Newspaper Page Text
[WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 5, 1918.
THE MILLEDGEVILLE* NEWS.
MIS
Deserter
Written by a Prussian Officer%&^
; Who Participated in the Ravag^*^«.
j'fng and Pillaging of Belgium,
Copjti/hl h Detroit frtt Art*)
A~wmpany of Hessian reserves,
every one a veteran, passed with
bowed heads and tired feet. They must
have had a very long murch. Their of
ficers tried to make them move more
lively. They ordered that a song be
sting but the nesslans were not In the
mood.
"Will you sing, you pigs?” cried an
officer and the pltlful-looklng “pigs"
tried to obey this order. Faintly sound
ed from the ranks of the overtired
men: "Deutschland, Deutschland
Deber Alles, Ueber Alles In Der Welt."
Despite their broken strength, their
tired feet, disgusted and resentful,
these men sang their symphony of su
per-Germanism.
Several comrades who like myself
had watched this troop pass came to
Sitting, Bitterly Crying, by the Debris
of Her Late Home.
me and said, “Let us go to the camp
and try to sleep so that we might for
get all this."
We were hungry nnd on the way
home caught severnl chickens. We
ate them half-raw and then laid down
In the open and slept until four o’clock
In the morning when we had to be
ready to march.
Our destination on this day was
Sulppes. Before the march started the
following nrmy order was read:
“Soldiers, his majesty the emperor,
our supreme war lord, thanks the sol
diers of the Fourth army and sends to
them his full appreciation. You have
saved our beloved Germany from the
Invasion of hostile hordes. We will not
rest until the Inst enemy lies on the
ground and before the leaves full from
the trees we shall return home vic
torious. The enemy Is In full retreat
and the Almighty will bless our arms
further."
After this tnlk we gave three cheers,
something which had become routine
for us. And then we resumed our
inarch. We now had plenty of time
and opportunity to discuss the grutl-
tude expressed by the supremo war
lord. We could not make out Just what
fatherland we had to defend so far In
France. One of the soldiers expressed
the opinion that the Lord had blessed
our arms, to which another replied:
“A religious man repeating such silly
sentiments Is guilty of sacrilege, If he
6peaks seriously."
Everywhere, on the march to Sulp
pes, In the fields nnd in the ditches,
lay dead soldiers, most of them with
hideous-looking open wounds. Thou
sands of huge files swarmed on the
corpses, partly decomposed, and giv
ing off a fearful stench. Among these
corpses, unsheltered under a blazing
sun, were encamped wretched fugi
tives, because they were forbidden the
use of the roads while the armies need
ed them, which was practically all the
time.
In the evening, after a long mnrch,
we reached the town of Sulppes. Here
our captain told us we would find nu
merous frank-tlrcurs. We were or
dered to bivouac, Instead of being as
signed quarters, and all going Into the
village were obliged to take guns and
cartridges with them. After a brief
rest we entered the village In search of
food. Dead clvlllnns lay In the middle
of the streets. They were citizens of
the village. We could not learn the
reason for their having been shot The
only answer to our questions was a
shrug of the shoulder.
The village Itself had not suffered
to any noticeable degree as far as
destruction of buildings was concerned,
but never In the coiw.se of the war had
1 seen a more complete Job of plunder
ing than had been done In Sulppes.
That we had to live nnd ent Is true,
and ns the Inlmbltants anil merchants
had down - there wris no opportunity to
pay for our necessities. Therefore we
simply entered a store, put on stock
ings, laundry, nnd left the old things,
then went to another place, took what
ever food looked good to us, qnd then
proceeded to a wine cellar, there to
seize as much as our hearts desired.
The men of the ammunition column,
located In the village as well as the
sanitary soldiers and cavalry by the
hundreds, searched the houses and took
whatever they liked best The finest
and largest business places In Sulppes
served a very large rural district sur
rounding nnd therefore were stocked
up on almost everything. Within a
short time these places had been
cleaned out. The munition drivers
and train columns carried away old
pieces of silk, ladles' dresses, linens,
shoes, dress goods and every other ar
ticle Imaginable, and stored them away
In their ammunition enses. They took
children's and women's shoes, and
everything else they could lay their
hands upon, although many of these
articles hnd to be thrown away short
ly afterward. Later, when the field
post was developed and gave regular
service, many of these things were sent
home.
A large chocolate factory was rnhhed
completely, and chocolate anil candy
In heaps were trampled In the ground.
Empty houses were broken Into and
wrecked, wine cellars cleaned out and
windows smashed, the latter being a
special pastime of the cavalrymen. As
we hnd to pass the night In the open,
we tried to find some quilts and en
tered a grocery store and a market
place. The store wns partly demol
ished, but the apartment upstairs was
ns yet Intact with all the rooms locked.
It was evident that a woman’s hand
had worked In this house, for every
thing wns neat and cozy. But all this
order wns still surpassed by the ar
rangement In n large room, which ap
parently hnd been inhabited by a
young woman. We were almost
ashamed to enter the sanctuary. To
our astonishment we saw hanging on
the wall opposite the door a picture
burned In wood nnd under It a German
verse: "Honor the women, they weave
a brnld of heavenly roses In their
earthly life.” (Schiller). The owner
apparently wns a young bride, for In
the wardrobe wns a trousseau, tied
with neat blue ribbons, carefully put
nwny. All the wnrdrobe drawers lay
open. Nothing was touched here.
When we visited the snme plnce the
next morning, impelled by some Im
pulse, we fouud everything In tliht
house destroyed. Barbarians hnd gone
through this home, and with bllter
ruthlessness had devastated every
thing, with every evidence of having
utterly enst off the ethics and stand
ards of civilized races.
The entire trousseau had been torn
from the drawers and thrown partly
on the floor. Pictures, photographs,
mirrors, everything was In pieces. The
three of us who hod entered the room
clenched our fists with Impotent wrath.
We received orders to remain In
Sulppes until further notice nnd the
next day witnessed the return of many
fugitives. They came In great throngs
from the direction of Chnlons-sur-
Marne. They found Instead of the
penceful homes they had left a wretch
ed nnd deserted ruin. A furniture
dealer returned to his store, ns we
stood In front of his house. He broke
down when he viewed the remains of
his enterprise. Everything had been
taken awny. We npproached the man.
He was a Jew and spoke German.
When he calmed down a little he told
us thnt his store bud contained mer
chandise worth more than 8.000 francs.
“Bad the soldiers only tnken whnt
they needed for themselves," he suld,
"I would bo satisfied, for I did not ex
pect anything else. But I never would
have believed of the Germans that
they would have destroyed everything."
Not even a cup and saucer were
left in this man's house. He hail a
wife and five children, but had no Idea
of what had become of them. And
there were many more like him.
The following night, remaining In
Sulppes, we were again obliged to camp
In the open “because It swarmed with
frnnk-tlreurs." Such were our Instruc
tions. In reality nothing wns seen of
frnnk-tlreurs, but by this method the
enmity toward the people living In the
towns along our line of march wns
maintained. The Germans practiced
the theory that the soldiers fight bet
ter nnd are more amennble to dis
cipline when filled with hutred of their
enemies.
The next day we were obliged to
march to Clialons-sur-Marne. This
wns one of the hardest days we ever
had. From the very beginning, as we
began our Journey, the sun blazed
down upon us. It Is about 35 kilome
ters from Sulppes to Chalons-sur-
Marne. This distance would not have
been so bad, despite the heat; we had
already made longer marches; but the
beautiful road from Sulppes to Chal
ons goes with unendlne monotony with
^
Devastated Everything.
out so much as a curve" of a" bend to
the right or left As far as we could
see It stretched before us like a long
white snake.
Many spldlers fainted or were strick
en with sunstroke. They were picked
up by the Infirmary columns which fol
lowed. That the troops who had trav
ersed this road before us had fared
worse was evident from the many dead
Germans who lay along the road. The
commander feared that he could not
get the machine In motion again If It
was halted, and permitted to stretch
Its weary limbs on the ground for a
brief rest. And so it crept along like
a snail. Only, instead of having a
snail's shell on Its back, there was a
leaden burden.
The monotony of the march was
broken when we renched the enor
mous camp at Chalons. This Is one
of the largest of the French army
rumps. We saw Chalons from the dis
tance. As we halted about an hour
later outside the city In an orchard,
without a single exception every man
fell to the ground exhausted. The field
kitchens were soon brought up, but the
men were too tired to eat. We did eat
Inter and then wanted to go to town to
purchase some articles, particularly
tobacco, which we missed most. No
body was allowed to leave camp. We
were told thnt entering the city was
niare. r sprang up, nfyigulf Hi my "right
hnnd, sldenrm In my left, and ran I
ahead. I dodged two shells Just ns
they burst nnd rnn close to several
others, bursting the snme Instant. A
number of times I sprang back, then
ahead again, running to nnd fro like a
madman, seeking a loophole. But every
where there was Iron and fire. I ran
like a hunted nnlmal seeking a way to
pass to save myself, with a hell In
front of me, nnd an officer’s revolver
always ready behind.
Throwing caution to the winds,
prepared to meet death and the devil
himself, I at last ran blindly ahead;
rnn, ran, ran, until someone seized my
coat tall and shouted In my ear:
“Here we are. Are yon wounded?
Yon had better look. Perhaps you are
wounded and don’t know It."
I was among those of my comrades
who had gotten through. Trembling
all over, I stopped and looked around.
“Sit down and you will feel better,"
said one of the men. "We also have
trembled."
Presently some wounded were
brought up. There were about 48 men
and a sergeant took command. Noth
ing more was seen of our officers.
We continued to advance and passed
several German batteries. Many had
suffered heavily In dead and wounded,
which lay around their guns destroyed
by enemy fire. Other batteries still
manned were useless because no more
ammunition could be gotten through.
We paused to rest. Several artil
lerymen approached us, and a noncom
missioned officer asked them why they
did not fire.
“Because we have used up nil our
ammunition,” was the answer of one of
the battery men.
“Is It impossible to bring ammuni
tion through this barrage?"
- "No," replied the artilleryman, “but
there Is no more ammunition. That Is
why we cannot get any. At Neufcha-
teau we started like wild men after the
enemy. Man and beast died from the
heat, railroads nnd other mediums of
transportation were left In their dam
aged condition In the wild excitement
of victory, as we dashed Into the heart
of France. We raced on, blindly nnd
thoughtlessly, thereby Interrupting
communication with our bases, rnn
directly Into the trap set for us by the
French. Before the first ammunition
nnd other relief supplies reach us we
will all he killed.”
Up to this time we hnd trusted
blindly In the Invincible strategy of our
grent general staff. Now It was brought
home to us on all sides that the
French were fighting at home, close
to their greatest source of supply, and
strictly forbidden. Chalons had paid j (md excellent railroad connections at
war contribution and therefore no
one was permitted In the city.
We heard the dull sounds of the
enunon In the distance nnd suspected
that our rest would be brief. The
their disposal. Further than thnt the
French maintained a terrible artillery
fire from guns of far greater caliber
than we believed they owned. This led
us to the conclusion that they were oc-
rolllng of gunfire continued to grow i cupying positions which had been pre-
strnnger. We did not know then that | pared for a long time. Yet we believed
a fight had begun which wns destined i thnt the picture painted by the art!1-
to become fatal to the Germans.
The first day's buttle of the Marne I
hud begun 1
CHAPTER VI.
At 12 o’clock, midnight, we were j
alarmed nnd half an hour later were
on the march. The cool night air felt |
good, nnd despite our weariness, we ,
made rapid progress. Toward four
o'clock In the morning we arrived at
Cheppy. It had been completely plun- 1
dered. We halted here for a brief
rest and watched preparations being
made for the execution of two frac-
tlreurs. They were two little farmers
who had supposedly concealed a
French mnehlne gun with Its crew
from the Germans. The sentence was
executed In such a way that the peo
ple were shown who their real rulers
now were.
The little town of Pogny, located
midway between Chnlons-sur-Marne
lerymnn had been too black. We were
soon to know better.
As we approached the enemy’s
trenches, we were met with a heavy
machine gun fire, nnd In double-quick
step hurried to the temporary protec
tion of hastily thrown up dugouts. A
bard rain hnd set In. The field around
us wns covered with dead and wound
ed. Even our trench wns filled with
wounded, which mnde Its occupation
by the defenders difficult. Many of
the wounded men were paralyzed from
lying on the slimy ground. AM were
without bandages. They begged for
bread and water, but we hnd none for
ourselves. They pleaded piteously, Just
for a scrap of bread. Many of them
had Inin In this Inferno for two dnys,
without having eaten anything what
ever.
We were scarcely established when
the French attacked en masse. The oc
cupants of these trenches, whom we
hud re-enforced had already repulsed
several of these attneks. They urged
and Vitry-le-Francois, fared no bet
ter than Cheppy. a fact which we dls-1 us to shoot and fired wildly themselves
covered when we entered there at nine j Into the ranks of the advancing masses.
We responded to the exhortations of
the Infnntry officers: "Fire, fire hard-
O’clock.
We were now considerably nearer
the spot where the guns were roar- j harder 1"
lng, and retiring of wounded nnd the We fired until the barrels of our
munition columns showed us that west! guns became red-hot. The enemy
of Vitry-le-Frnncols, a terrible battle turned. The victims of our fire nl-
raged. At four o’clock in the nfter-1 ready lying in heaps In No Man’s Land
noon, we arrived at Vltry-le-Francols between our lines and the enemy’s
after a forced march. The city was
filled with wounded, hut the town It
self was not damaged. The battle must ;
have been going budly for the Germans
because we were ordered Into action ,
without being given nny rest We wero
within three kilometers of the battle
line, when we came within reach of
hostile fire, a terrific hall of shells tore
up every foot of ground. Thousands
of corpses of German soldiers Indi
cated at whnt enormous cost the Ger
mans had brought up all available re
serves. The French did everything
they could to prevent the Germans
from getting the reserves Into action
and Increased the artillery fire to un
heard-of violence. It seemed Impos
sible for ns to be able to break through
this barrage. We saw hundreds of
shells exploding every minute. We
were ordered to run the gauntlet of ,
this hell In single file. '
Lying prone upon the ground, we
snw how the first of our men at-J
tempted to pass. They ran, unmludful j
of the shells bursting around them, like
mndmen; others were buried under
ground thrown up by the hlgh-power
explosives, or torn by shrapnel or gren
ades. Two men hnd scarcely renched
the line when a well-directed shot from
a gun of a lnrge caliber burst directly '
at their feet. When the smoke cleared,!
there was no trace of the men.
You can Imagine the feelings of
those who lay on the ground not 100
feet nwny witnessing this spectacle,
and waiting their turn.
An officer cried : "Next I"
were Increased by hundreds. The at
tack was repulsed.
It Is dark, and it rains nnd rains. All
about us In the darkness ure heard
the wounded weeping, moaning, Im
ploring. Their cries are augmented
by other wounded closer by. All called
for bandages, but we hnd none left. We
tore strips from our muddy shirts and
with them covered the gaping wounds.
Men are dying constantly. There are
no doctors, no hnndnges, nothing. The
wounded must be nsslsted, but first the
French must be repulsed.
The ratn falls harder constantly nnd
we are all wet to the skin. We shoot
blindly Into the night The fluctuating
fire of musketry becomes strong, then
weaker, then strong again.
We pioneers are scattered nmojig the
Infantry. My neighbor touches me.
“Say," he cnlls.
"What do you want?" I ask. "Who
are you?"
“Come here." he hissed.
It Is eerie, alone In this devil’s night.
"Why are you here? Will you mur
der me like those over there. Soon
they will return from over there and
the fun will be on again. Do you hear
the others weep?”
(Continued on Page Three.)
One dollar and a half Is a mighty
little to any individual these pros
perous times, but when an army of
people send in their subscriptions to
the county paper the aggregate ma K es
It was things hum and gives encouragement
• »m- r;; a »T; k i!:j “"iS's.jss; is
right now.
of Strength'
They Are Mile Makers
Q^EE the rugged supporting shoulders on either side
of the Ajax tread. These give more strength where
strength is needed. Ajax Shoulders of Strength are
fully patented—no other tire can have them. They
mean more tire value to you.
A3AK ROAD KING
On the road, competing with other tires, AJAX ROAD KING—
monarch in quality, democrat in service—gives proof of its supe
riority. Note Ajax Road King’s triangle barbs. They hold the
road—that means safely.
97% Owners* Choice
Of Ajax total output, this great percentage is the choice of owners
over other tires that came with their cars. Equip with Ajax Tires.
Use Ajax Tubes. Come in and lWs talk Ajax quality.
Distributor
A. W. TISDALE
Miilcdgeville, Ga.
P
’“While Other* Are Claiming Quality, We Are Guaranteeing It'
—A
YOU KNOW—That the day af the LOG house, la past
YOU KNOW—That the day of the FRAME houaa la paaalng.
YOU KNOW—That the day of the BRICK house Is right now.
YOU KNOW—That BRICK residence, Imparta a certain dlatlne* 10 "
to the owner.
YOU DON’T KNOW—How little It coate to have walls of Brick.
ASK US—YOU will be surprised.
MILLEDGEVILLE BRICK WORKS CO
J. W. McMillan, Pres. R. W. McMillan, V.-Pres