Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1919-01-03

| Springing to my feet and leveling The
! pistol at the captain, / grabbed the
reins of his horse from the post and
mounted. The orderly came running
toward me, yelling out in German, and
I could see soldiers emerging from the
stable. had to act quickly.
"When j mounted, the captain
reached for his revolver. I covered
him with mine and, with a shrek Of
terror, Adrienhe threw herself in
front of the Uhlan captain to protect
| him. saw her too late. My bullet
| pierced her left breast, and q red
! smudge showed on her white silk
| blouse as she sank to the ground. l
shot the orderly's horse to prevent i'm
mediate pursuit and then away on
| mad gallop down the road. 1t was a
! long chase, but escaped them.
"The rest Of my men were captured.
At our headquarters had to lie like
trooper. Told them we had been
| ambushed and wiped out. 1t was the
| only way to save my skin. There
were no witnesses against me, SO /
| got off with reduction to the ranks and
| transfer to another regiment They
| smelled a rat, all right, but had no
proof.
$50 that is my story, Yank. Just
| Enough to make a fellow get the blues
| occasionally, isn't it? Just pass me a
| fag, and take that look off your face"
/ gave him the cigarette and, with
| out a word, went out of the dugout
and left him alone. was thinking Of
| Adrienne.
Upon reaching the trench / paused
In wonder and fright. The sky was
| alight with red glare. The din was
terrific. a constant swishing and
rushing through the air, intermingled
with a signing moan, gave tes--
timony that our batteries were
sweating blood. The trench seemed
to be rolling like q ship. / stood in
| ave. This bombardment Of ours was
something indescribable, and a shud-
| der passed through me as I thought
of the havoc and destruction caused
| in the German lines. At that moment
| I really pitied the Germans, but not
for long, because suddenly hell seemed
to b rst loose from the German lines
as cir artillery opened up. | could
| hear their 'five-nines" screeching
| through the air and bursting in the
! artillery lines in our rear. Occasion
ally a far-off um-hum-rump-rump,
| Crash! Bru-u-nn-u-gg could be heard
as one of their high-calibered shells
| came over and burst in our reserve.
I crouched against the parados, hardly
able to breathe. While in this position,
right overhead, every instant getting
| louder, came German shell-hiz-z-z!
bang-g-g! I was blinded by the flash.
Down I went, into the mud. Strug-
| Cling to my feet in the red glare of the
bombardment.
/ saw that the traverse on my left
| had entirely disappeared. Covered
| with mud, weak and trembling. could
hear what sounded like far-distant
voices coming from the direction of
! the bashed-in traverse.
"Blime me, get lis bloomin' napper
oUta tn mud, 'e's chozin' to death.
Pass me bandage-tyke is b'yonet
| fer a splint. Blilne me, is leg is
smashed, not 'arf hit h'aint. TIL rest
O. you blolzes 'op it fer a stretcher.
'Ello, 'e's got another one-quicK,
| tourniquet, the poor blOke's a'bleedin'
to death. Quick, h'up against the par
| apet, ERE comes another"
Whiz-z-z! Bang-g-g!
Another flare, and once again I was
| thrown into the mud. I opened my
eyes. Bending over me, shaking me
by the shoulder was Atwell His voice
sounded faint and far away. Then I
came to with a rush.
"Blime me, Yank, that was a close
| one Did it get your"
He helped me to my feet and felt
myself all over. Seeing I was all
right, he yelled in my ear:
'sWe've got to leg it out of 'ere.
Fritz is sure sendin' over 'whiz-bangs'
and tminnies.' Number 8 platoon in
the next fire bay sure clicked it. About
eighteen Of them have gone West.
| COiuO ufl, we Ill zee IL we Cdu UO any
| thing for the poor blokes."
| We plowed through the mud and
came into the next fire bay. In the
light of the bursting shells an awful
sight met our eyes. The traverses were
Dashed in, The fire Step was gone, and
| in the aarados was hole that looked
like q subway entrance. There was
mud and blood.
Every now and then, dueking as a
"whiz-bang' or ssminnie" came over,
we managed to get four of the wound
ed on the stretchers, and Atwell and
carried one to the rear to the first
ata dressing station. We passed the
dugout which ] had left but few
minutes before, or at least, what used
to be the dugout, but now all that
could be seen was q caved-in mass IT
dirt; huge square-cut tiIbers sticking
out of the ground and silhouetted
against the light from bursting shells,
looking like huge giants. "A shudder
passed through me as | realized that
q -