The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1919-02-21
CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VI.
-
At II o'clock, midnight, We were
alarmed and half an hour later were
o. the march. The cool night air felt
good, and despite our weariness. we
made rapid progress. Toward four
O'Clock In the morning we arrived at
Ohsppy. II had been completely plum
dseea We halted here for q brief
rsa and watched preparations being
made for the execution Of two frac-
t1reurs. They were two little farmers
who had supposedly concealed 4
French machine gun with its crew
from the Germans. The sentence wss
exscuted In such q way that the peo-
ple were shown who their real rulers
now were.
The little town Of Pogay. located
midway between Chalons-sur-Marne
and vitry-ls-Francois, Jared NO bet-
TER than Chsppy. = 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
raged. At four o'clock In the after
noon, we arrived at vlt1y-le-Francois
after Q 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 hlometers Of the battle
tine, when We came within reach Of
hostile nre, Q tsrriac hail Of shells tore
up every foot Of ground. Thousands
Of corpses Of German soldiers indl-
Gated ut what enormous cost the Ger
mans had brought mp all available 70
e9v0. The French did everything
they could to prevent the Germans
from getting the reserves into action
and increased the artillery IRE to un-
Asard-of violence. It seemed impos-
elble for N to be ab3e to break through
this barrage. We saw hundreds of
1hells exploding every minute. We
wore ordered to run the gauntlet Of
tAis he'll in single file.
Lying prone upon the ground. w
Gaw how the first Of our men at-
tsmpted to pasa They ran, unmindful
u the shells bursting around them, like
0admen; others were buried under
ground thrown up By the hish-power
Nxplo0ves, or torn BY shfapnel o. Hen-
a1sA Two men had scarcely reached
- hne when well directed shot from
. gun Of q large ealibsr burst directly
q their feet When the smoke cleared.
tAsrs was no trace of the men.
You can imagine the feelings of
tAess who lay on the ground not 100
feet away witnessing this spectacle,
and waiting their turn.
An omceI cried: "Nextw Il was
~ turn. Al II aroused from . night
marc, sprang up. my gun in my right
hand. sidearm In my left, and ran
aAsaa I dodced two shells Just ~
tAey burst and ran close to several
Sehsss, bursting the same instant. 4
aam6ef Of times I sprang back, then
ahead again. running to and fro like q
0adman. seeking loophole. But every
where there was iron and fire. ran
1ko Q hunted animal seeking . way to
pass to save myself, with . he'll In
ffunt Of me, and an officers revolver
always ready behind.
Throwing caution to tha winds,
pespa1ed to meet death and the devil
Al1oea1, I ut last ran blindly ahead;
ran. ran, ran, until someone 0eized my
coat tan and shouted in my ear:
Here W are. Are you woundedf
Yoa had bettef look. Perhaps you are
wounded and don't know II"
was among those Of my comrades
who had gotten through. Trembling
an ovsr. I stopped and looked around.
s0lt down and ysu WIN feel better"
said one Of the men. I'VE also have
trsmblsd."
Presently some wounded were
brought up. Thsre were about 4S men
and . sergeant took command. Moth
ing more was seen Of our oMcers.
We continued 10 advance and passed
1svefal German battsfies. Many had
suffered heavily in deed and wounded,
which lay around their guns Destroyed
~ enemy fire. Other batteries stdll
manned were useless bseauSe no moro
ammunit1on could be gottsn through.
We paused 10 rest. Several artdl-
1efymen approached u, and noncom-
O1sslOned ofhcer asked them why they
"a not nrA