Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-01
SOLDIERS LOST NERVE
AS WAR nEARED END
Even Bravest American Quailed
Before Death as Hour for
Peace Approached.

The order to cease ring made the
bravest soldiers timid.
At least that is Corporal Paul Helsel $
experience. He has Just written about
il To friends i'm the Old York Road sec
ton. He lives in Doyestown.
In one breath. rs it were, he tells how
single brigade of the Iron Division
took position in an hour the French
military experts declared impregnable,
and how the soldiers, when told hostili-
ties would cease in twenty-five minutes;
began looking for shell holes TO crawl
into.
On, the same page Of his letter he de-
scribcs how one brigade of the Twenty
eighth suffered I 200 casualties IN sn hour
and went back for more, and then of
these heroes running away from shell
fire when they realized the end of tho
war was a matter of minutes.
As long rs the end was indetermlnato.
they didn't care whoop." is the WAY
the corporal expressed II, but with the
knowledge that the great victory was
imminent the element of personal safety
came before all, and he, like every other
man on the front lines during those fate
full last moments, began TO think of him-
self
Company G.. llith Regiment, went
through the entire campaign with but u
MINOR INJURY. He saw hts comrades
killed by his side lie had scores Of
narrow escapes. In tho last letter re-
ccived on Saturday, and one of several
which he mailed to different persons at
about the same time, from France, he
SAYS
II want 10 describe the battles in which
old Company g. took part. II is a long
list. FIRST was Chateau Thcrry, where
We gave them the first real taste OF how
We could fight Then came the second
battle. m winch the Twnety-cighth Gov
cred itself with real glory in which VIC
heat up whole division Of crack Prisslsn
Guards.
oJ TNUMREREp FIVE To ONE.
They only outnumbercd us five to one
and French mihtsry experts said our
objective coul not be reaohc !. We had
four DAYS IN which an objective two
kilomotcrs IN adyanCe-and we took H.
not IN the four DAYS, rs our officers SAID
but IN Just one hour. That was west of
tIsmcs; and We not only took our objeC-
tive. but We took Eismcs swimming the
NcSlc 20 do ~
Our brldage had 200 casualties in
one hour IN the terrible fighting at Alsnc
Heights. and We had only advanced 500
yards The Tooth was practically wiped
out there. Can You imagine 1000 men
grouped III a Spvcs ~ not more than
fifteen acres, W ~ falling IN this
area az the rate rf than 100 mn
ute But our men never faltered. mover
halted, until ouI liLc was Strengthened out.
cVcu though a whole platoon would be
au; bv a single she'll
vut IN lj days uf hard terrible
. ia the Argunnc Forest IL was
.c,il pushes. brush, barbed wire and
trenches all the wsv through. Finally,
before Metz but - line WAS already
advanced all We did ". 10 hold
we relieved the TIN. Battalion al
the front AZ about o'clot K on the after
noon OF November 10. But the Huns had
spotted u and they gave US a lively
night. We were on the extreme point OF
the salient. Al l0.3S on Monday morning
We got the word that firing would cease
at IL o'clock Up TO that time | didn't
worry, for ] knew If We went over the
top at the tip OF that salient, no one
would come back except II he ~
trrght back of a stretcher ~
tr, up 10 that time. II shell gui
But when the word went DO
hat In Just - minutes il woli!,
: over | just started To hunt for !;
~ ..rep hole There were none how
ever. 1or We had had no time TO dig IN
CRAWLED ~ SHELL HOLE.
At l0.40 our barrage started IN for a /
grand old finish. and the Germans re- /
spondcd heartily. ! managed 10 crawl |
into q space under heavy chunck OF con-
crete, but some Dutchman must have
spotted me, for / was no more than fixed |
before shells started 70 drop all about me
-Four burst within a few feet Of me
That was no place for me, so | crawled
out an beat il ] was les than 20 feet
away when a shell dropped suuarelv IN
to the place ! called home and had Just
vacated.
Il never wanted j cigarette more than
wanted II a Just that minute The !
last man killed IN the ID Battalion died
instantly at about 1885 when a shell ex-
ploded near him He was under shell
fire for the first time. His body now lies
in No Mans Land a few feet from the
point where he dIed-and | never felt 50
sorry that any man OF the command
should die nc had 80 few minutes be-
tween life and death between danger
and safety. The shell which Killed him |
W ,unded one other soldier
some one along the line yelled 1853"
Instantly everything was quiet Then
from the same man ''0nc-half minute
more Then you have heard the noise. An
along the line with 80 seconds 10 90. our
artillery opened up. The French 75s
sounded like machine guns, and more
steel was in the air, pointed IN the gon-
eral direction OF Germany. than ia any
single minute during the war.
Eleven o 'clock-an uncanny silence
o silence that got" ON the nerves worse
{ an shelling The war was over-No !
Mans Land was "Everyman Land
And next home in the United States
we hope soon