In the Russian Ranks: A Soldier's Account of the Fighting in PolandMorse, John
History
In the Russian Ranks: A Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland
Morse, John
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Poland; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
This horror was not comparable to what we witnessed when we arrived at
the spot where the artillery slaughter had taken place. The ground was
covered with dark patches--blood blotches. Fragments of flesh, arms,
legs, limbs of horses, and scattered intestines, lay everywhere about
that horrible "first position." On the ground lay a human eye and within
an inch or two of it, a cluster of teeth; all that remained of some poor
head that had been dashed away. Where the body was that had owned these
relics did not appear. The force of impact had probably driven them
yards and yards; and it was a mere chance that they met my view. Close
to one of our guns, too badly broken to be worth carrying away by the
enemy, were two brawny hands, tightly clasping the handle of the sponge
with which their owner had been cleaning the piece when they had been
riven from his body. The man was close by, a mere mass of smashed flesh
and bones, with thousands of beastly flies battening on his gore, as
they were on that of all the corpses. The sight was unbearable. Sick and
nearly fainting, I had to lean against a broken waggon to recover
myself.
Our wounded had been murdered. There could be no question of that. For
we had not left any behind who were capable of fighting, yet a dozen had
been finished off by bayonet wounds--and German bayonets make awful
jagged wounds because their weapons have saw-backs.
One bayoneted gunner was not quite dead. At long intervals--about a
minute it seemed to me--he made desperate efforts to breathe; and every
time he did so bubbles of blood welled from the wound in his breast, and
a horrible gurgling sound came from both throat and breast. There were
two doctors in our party, but they looked at each other, and shook their
heads when they examined this miserable man. Nothing could be done for
him except to place him in a more comfortable position. War is hellish.
We found another of our men alive. His plight was so terrible that it
was hardly worth while to increase his suffering by carrying him away.
We did so: but he died before we had gone two versts. On that part of
the field which the Germans had been compelled to cross without waiting
to carry out their fell work, we found more survivors, and took back a
dozen, of whom three were Germans. There happened to be no Red Cross men
with our division just then; but we sent them to the rear in empty
provision waggons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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