America's War for Humanity Part 28

NIGHT BATTLE DESCRIBED BY SOLDIER

The following narrative of a night engagement during the prolonged battle of the Marne is quoted from a French soldier's letter to a compatriot in London:

"Our strength was about 400 infantrymen. Toward midnight we broke up our camp and marched off in great silence, of course not in closed files, but in open order. We were not allowed to speak to each other or to make any unnecessary noise, and as we walked through the forest the only sound to be heard was that of our steps and the rustling of the leaves.

It was a perfectly lovely night; the sky was so clear, the atmosphere so pure, the forest so romantic, everything seemed so charming and peaceful that I could not imagine that we were on the warpath, and that perhaps in a few hours this forest would be aflame, the soil drenched by human blood, and the fragrant herbs covered with broken limbs.

"Yet all those silent, armed men, marching in the same direction as I did, were ever so many proofs that no peace meeting or any delightful romantic adventure was near, and I wondered what thoughts were stirring all those brains. Suddenly a whisper pa.s.sed on from man to man. It was the officer's command. A halt was made, and in the same whisper we were told that part of us had to change our direction so that the two directions would form a V. A third division proceeded slowly in the original direction.

COMMANDS ARE WHISPERED

"I belonged to what may be called the left leg of the V. After what seemed to be about half an hour, we reached the edge of the forest, and from behind the trees we saw an almost flat country before us, with here and there a tiny little hill, a mere hump four or five feet high. On the extreme left-hand side the land seemed to be intersected by ditches and trenches.

"Another whispered command was pa.s.sed from man to man, and we all had to lie down on the soil. A moment afterward we were thus making our way to the above-mentioned ditches and trenches. It is neither the easiest nor the quickest way to move, but undoubtedly the safest, for an occasional enemy somewhere on the hills at the farther end of the field would not possibly be able to detect us. I don't know how long it took us to reach the ditches, which were, for the greater part, dry; nor do I know how long we remained there or what was happening. We were perfectly hidden from view, lying flat down on our stomachs, but we were also unable to see anything. Everybody's ears were attentive, every nerve was strained.

The sun was rising. It promised to be a hot day.

FIRST SHOT IS HEARD

"Suddenly we heard a shot, at a distance of what seemed to be a mile or so, followed by several other shots. I ventured to lift my body up in order to see what was happening. But the next moment my sergeant, who was close by me, warned me with a knock on my shoulder not to move, and the whispered order ran, 'Keep quiet! Hide yourself!' Still, the short glance had been sufficient to see what was going on. Our troops, probably those who had been left behind in the forest, were crossing the plain and shooting at the Germans on the crest of the hill, who returned the fire.

"The silence was gone. We heard the rushing of feet at a short distance; then, suddenly, it ceased when the attacking soldiers dropped to aim and shoot. Some firing was heard, and then again a swift rush followed. This seemed to last a long time, but it was broken by distant cries, coming apparently from the enemy. I was wondering all the time why we kept hidden and did not share in the a.s.sault.

"The rifle fire was incessant. I saw nothing of the battle. Would, our troops be able to repulse the Germans? How strong were the enemy! They seemed to have no guns, but the number of our soldiers in that field was not very large.

ATTACKED WITH BAYONETS

"A piercing yell rose from the enemy. Was it a cry of triumph? A short command rang over the field in French, an order to retreat. A swift rush followed; our troops were being pursued by the enemy. What on earth were we waiting for in our ditches? A bugle signal, clear and bright. We sprang to our feet, and 'At the bayonet!' the order came. We threw ourselves on the enemy, who were at the same time attacked on the other side by the division which formed the other 'leg' of the V, while the 'fleeing' French soldiers turned and made a savage attack.

"It is impossible to say or to describe what one feels at such a moment.

I believe one is in a state of temporary madness, of perfect rage. It is terrible, and if we could see ourselves in such a state I feel sure we would shrink with horror.

"In a few minutes the field was covered with dead and wounded men, almost all of them Germans, and our hands and bayonets were dripping with blood. I felt hot spurts of blood in my face, of other men's blood, and as I paused to wipe them off, I saw a narrow stream of blood running along the barrel of my rifle.

"Such was the beginning of a summer day."

SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Writing from Sezanne a few days after the battle of the Marne a visitor to the battlefield described the conditions at that time as follows:

"The territory over which the battle of the Marne was fought is now a picture of devastation, abomination and death almost too awful to describe.

"Many sons of the fatherland are sleeping their last sleep in the open fields and in ditches where they fell or under hedges where they crawled after being caught by a rifle bullet or piece of sh.e.l.l, or where they sought shelter from the mad rush of the franc-tireurs, who have not lost their natural dexterity with the knife and who at close quarters frequently throw away their rifles and fight hand to hand.

"The German prisoners are being used on the battlefield in searching for and burying their dead comrades. Over the greater part of the huge battlefield there have been buried at least those who died in open trenches on the plateaus or on the high roads. The extensive forest area, however, has hardly been searched for bodies, although hundreds of both French and Germans must have sought refuge and died there.

The difficulty of finding bodies is considerable on account of the undergrowth.

"Long lines of newly broken brown earth mark the graves of the victims.

Some of these burial trenches are 150 yards long. The dead are placed shoulder to shoulder and often in layers. This gives some idea of the slaughter that took place in this battle.

"The peasants, who are rapidly coming back to the scene, are marking the grave trenches with crosses and planting flowers above or placing on them simple bouquets of dahlias, sunflowers and roses.

FOUGHT ON BEAUTIFUL CHATEAU LAWNS

"Some of the hottest fighting of the prolonged battle took place around the beautiful chateau of Mondement, on a hill six miles east of Sezanne.

This relic of the architectural art of Louis XIV occupied a position which both sides regarded as strategically important.

"To the east it looked down into a great declivity in the shape of an immense Greek lamp, with the concealed marshes of St. Sond at the bottom. Beyond are the downs and heaths of Epernay, Rheims and Champagne, while the heights of Argonne stand out boldly in the distance. To the west is a rich agricultural country.

"The possession of the ridge of Mondement was vital to either the attackers or the defenders. The conflict here was of furnace intensity for four days. The Germans drove the French out in a terrific a.s.sault, and then the French guns were brought to bear, followed by hand-to-hand fighting on the gardens and lawns of the chateau and even through the breached walls.

"Frenchmen again held the building for a few hours, only to retire before another determined German attack. On the fourth day they swept the Germans out again with sh.e.l.l fire, under which the walls of the chateau, although two or three feet thick, crumpled like paper."

The same correspondent described evidences on the battlefields of how abundantly the Germans were equipped with ammunition and other material.

He saw pyramid after pyramid of shrapnel sh.e.l.ls abandoned in the rout, also innumerable paniers for carrying such ammunition. These paniers are carefully constructed of wicker and hold three sh.e.l.ls in exactly fitting tubes so that there can be no movement.

The villages of Oyes, Villeneuve, Chatillon and Soizy-aux-Bois were all bombarded and completely destroyed. Some fantastic capers were played by the sh.e.l.ls, such as blowing away half a house and leaving the other half intact; going through a window and out by the back wall without damaging the interior, or going a few inches into the wall and remaining fast without exploding.

Villeneuve, which was retaken three times, was, including its fine old church, in absolute ruins.

A SERIES OF BATTLES

The battle line along the Marne was so extended that the four-days'

fighting from Sunday, September 6, to Thursday morning, September 10, when the Germans were in full retreat, comprised a series of b.l.o.o.d.y engagements, each worthy of being called a battle. There were hot encounters south of the Marne at Crecy, Montmirail and other points. At Chalons-sur-Marne the French fought for twenty-four hours and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. General Exelmans, one of France's most brilliant cavalry leaders, was dangerously wounded in leading a charge.

There was hard fighting on September 7 between Lagny and Meaux, on the Trilport and Crecy-en-Brie line, the Germans under General von Kluck being compelled to give way and retire on Meaux, at which point their resistance was broken on the 9th.

General French's army advanced to meet the German hosts with forced marches from their temporary base to the southeast of Paris.

The whole British army, except cavalry, pa.s.sed through Lagny, and the incoming troops were so wearied that many of them at the first opportunity lay down in the dust and slept where they were.

But a few hours' rest worked a great change, and a little later the British troops were following the German retreat up the valley with bulldog tenacity.

The British artillery did notable work in those days, according to the French military surgeons who were stationed at Lagny. At points near there the bodies of slain Germans who fell before the British gunners still littered the ground on September 10, and the grim crop was still heavier on the soil farther up the valley, where the fighting was more desperate.

As far as possible the bodies were buried at night, each attending to its own fallen.

MANY SANGUINARY INCIDENTS

Sanguinary incidents were plentiful in the week of fighting to the south of the Marne. In an engagement not far from Lagny the British captured thirty Germans who had given up their arms and were standing under guard when, encouraged by a sudden forward effort of the German front, they made a dash for their rifles. They were cut down by a volley from their British guards before they could reach their weapons.

"Among dramatic incidents in the fighting," according to an English correspondent, "may be mentioned the grim work at the ancient fishponds near Ermenonville. These ponds are shut in by high trees. Driving the enemy through the woods, a Scotch regiment hustled its foes right into the fishponds, the Scotchmen jumping in after the Germans up to the middle to finish them in the water, which was packed with their bodies."

This scene is ill.u.s.trated on another page.

VAST GRAVEYARD AT MEAUX

Some idea of how the Germans were hara.s.sed by artillery fire during their retreat was obtained on a visit to the fields near Meaux, the scene of severe fighting. The German infantry had taken a position in a sunken road, on either side of which were stretched in extended lines hummocks, some of them natural and some the work of spades in the hands of German soldiers.

The sunken road was littered with bodies. Sprawling in ghastly fashion, the faces had almost the same greenish-gray hue as the uniforms worn.

The road is lined with poplars, the branches of which, severed by fragments of sh.e.l.ls, were strewn among the dead. In places whole tops of trees had been torn away by the artillery fire.