Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 29, 1918.
THE MILLEDGEVILLE NEWS.
MILLEDGEVILLE gec
The Confessions
of a German
Deserter _"'
- ■ ■ ■
Written by a Prussian Officering?*
Who Participated in the Ravag
ing and Pillaging of Belgium.
Copyright h Detroit Fra Prat
1' Tlie French artillery and Infantry
itow opened a terrible Are on the pon-
i toons. Our units, which had defended
the pontoons, were relieved and re
placed by Infantry. I wns made a
i lender In the pontoon and with fout
men at the paddle and 18 infantryraer
as a crew, we started our first cross
Ing In n veritable ball of shell, hut
with only one minor casualty, wt
reuehed the opposite hank. A com
rnde took my place at the steering
gear. On the return trip, our pon
toon wns struck by bullets but fortu-
, riatcly abote the water line. All about
us the pontoons crossed, several In
, a sinking condition. The men who
i mnnned them, all of whom could swim
tried to swim to the bnnk, but many
I lnfant r ymen were drowned.
! We landed, and took a new pontoon
I which, by a superhuman effort, wt
k managed to get across the river n sec-
’j ond time. This time we arrived with
i two dead and one wounded Infantry-
| man. Long before we reached the
I bnnk the Infantrymen Jumped Into th«
! shallow water and waded to land
Arrived
With Two Dead
Wounded.
fleers disappeared suddenly. To them
the defense of the fatherland wns the
business of a privnte. Since we had
been assigned to assist Infantry, our
officers considered themselves super
fluous nnd took French leave.
This state of affairs affects only
net "because tnis siaenrm fitoumi do
used only for the special duties which
the pioneers perform—but the law of
nntlons is not the law of Prussian mili
tarism.
We were obliged to use the saw from
the beginning of the war. It was In
“pioneer" officers who, when their I opposition to all the laws of humanity.
iWlth the two dead left In the boat, we
turned around. Our crew ached as a
result of the continuous rowing and
their hands were soon covered by blis
ters, but nevertheless we hnd to row
'.cn. There was no rest.
When we were 20 meters from the
bank, our pontoon wns hit below the
water line by severnl bullets. When
the bullets struck our boat they made
only a tiny hole, but ns It emerged on
-the bottom, It tore an opening ns large
as n plate. As n result our pontoon
nettled rapidly nnd there wns nothing
else for us to do except to Jump into
the Icy water nnd swim. Hardly had
we left the bont when It sank, but we
nil reached the other bank safe for the
moment
In spite of our wet clothing we hnd
to tnke a new bont nt once, and with
our blistered hands hnd to man the
onrs again. In the middle of the river
we collided with nnother bout This
bont hnd lost Its pilot and two rowers.
-It rammed us nnd our pontoon tipped
ever nnd 18 Infantrymen and one mem
ber of the crew were thrown Into the
water. We were saved nlong with
four men from the other pontoon nnd
taken to the left bank. Ilurdly hnd
■we landed before we were ordered to
take over a pontoon loaded with nra-
imunltlon.
About five more times we crossed
;the Meuse. Meanwhile day broke
and then a terrible battle developed
between the troops which had crossed
*nd the French. The Gertnuns hud the
I best In this encounter bccuuse th**y
•ould not be shelled by the French ar
tillery.
We were given n short rest and lay
In our wnter-sonked clothing In an old
abandoned trench shivering with cold.
Our hands were swollen to twice their
normal size. They pained so greatly
that we could not hold a bottle to our
lips. It was a terrible sight to see
young and strong men lying on the
-ground helpless and broken.
After a short rest we were ordered
4o seek for wounded In the burning
bouses but we did not find many, for
most of those who had been badly
.wounded and unable to save them
selves, were burned to death. Only
'the buttons of their uniforms and their
Weapons Indicated to us to which side
(they bad belonged.
' In some cases, there were not even
'these vestiges. Only s little heap of
•she* within the ruins of s boose, wss
•II that wss left of whole families tor
ghote streets. During the search most
pnrt In the terrible events of the last
hour, as If we hnd not seen the hor
rors of this encounter and as If we
hnd forgotten entirely the danger we
1 ad just escaped.
As to honoring the dead, something
which hnd been taught us by our moth
ers from Infancy, or a fenr which the
nvernge person feels toward n body,
there wns no sign. My pen would balk
If I tried to recall the expressions, to
describe the acts soldiers as well as of
ficers committed to determine the na
tionality or sex of the dead. In the
meantime, the bottle between our
troops nnd the French had reached o
climax. Our troops had suffered great
losses but now our turn came.
The German artillery shelled ns we
crossed the enemy’s position with
great fury. Our artillery succeeded In
silencing the enemy’s batteries und we
tried to take his high positions by
storm.
When we were within 200 meters of
the enemy’s defenses, the French ma
chine guns were turned upon us and
we were driven back with enormous
losses.
Ten minutes later, we stormed s
second time and had to retire again
with great losses. We again formed
for attack within the shelter of our
trenches, but the fighting spirit was
gone. But we dared not lose courage,
although the victims of our useless
storming attacks covered the field and
we were able to look at our dead com
rades all about us.
The artillery started up again; re
enforcements arrived; after half an
hour, we stormed a third time, over
the bodies of our fallen comrades. As
we halted about 20 meters from the
enemy’a trench, he withdrew his en
tire first line. Soon after we saw the
Germans advnnce along the whole line.
The reason for this unexpected retreat
was explained later when we learned
that the main part of the French army
had retired some time before. The
heavy toll of life among our comrades
was taken In a mere rear-guard action.
During the next hour the enemy
abandoned all the heights of the
Meuse. As we reached the crest of
these heights, we could easily over
look the roads over which the French
had retreated. They were departing In
close formation, in long columns. Our
company and others received orders
to assemble and soon we pursued the
fleeing enemy. It was our work to re
pair roads which had been destroyed
so thnt they would be passable for our
armies, a task that was harder In the
burning midday sun, owing to the fact
that the dead nnd wounded had first to
be disposed of.
The dead bodies were seized by two
men, one nt the head and the other nt
the feet, and thrown Into the ditch.
Corpses were handled exactly as wns
n board to be used In building a bridge.
Legs nnd arms were tossed likewise
Into the ditch. Dead horses nnd dam
aged batteries had to be removed. We
were not strong enough to remove dead
horses. We mnnnged to enpture a horse
which was running wild nnd hitched
him to the carcasses. Corpses hanging
In the trees were left there. No one
cared anything about them.
Canteens nnd knnpsncks of the dend
were searched for food and drink nnd
whatever we found was eaten with the
greatest relish.
French soldiers who hnd died of
sunstroke covered the road. Others
crawled to right nnd left of the road
nnd waited there for relief or death.
We did not dare to help them. The
order wus to advance and we hnd to
march on nnd on. The captain told us
we hnd to pursue the fleeing enemy
with all our strength nnd much dis
content was manifest ou receipt of this
order.
After being on our feet day nnd
night, slaying like barbarians, taking
no time to eat or rest, we continued to
receive commands to maintain the pur
suit with all haste. The captain un
derstood how we felt and tried to
pacify us by friendly conversation.
units are attached to Infantry or elms- |
seur divisions, scarcely ever take part [
In a bnttle. This wns the case with j
our officers during my whole war ca
reer. They remained fnr away from
the gunfire In comfortable security.
This Is also the case with many In
fantry captains nnd nlmost nil higher
officers. Majors, colonels, etc., never
take pnrt In a storming attack, 1 was
told, nnd several times I observed this
myself.
Our Instructions were ns follows: In
the event of n cnvnlry nttnek, every
thing must be quiet. The gun must
be pointed but hidden. The machine
gun must not be fired until the major
In command gives the order. Then
there must be n lively, quick fire. Our
batteries fired violently at a biplane
flying high over them which gave slg
nnls with star shells which were rend
only by the observer.
But the expected attack did not
come, the enemy's Infantry was not to
be seen. We prepared to resume our
march nnd were nil ready to move
when the order came to bivouac. The
6pot where we were to rest was as
usual fixed by the staff so thnt they
knew where to find us at any time.
Hardly had we reached the place when
our field kitchen, which we supposed
had been lost, appeared as if It had
come out of the ground. Those In
charge of the field kitchen had re
ceived no knowledge of our losses of
the Inst few days and had cooked for
the old number. They were greatly
surprised on seeing Instead of a brave
company of strong “pioneers,” a lot
of ragged, exhausted, crushed human
shadows. We were given soup, bread,
meat, apples and every one received a
cigarette, which was more welcome to
most of us than food and drink.
The next morning we slept until six
o’clock and even though we were lying
on the bare ground It was very hard
to wake us. Breakfast was excellent.
It consisted of mutton which had been
requisitioned, vegetables, bread, coffee,
• goblet of wine, and barn. Our cap
tain told us to eat all we could as we
had a hard d^y’s march before us.
We resumed our march at seven
o’clock. Everybody was In high spirits
and In the course of our conversations
It became apparent that we had lost
track of the time entirely. Nobody
knew whether It was Monday or
Wednesday or whether It was the fifth
or tenth of the month. This condition
became more and more general. Sol
diers never know the day of the week;
ofle Is Just like another, Saturday,
Sunday or Thursday.
We stopped to rest at noon on a
large farm but were obliged to wait
In the rain for the field kitchens. Mean
while we helped ourselves. We shot
one of the cows grazing In the meadow,
cut open the hide without bothering to
When an enemy hnd this saw in hls
breast nnd the victim hud long since
stopped every effort of resistance nnd
an effort was made to try nnd remove
the deadly steel from the wound an In
stnnt nnd horrible death resulted.
Oftentimes this horrible weapon be
came embedded In the breast of a vic
tim so firmly thnt the attacker, who
had to have back hls sidearm again
would be obliged to plnce Ills foot upon
the breast of hls victim nnd use nil hls
force to recover the murderous Instru
ment.
The dead nnd wounded In horrible
condition lay nil around us. The moans
of the wounded men would have soft
ened n stone but not the heart of a
Prussian soldier.
Not all the soldiers approved this
senseless, wanton murder. Some of
those officers who hnd ordered us to
kill the French were themselves killed
by mistake In the darkness of the night
by their own men. Suco mistakes are
still being repented almost dally nnd I
could cite many names and places to
bear out this testimony.
On this particular night a captain
and a first lieutenant met their fate. A
second-yenr Infantryman stabbed the
captain in the abdomen and the figst
lieutenant received a stab in the back.
Both died In a few minutes. Neither
of their slayers felt any remorse and
none of us felt Inclined to reproach
them. We all knew thnt two murder
ers had received their Just deserts.
Another Instance requires me to run
somewhat nhead of the sequence of
events. As I talked to a comrade of
my company the next day I asked him
for a pocketknlfe and In reaching Into
hls pocket he pulled out three car
tridges. I was surprised that he should
carry cartridges in his trouser’s pocket
and asked him If he hud no room In
bis belt
“I have," he said, “but these three
have a special mission. There are
names of the Intended victims on these
bullets."
Some time later after we had be
come good friends I asked him again
about the three cartridges. He bad
only one left I thought about It a
great deal and In my mind went over
the noncommissioned officers, who. be
fore war was declared had treated us
like animals and whom we had hated
as only human fiends can be hated.
Two of these had found their grave In
France.
The murder of Frenchmen who had
surrendered continued as long as an
enemy was alive. Then we received
orders to determine If the enemies
lying on the ground were all dead and
unable to fight If anyone was found
simulating death It was ordered that
he be killed. But the soldiers had lost
some of the fever which had seized
them during the battle and refused 4o
drain the blood from the carcass Then - obey tWs order . U ow they felt about
everybody cut off • of meat. still | it wa s Illustrated by the remark of a
warm, which was fried In a pot cover
CHAPTER V.
Not far from Sommepy, the French
rear gunrd stopped again. Four bat
terles of our artillery were brought
Into position and our company, along
with machine guns, were ordered to
protect the artillery. The artillery of
ficers did not think this sufficient pro
tection because the airplanes hod dis
covered the presence of strong French
cavalry detachments and a cavalry at
tack was suspected. However, i
stronger guard could not he provided
and there was nothing to be done but
take our position and make the best
of the situation. We dug ourselves In
to the right and left of the batteries.
In a field of small pine trees. The ma
chine guns were set up and supplied
With ammunition. We were then given
Instructions as to what to do In the
•vent of a cavalry attack. An el
Major of Infantry, with white hair,
took command. 0"r unit was placed
os behaved as if we had not taken Infantry 'it “hrpvel_ofr
or eaten raw with a little salt by a
great many of the soldiers. This kill
ing of cattle was repeated almost dally
by the soldiers acting without orders
from their superiors. As a consequence
they nil got stomach trouble from eat
ing meat which wns too fresh without
bread or vegetables. In spite of this
the practice wns continued. If a sol
dier became hungry during a pause In
the marching nnd found a pig, cow or
lamb, he shot It, cut out a piece for hls
own use, and let the rest spoil.
Under a burning midday sun we
mnrehed on amid clouds of dust, nlong
a road used by munitions columns and
other units, which never guve the dust
nn opportunity to settle. In all the
fields which we passed, fugitives had
set up their camps, where they lived
like poor homeless gypsies. Many came
up to us and begged for scraps of
bread.
We marched without resting till late
In the evening nnd at about nine
o’clock we approached the city hall
of Sommepy. lu and around Soin-
roepy a battle hud started. We were
ordered to take n pnrt of the north
west section of the city. It wns al
ready dark and once more we halted.
The fields all around us were covered
with dend. In the middle of the streets
were French batteries and munition
columns. Horses and drivers had been
killed.
After a ten-minute rest we started
again and In double-quick step ap
proached a little forest, In which dis
mounted cnvolry nnd Infantry were
engaged with the enemy in a desperate
hand-to-hand tight.
As a subterfuge we threw ourselves
Into the place with blood-curdling yells.
We succeeded In thednrkness In reach
ing the enemies' rear. Thu surprise
attack was a success end the French,
startled by our yells and by the at
tack, threw up their hands and sur
rendered. Mercy was not shown them
by the Infuriated cavalrymen.
Whenever there appeared to be any
letup of the slaughter of the disarmed
soldiers by our men. new horrors were
enacted under the commands of the
officers, who kept shouting, “No quar
ter, slaughter everybody." Such were
the orders of our distinguished offi
cers. Wa pioneers also had to take
part lu thla cold-blooded murder of un
armed men, who bad thrown down
their arms when they realized the fu
tillty of further resistance. Our ofll-
cera took care this time, as In many
earlier and later Instances, that there
should not be many prisoners taken.
The pioneer baa a sidearm which,
according to the law of nations, must
•ot be used because the hack of thla
sidearm consists of a three-millimeter
sharp steel saw. In pesos times the
nnmssn era not drilled With the DSV<v
member of ray company:
“We had better look once more and
see If the two officers are really dead
and If not they ought to be killed with
out mercy for a command is a com
mand.”
We now advanced quickly but our
part in the battle was over as the en
tire French line hnd retired to make
a fresh stand, two kilometers west of
Sommepy. The city was mostly In
flames. The enemy artillery bombard
ed the town without Intermission and
shells burst all around.
Several hundred prisoners were cor
ralled in the market plnce. Severnl
French shells struck the prisoners but
they were obliged to remain where
they were. An officer of my company,
Lieut. A. It. Neesen, remarked thnt no
harm was done ns the prisoners knew
at lenst how their own ammunition
tasted.
Toward one o’clock the bnttle south
of Sommepy reached Its climnx. When
the Germans advanced to mnke storm
ing attacks on all points the French
gave up their positions nnd retired In
the direction of Suippes. Whether our
company wns no longer considered fit
to fight or whether we were not needed
any longer I do not know. We received
orders to go Into quarters. But neither
a barn nor n stable could be found so
that nothing remnined but to camp In
the open. The houses were all filled
with wounded. Citizens of the town,
who hnd not fled were all gnthered In
a large lmrn. Their houses were most
ly destroyed so that they hnd to make
use of what shelter wns offered them.
There wns one exception to this ar
rangement and that wns a very old lit
tle motherly woman sitting, bitterly
crying, by the debris of her late home
and nobody could Induce her to leave.
In the barn, which served as a shel
ter to the civilians, were thrown to
gether men and women, youths, chil
dren and old men. Many were wound
ed by shell splinters and cartridges
and others had suffered burns. Every
where was the most terrible misery;
sick mothers and half-stnrved Infants
for whom there was no milk were
obliged to perish here; old people died
front the excitement and fright of the
previous few days and last of all men
and women In the prime of life slowly
died from wounds because there was
nobody to care tor them*
N© To»m
ggp>- wp
^SLrcs.© is* r&vJ'ly
co rcs.pl e"t© wH%o\ii
Delicious mml. Rcfre^Kirv^-
t>y •
MILLEDGEVILLE
COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
Every. 1
Vharei
rtf 0 *
BE SURE
Put your money where you know it is safe—i
You can’t find a safer place for it than in the
Merchants & Farmers Bank
i Capital, $40,000. Surplus, $85,000, |
Deposits greater than ever in its history.
97% Owners* Choice
O F all the Ajax Tires 97% are Owners’
Choice. They go to individual motorists
who insist on Ajax Tires in preference to
other tires which came sp.ci*i
with their cars.
Note, in the picture
Patents^
Fsaturm
Shoulders of Strength
They support the tread—
give it more strength where
needed—greater road en
durance. And Ajax Tires
alone can have this extra
mileage feature. It is fully
patented.
A3AX ROAD KING
'‘More Tread on the Road**
The supporting Shoulders of Strength of Ajax Road King
give it “more tread on the road”—more contact area.
That means longer life—a better grip. See, too, the big
triangle barbs. They grip the road for safety.
Let u3 tell you all about Ajax Tires and Ajax Inner Tubes. We ere
the Ajax Tire Supply Depot in this locality.
Distributor
A. W. TISDALE
Milledgeville, Ga.
“While Others Are Claiming Quality, We Are Guaranteeing It"
TEETHING
BABIES
W«.rvt
(To Be Continued Next Week)
FOR THE LEGISLATURE.
To the People of Baldwin County:
I am a candidate for the Legisla
ture subject to the rules to be made
fro the Democratic white primary. I
will greatly appreciate the vote and
support of every white citizen In the
county. KYLE T. ALFRIKND.
Baby Percy AVedicine
W' n*>
t aaitoai time for mothers sad i
IWM
wpeomotlroaat.
dotal Blau for