Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY MORNING. Jl’NE 12. 1918.
THE MILLEDGEVILLE' NEWS.
Suddenly there was turned loose
upon us the (Ire from a multitude of
machine cutis. We threw ourselves on
the ground and hunted cover. An in
stant Inter we again sprang tip and
continued our march. Once more we
encountered destruction. By this time
we had lost almost a third of our men
and, exhausted, we halted.
Scarcely had we taken a position be
fore we were attacked from the front
and flank. We no longer hail an ade
quate force to successfully resist this
double blow, ns the enemy, In greatly
superior numbers, hud practically
crushed our force. The left wing was
completely cut off and we saw our men
throw up their hands and surrender.
We who were In the center were un
able to come to their assistance; our
ranks wore being decimated from min
ute to minute.
“Revenge for Sommepy," sounded In
my ears.
The right wing broke and carried us
with it In a wild flight. Direct retreat
had been cut ofT for us, so we ran
backward across an open field, each
man for himself, with a heart bursting
with horror and fear ns the result of
the enemy’s murderous fire.
After running a long time we reached
a hamlet northwest of Vitry-le-Fran
cois. Without guns, helmets, or knap
sacks, the few who had been able to
save themselves gnthcred here.
As a result of this battle the French
acquired a large amount of booty. All
the guns which had been the center of '
so much bitter fighting were lost. Of
the hundreds upon hundreds of sol
diers who participated In the battle,
scarcely 100 were left The others
wsre all dead, wounded or missing.
This Is what was done to the Invincible
war machine by the French people,
who, before the struggle, we had brand
ed as cowardly and degenerate I
” CHAPTER VIII.
We now tried to gather by com
panies. Of our own company only 12
men remained. Presently others strag
gled In until there were 20 of us as
sembled. There Is eager questioning
everywhere as each mnn attempts to
learn about his comrade or acquaint
ance. Few questions can be answered,
however, as each man had thought
only of himself In that flight.
Driven by hunger we approached
the village. The first thing we did
was to hasten to the wells and drink.
We drnnk ns If we wanted to fill our
selves up with enough water to Inst us
the rest of our lives. Only here nnd
there were we able to find anything to
eat. A few beets were left In the gar
dens nnd we nte them eagerly, without
waiting to wash or clean them.
Where is our company? Nobody
knows. We are the company, we 20
men. And our officers. "Somewhere
surely.” said a soldier, "somewhere In
a bomb-proof corner."
But what were we to do? No one
could decide. Presently a noncommis
sioned officer of the field gendarmes
approached on horseback. It Is the
duty of this particular class of defend
ers of the fatherland to round up
slackers behind the front.
"You are pioneers," he called to os
roughly. “What are you doing here?"
Then he asked us Innumerable ques
tions, which we answered as well as
we could.
“Where are the others?" he asked.
"Over there,” said a young Berlin
soldier, and pointed to the battlefield.
"The others are dead or perhaps
prisoners. Several others have man
aged to snve themselves and are some
where, perhaps."
"Never mind," the noncommissioned
officer said roughly. The conversation
hud become disagreeable to him. "Walt
here, until f come back. Where arc
the officers?"
Again no one could answer. "What
are their names? I shall find them.
Perhnps they are In Vltry."
We told him the names of our offi
cers. lie gave us Identification papers
so thnf we might he able to prove to
others Inquiring why we were waiting
where we were.
"I hope his horse falls and he breaks
his neck,” said one of our men.
We entered one of the houses which
had been robbed, as were all the others,
threw ourselves down upon the mat
tresses to sleep, sleep, sleep. How
long we slept no ona knew. We only
knew that It was night and that some
of our company had aroused us. These
were newcomers who had been hunting
for ns for s long time.
"Gome along. The captain Is out
side and he Is very angry. Hs has
gathered 17 of his men together and Is
cursing like the very devil because he
could not locate you.”
Sleepy, nnd entirely Indifferent to the
future, we left the building. We knew
thnt we would be sent into action
again but no longer cared. I bad never
before seen among a body of soldiers
such nn atmosphere of absolute Indif
ference.
We came upon the captain. He saw
us approach minus our hendgear, our
uniforms torn Into shreds und without
guns and knapsacks.
“Why are you running around here?’
he roared. Thnt was our reception.
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Nobody answered. Nobody cared.
Nothing could lie worse than what we
had been through, hut although every
one among us felt keenly the injustice
of the captain's attitude we all re
mained silent.
“Where Is your equipment?—Lost—
r.ost—. This has been a nice business.
Tin* state equips jou, you rebel. If all
were like you—’’
He raved on for a while after this
fashion, this brave fellow, who, without
any action on his own part permitted
the rebels to retreat while he defend
ed his fatherland In \itry, 4.20 kilo
meters behind the battle line.
We selected guns from those lying
around its in heaps and soon were
ready to fight again.
We stood around half asleep, lean
ing on our guns, and waited to be led
once more to the slaughter. A shot
fell in our midst. It struck a color
sergeant nnd smashed his right h ind,
lie cried out from the pain. Ills hand
was quickly bandaged. lie was the
first.
An eyewitness told us how this had
happened. He had rested his hand on
the gun barrel In the same manner
as did all the others except that his ■
hand partly covered the muzzle. The 1
orders provide thnt the gun he locked 1
if loaded. Turning to the color ser- j
geant, who was writhing with pain,
the cnptnln ronred at him: “I shall
report you for punishment for your |
gross carelessness and for mutilating
yourself In the field." ,
The color sergeant, a noncommls- j
sinned officer, realized that his military
career was at an end. We all felt for
him. During the months preceding this
Incident he had always associated him
self with the privates.
We never learned whether he was
brought before a court-martial. Pun
ishment for self-mutilation was a dally
event and mnny gevere sentences were
pronounced and then made known to
all the others to serve as a deterring
example. The color sergeant's place
was conferred upon another, after
which the captain disappeared once
more In the direction of Vltry.
We marched away and halted at a
point northwest of the village. Here
we met other pioneer* who had been
gathered together from various bat
talions and our unit was once more
brought up to 85 men. The officer*
told us that we would not enter the
ha tile today. Onr only duty for the
time being was to keep the bridge*
over the Marne In good condition for
the German troopa fighting on the
other side, so that they could be used
In case the battle went against us.
We then marched to our destination,
which was at the point where the
Saulx flows Into the Marne.
We reached onr destination about
six o'clock In the morning. The dead
lay around In heaps everywhere. We
were camping on a wooded height
and could overlook the country for
many kilometers In all directions. We
saw shrapnel bursting by the thou
sands. Little could be seen of the
men who were fighting despite the fact J
thnt many divisions were locked In a
death struggle.
Presently we saw the fighting line.
The Germans were about two kilome
ters behind the Mnme, which flowed
by directly In front of ns, German
cuvalry In great numbers was en
camped along the banks of the river.
Two temporary bridges In a very dilap
idated condition constructed of what
ever materials were at hand were lo-
cate'd nenr us. Preparations had been
made to blow theta up with thousands
of pounds of dynamite. The electric
fuses had been strung to the point
where we were located and It was up
to us to manipulate the switches. Con
nected with the battle line by tele
phone, we were in n position to destroy
the bridges at a moment’s notice.
The fighting became more lively.
We saw the French rush to attack nnd
retire again. The fire of musketry In
creased and the attacks became more
frequent. This continued for more
than two hours.
We saw the French continuing to
bring up re-enforcements constantly
despite the German artillery lira.
After on extended pause the French
made another ullnck, employing sev
eral different kinds of formations.
Each time the waves of offensive
troops were forced hack. At three
o'clock In the afternoon, under a blow
which contained the full power of
France, our troops were forced to re
tire, first slowly, then In wild flight.
The exhausted Germans could not he
rallied In the face of this blow. With
The Fighting Became Mor* Lively.
wild confusion all tried at the same
time to reach the bridges beyond
which Iny safety.
At this Instnnt the rnvalry which
had taken cover along the river hank
galloped to the bridge position. In n
moment the bridge was covered with
human bodies, all racing for the op
posite hank. We could see this tem
porary structure trembling under this
enormous burden.
Our officer saw the situation nnd he
nervously pressed the telephone re
ceiver to his left ear. Ills right hand
was on the switch. Breathlessly he
stared at the fleeing masses. “If only
the telephone connections had not been
broken,” he muttered to himself. lie
knew as well as all the rest of us that
he was to net on the Instnnt that the
curt order came over the wire.
It was not much that he had to do.
Merely make a movement of his hands.
Masses of troops continued to rush
across the bridge until more than half
were safely over. The bridge further
above was not In such great demand,
and with the lessened congestion al
most all who crossed here were
already safe. We could see how the
first of the French units had crossed,
but the bridge continued to stand.
The sergeant who manned the appa
ratus at this bridge becume restless
waiting for orders, nnd finally on his
own initiative blew it up. Some
Frencbtnen and hundreds of Germnns
upon the bridge found their graves In
the Mnme.
At the same moment the officer
standing next to me received the order
to blow up the last bridge. He hesi
tated to obey, for he could atlll see
many Germans on the other side. Ha
could see the race for the road lending
to the bridgehead as all sought safety
at the same instant. There a terrible
panic reigned. Many soldiers Jumped
Into the river and tried to swim across.
The pressure became greater as the
thousands still on the other side tried
to get back.
T-ie message over the wire became
more and more Insistent. Finally the
officer sprang up, rushed by the pio
neer standing at the apparatus and a
second later there was a terrible deto
nation—bridge and men were thrown
Into the air hundreds of meters. Just
as a river at high tide races along,
taking with It all manner of debris, so
the surface of the Marne was covered
with wood, men, torn uniforms and
horses. Efforts to swim were futile,
yet soldiers continued to jump Into the
river.
On the other side the French began
to disarm such German soldiers as
stood there with raised hands. Thou
sands of prisoners. Innumerable horses
and machine guns fell Into the hands
of the enemy. Several of our company
were Just about to retire with the
electric apparatus when something de
veloped which certain of our number
had suspected. An error had been
made and It was too late to rectify It.
The upper bridge, which had not
been used to any groat extent by the
Germans, should have been left stand-
Ingl
It had been the purpose of the staff
In command to leave this bridge so
thnt the enemy might continue Its pur
suit of our troops until a certain num
ber of Frenchmen had crossed the
river. The plan was to permit enough
Frenchmen to puss so that they could
he taken prisoner, yet, not too large
it force, lest it might prove a menace
to the German arms.
After these hostile troops had
crossed, the plan was to destroy the
bridge to prevent their being re
enforced. That was why the sergeant
manning this switch had been kept
waiting for the order to blow up the
bridge. But the sergeant In the ex
citement nnd confusion thought that
the cable to which bis phone was con
nected had been disconnected nnd blew
up the bridge on his own Initiative
while It was crowded by Frenchmen
nnd long before the enemy could have
hud an opportunity to cut that cable.
At the same time the officer at the
switch connected with the explosives
] under the second bridge received his
orders. lie afterwards said that the
j order he received was hard to make
t out and that he had lost his presence
I of mind and threw in the switch,
I thereby killing thousands on the bridge
nnd leaving many other thousands to
( the mercy of the enemy.
Before there was time for more Im
pressions our entire unit was ordered
to Vltry to he assembled in front of
the cathedral. With a suit of relief
we hurried away, for the Frem-h ar
tillery began once more to send shells
with much accuracy over the entire
countryside. Wounded men from other
detachments whom we passed on the
road told us that the French had al
ready crossed the Marne in several
different places. Everyone among us
voiced the same opinion. Wo had al
ready sustained great losses on Bel
Rinn soil and each day brought new
sacrifices. Onr lines became thinner
nnd thinner. Many companies were
entirely destroyed and all units suf
fered heavily. These eompanles whose
forces had been reduced to a minimum
nnd with the survivors half starved
Were opposed by an army well
equipped with supplies and anus. The
enemy constantly brought up fresh
troops while our forces became fewer
from hour to hour. We realized that
It wns Impossible to make a stand
here. We were constantly learning
from soldiers of other contingents that
their losses In men and materials were
enormous.
I thought of the God of the Gor
mans. Had he forsaken them?
I thought It so loud that the others
could hear.
"Yes." said another, "whom the
Lord wishes to punish Is first stricken
with blindness. Probably he-thought
of Belgium Do
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Merchants & Farmers Ban
I Capital, $40,000. Surplus, $85,'
leptiiti greater than ever in its history.
Solppoo, and atlll many bfhsr'pflint
and let ns ran into thU perdition Hke
flying fiends."
Wo reached Vltry. Her* the misery
seemed to be still greater than ever
before, for In the entire town there
was not a single house that was not
overcrowded with wounded. In the
midst of all this misery robbery flour
ished. All residences had been emp
tied of their furnishings aid every
thing w-as thrown Into the streets to
make room for the wounded.
The sanitary squads went over the
tnwu and took everything of any value.
The munition and railroad columns
followed the same practice. They had
plenty of room for plunder. This wns
amply proven by numerous seizures
afterward of parcels put In the mall,
which contained gold rings, watches,
precious stones, etc. The business of
the marauders flourished here in Vltry.
The soldiers In the supply columns en
countered very little netunl danger;
they had an easy time as compared
with soldiers fighting at the front.
W e soon reached the cathedral and
reported to Lieutenant Elm. He also
hud defended his fatherland nt n safe
distance nnd here In the city, freshly
shaved and In Immaculate attire he
looked very presentable.
Tkt! contrast was vivid ns he stood
before us who were torn, dirty nnd cov
ered with blood, with unkempt hiilr,
with hoards grown and caked with
mud and dirt.
We were obliged to wait so we sat
down nnd looked around us. The
church wns full of wounded; many
filed under the hnnds of the doctors.
They were curried out to make room
for others. The dead were carried to
one side, where whole rows of corpses
lay. We counted more than sixty.
On our way to Vltry we had begged
j some bread, hut we were still hungry
nnd our field kitchens were nowhere In
sight. The crews of our field kitchens
as well ns our forage officers and non
commissioned officers prefer to defend
their fatherland many kilometers be
hind the battle fronts. They did not
er.re about us ns long 11s they were
not obliged to go within range of the
artillery lire. Comradeship has its
limitations with them.
Other field kitchens were near by.
They had prepared more food than
their companies needed. Many for
whom they had cooked will never eat
again. Me were Invited to come and
get whatever we wanted.
Wo had scarcely finished eating
when we had to march
we were Joined by more mi
our company. Our captain
One of our officers reported
number missing. He steppe
of the company and laid
“Good morning, men," althou|
seven o’clock In the evening,
was the only response. We
ordered to go to the wagon*
at the north side of the to'
each man wns to supply hi;
cartridges nnd three hand
We gathered at the wagon
o'clock and each man took
trtdges, his three grenadea nn
to light them. On the way
one we saw everywhere torn
Ing hastily organized from
dlers nnd we received the
of some great activity In p
The rain bud begun to
rents. As we took our pine
tbe streets filled with troo]
special uniforms to proi
ngntnst the wenther. The*
consisted of u stilt of we
clothing, a cap, such bnyyaf
be taken on a march, n lent
sticks, dishes and, with th*
trench tools. Thus cqull'l" 11
in the rain nnd walled, ii
what lay before us.
We wore ordered in tnta
locks out of the gtm* nn( '
in our bread hags. Tli
wore no good for shooting
began to understand wlmt
us. A night attack was pi
bayonets and hand grennd
measures which had hen 1
taken so tTinf we would a
one another in the dafkiu's:
We stood attil waited tit
o’clock, when the order sad
to go Into quarters. Med"
wlmt to make of tLH aft
preparations. Wo could t"
drum lire nnd the rod glare
that the bottle hnd not 1
violence. The sky glowed,
by the burning villages ami
(Continued on P-"3e ’
-V atgmKmsUI
if there ever w..s a e ^
citizen sh.iiild read ms y
It is now. when c'" 1
t: sw condiiions ana 1 n
of the newspnpet ’ ;
of disseminating pu
The News Is the
Baldwin county -
Milledgoville. and
t his immediate >' 11 ,
ly than any Other men
"
YOU KNOW—That the day of the LOG house, Is past.
YOU KNOW—That the day of the FRAME house is P as!,n3 '
YOU KNOW—That the day of the BRICK house is right new
YOU KNOW—That BRICK residonce, imparts a certain **•
to the owner.
... nf BH 6
YOU DON'T KNOW—How little It costs to have w»b* 0
ASK US—YOU will be surprised.
VIILLEDGEVILLE BRICK WORKS
J. W. McMillan, Pres. R. W. McMillan. '•
dglunb.Dnn 1 j & mmepy and ^