The Washington herald., 1919-04-27

It? Anyhow, they were awake at last.
bounding forward with shouts, num-
berless bodies climbed over the top,
and in few moments the front to the
right and left of US became q sway
Ing mass of soldiers. First our regi-
ment poured out and then, on both
sides. the contagion spread and unit
after unit Joined in the advance, so
that the entire corps was on the move.
We swept forward and overwhelmed
the first German line, and then the
second. Our regiment alone captured
1000 prisoners But there was poison
awaiting in that second line of trench
es. Vodka and beer were in abundance
Half of our force got drunk right
there, throwing themselves ravenously
on the alcohol. My girls did splendid
work here, destroying the stores of
liquor at my orders. If not for that
the whole regiment would have been
drunk. I rushed about appealing to
the men to stop drinking.
Are you going insane?" I pleaded.
1--WE must take the third line yet. and
then the Ninth Corps will come to re-
ieve US and keep up the drive"
I realized that the opportunity was
too precious. I'VE must take the third
line and rip their defenses open."
thought, $50 as to turn this blow
into a general offensive"
But the men were succumbing one by
one to the bitter scourge. And there
were the wounded to be taken care Of
Some Of my girls were killed outright,
many were wounded. The latter al
most all behaved like Stoics. can see,
even now. the face OF Klipatskaya, one
of my soldiers. lying in a pool of
blood. I ran up to her and sought to
aid her. but it was too late. She had
shrapnel. Smiling family her last
smile. she said:
'Milaya, nitchevo" CMy dear, it's
nothing).
Counter-Attacked by Huns.
The Germans organized a counter
attack at this moment. 1t was a criti-
cal instant. but we met the shock of
the attack with our bayonets. AS
usual in such cases, the enemy turned
and fed. We pursued them and swept
them out of their third line. driving
them into the woods ahead Of us.
We had hardly occupied the enemy's
third line when orders came by field
telephone from the commander to
keep up the chase so as not to allow
Il6 GeTIIldTlS u lU6IIlSclNcSs
with a promise that the supporting
corps would start out Immediately. We
cautiously sent out patrols into the
woods to find out the strength of the
foe. 1 led one such scouting party,
and was able to detect that the Ger
man force was being slowly but stead
lily augmented. 1t was then decided
that we Immediately advance into the
forest and hold positions there till re-
| Inducements arrived, enabling US to
resume the movement.
It was the half-light hour Of morn
ing. The Germans. being in the thick
of the woods, had the advantage Of OBJ
serving every movement we made,
while we could not see them at all.
We were met by such q violent and
effective fire that our soldiers lost
heart and took to their heels by the
hundred, reducing our force to about
eight hundred. two hundred and fifty
Of whom were those of my girls who
had escaped death or injury.
Our situation rapidly grew perilous.
The lin running through the forest
was long. Our numerical strength
was wholly inadequate for 1t. Our
tanks were in the air. Our ammuni-
ton was running low. Fortunately.
We turned on the enemy several of his
own abandoned machine guns. We