THE BRAVEST TREMBLES

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 507, 9 February 1915, Page 7

THE BRAVEST TREMBLES

EXTRACT FROM DIARY OF GERMAN. VIVID PICTURES OF HORRORS OF FIELD. In the following further despatch " Eyewitness" gives interesting excerpts from diaries of German soldiers : — November 21. — The following is a collection of extracts from the diaries of German soldiers. Except the last two, they have no special bearing on the present phase of the operations, for they refer to a period which has now passed ; but they throw some light on the different aspects of the actual fighting, and may, therefore, be of interest to those who have no first-hand experience. They throw light also upon the psychological side of warfare and upon the manner m which their experiences affect the more impressionable of the men engaged. In this connection the effect produced by shell fire on the minds of the writers is somewhat remarkable, though their estimates of the losses suffered may be over the mark. Those of us m the field are sufficiently uncharitable to derive comfort from any revelation of the success of our operations, whether it be m the nature of the actual damage inflicted or of the depression caused thereby. — A Picture of Horror ! — From the diary of a man of the 9th Jager Battalion : "We got our ( ? machine) guns into position, but did not fire, as we were informed that it was our 114 th Infantry Regiment that was shooting at us. It was only by sounding the ' Wacht am Rhein' that we were able to bring the fellows to their senses. The enemy s artillery fire was now directed more to the left. Our regiment began to retire. How the shells followed us! One exploded three yards from our gun carriage and showered earth all over us, but did no further damage. Another dropped just m front and wounded two men mortally, and then a third exploded 20 yards ahead, right m the middle of a column, killing 12 men outright. A horrible sight! We were retiring on the village of St. Pol. Luckily the enemy's fire did not follow us here, for there would certainly have been > a panic. One company leader, Lieutenant Fuchs, was killed by a piece of 6hell, and our captain is now the only officer we have left. • — Howitzers Smashed. — "On this day our position was litei'ally plastered by the heavy French naval guns. One projectile fell m a trench, killing nine men and wounding several others severely. Another fell m a trench of the 10th Company with the same deadly effect. An enormous shell exploded near the 11th Company trench, destroying 15 yards of it and burying some 12 men. One of the howitzer batteries of the 30th Artillery Regiment suffered very severely. Two of its guns were hit and broken up. At the end of the day we all felt very bad. The 142 nd Regiment, lying to the right of us, suffered very much, and had to keep on withdrawing, as shell after shell was falling right m its trenches and the iron were absolutely exhausted. When (' :1s are dropping m front, behind, to 1 : right, and to the left, to remain m sue , 3 continually m expectation of death w injury, without being able to make any resistance, and to hear the screams of wounded who cannot be attended to m the narrow trenches, is a sensation which can be appreciated only by those who have experienced it." — Heavy Losses. — From a letter of a gunner of the Field Artillery (20-10-14), No. 11 : "On the 26th September a French aviator dropped a bomb on Cambrai, killing four Landwehr men and tearing off the arm of the paymaster. On the 29th we were again sent to Verdun,- south of Arlon. ... On j the 4th October, m Mons, thence to Lille. On October 8 our second battery suffered heavy losses at Dulle ( ?), losing seven men and 19 horses. On the 11th we did not come into action, but took 20 prisoners." — Terrible Retreat. — From a letter of a man of the 9th Jager Battalion (21-10-14) : "We reached Per - onne on the 27th September. We were then ordered to march on Combre (?), m the Amiens district. We were attached to the Cavalry Division, to support it, and also to cover the flank of the Guard Division. On the sth October we reached Lens, and on the 7th took up a position at Jeuer. The enemy shelled us so heavily all day that Lieutenant B. gave the order td retire at 4 p.m., and we lost touch of • the other companies. We retreated under terrible rifle and shell fire, and had hardly arrived under cover when our captain drove us out again to our old position. The fire was so heavy on our return that I was surprised that we got there at all ; it was so terrible that} one could imagine hell had opened up and was pouring fire out of a thousand .craters. I spent the most terrible hours of my life that day. The awful bombardment contined, our artillery not being able to give us any protection. At noon the next day we were forced to retire. This movement took place under still heavier artillery and machine gun fire. How I survived is a wonder." — Like a Slaughter-house. — From the diary of a Bavarian non-com-missioned officer (31-8-14) : "We suffered terribly from the enemy's artillery. The village is m ruins, and is like a slaughterhouse; dead horses, bodies oi men torn to bits, pools of blood — a picture of horror. The bth. G Regiment 'is inarching up to relieve us. This regiment has already been decimated m the fighting of a day or two ago." 5-9-14 : " The enemy direct a hellish shell fire against us and our artillery, one battery is destroyed, and. ammunition waggon on fire; wounded are crying out. Even the bravest trembles. My men teli their rosaries continually. Only One Above can help us. Yesterday one of our sections was, surprised by the enemy and almost annihilated. On,fy ( - two men survive." - . ... 8-10-14: "We are now • near the town of Arras; m -the north-west of France. I am now leader (as sergeant) of my company, as all our officers have either been killed or wounded. We have suffered terrible losses during the last few days. Yesterday I was nearly killed, a bullet hitting my belt buckle." —Shelled by British.— From a letter of. a man of the 246 th Reserve Regiment (XXVIIth . Reserve Corps): — "On the 24th October we were ordered to 'be ready for an assault before dawn. We had hardly advanced 500 yds when we were met by a terrific shell fire from the English. When we were collected again Ij found what an awful ( dis- ' aster had overtaken us. Of our battalion ' scarcely 80 men came through." [Note. — This apparently refers to one of the preliminary attacks m the neighborhood of Ypres.] From a. letter of a man of the 242 n d: Reserve Regiment of the same corps: — ; "The shooting of the English artillery is marvellous. They get the right range arid direction every shot, and place each' shell within a yard of the previous one. They, must foe wonderfully} well informed

of our movements. I don't know whether the intelligence is obtained by their aeroplanes, which are always hovering over us, or whether they have telephones behind our lines."