The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-07-10
"GREAT TBARRAGE" NIGHT.
| could do nothing.

l CUulu w uOIuluS.
Iwould have given half my life for
daylight. l slipped down the head of
my gas mask and looked at my IL
Illuminated watch. Only o'clock. My
God, | thought would go mad.
l heard some one cry out that he
was wounded. l got up and groped
my way through the underbrush, and
came on a soldier who said he was
wounded in the shoulder. 1 felt for
the wound and found that the arm
had been torn away. dressed him in
the dark, using a first aid packet and
his shirt. He had lost his gas mask,
his comrade lay nearby dead. I took
the dead mans mask and adjusted it
on the living.
Action relieved the tense nervous
strain and from then on I worked
constantly among the wounded in the
woods. I got together what first aid
men I could find, and we worked until
daylight.
Daylight came as relief, but l
hope shall never again witness such
a spectacle. Five hours of shelling
had wrought tremendous havoc, and
still there was no abatement. In fact,
the bombardment seemed to increase
in fury. Dead animals lay every
where in the woods, which were a
mass of tangled and broken trees.
And everywhere we're human bodies,
unrecognizable masses of human
flesh. Everywhere, also, were wound
ed men, some slightly, some seriously,
some fatally hurt. Some begged pit
eously for removal from the shell
swept area.
Runners Never Returned.
Immediately after daylight we be-
gan attempts at eVacuating. Five
runners, who we're sent out in sue
cession to find the nearest point to
which the ambulances could come,
have never been heard from.
From technical standpoint the
enemy was the much better situated.
Commanding high hill which rises
abruptly from the opposite bank OF
the Marne, he had a perfect view OF
the first two kilometers of our front.
Under the protective screen of his
own tree covered hills, he was able to
carry on his preparations uninterrupt-
edly-preparations for his victory
drive" his t'knockout blow" and the
realization of his plans for world
power.
On the American side of the Marne
was long stretch of low lying fields
for the most part covered with ripen-
ing grain. The ground rises gradual
". then until at two kilometers from
the river it slopes upward into high
hill, which is covered by the Bois
d'Aigremont.
On the right lay the Surmelin VAL
ley, in which nestled the town Of
Crezancy. This valley being the point
of ingress and egress of the Marne
Valley made the possession Of this
road vital to the enemy. But to gain
it, he must first annihiliate the Thir-
tieth Infantry.
The majority of the wounded were
heroic and stoical in their suffering.
A few were effeminate. Most of them
suffered in silence, bearing patiently
the long waiting. The few cursed bit
terly, or begged to be carried to the
rear. We had many raving maniacs.
In passing among the uninjured 1
saw drawn, pinched faces, but the
eyes were still bright and jaws were
set with a determination that bespoke
the iron resolution in each mans
heart that "The Hun shall not pass" }"
Hun Infantry Attacks.
At 10 o'clock we had, more than
$50 men all severely wounded, await
ing evacuation: Becoming exasperat-
ed at the failure of the runners to re-
turn, I went myself to establish liza
ison with the ambulance service, and
found the ambulances coming to the
Greves farm, one kilometer to our
rear.
The wounded men were simply pill
ed up and it looked as though we
never would be able to get them out.
After 10 o'clock the artillery fire
slackened.
At 4:3O that morning the enemy
launched his long expected infantry
attack. Three crossing places by pom
toon bridges and by boats OF 20 man
capacity were attempted on that part
of the front held by the Thirtieth In
fantry.
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