolver
always ready behind.
Throwing caution to the winds,
prepared to meet death and the devil
himself. / Mt last ran blindly ahead /;
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 and don't know It,"
I was among those of my comrades
who had gotten through. Trembling
all over. stopped and looked around
"Sit down and you will feel better"
said one of the men. 1--WE also have
trembled."
Presently some wounded were
brought up. There were about AZ men
and 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 enemy fire. Other batteries still
manned were useless because no more
ammunition could be gotten through.
We paused to rest. Several artil-
Ierymen approached us. and noncom-
missioned officer asked them why they
did MOI Ore.