Kelly of the Foreign Legion: Letters of Légionnaire Russell A. Kelly — John Shaqi
Kelly of the Foreign Legion: Letters of Légionnaire Russell A. KellyKelly, Russell Anthony
History
Kelly of the Foreign Legion: Letters of Légionnaire Russell A. Kelly
Kelly, Russell Anthony
France. Armée. Légion étrangère; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
According to the orderly, Battalion B, of the Legion in which these
Americans were fighting on June 16th, broke far through the German lines
left of Cabaret Rouge. The Germans reformed on both sides, attacking in
force, and by the curtain of shells and machine-gun fire made
reinforcements or retreat impossible.
The Légionnaires dug in and throughout the night of the 16th until the
afternoon following resisted all attacks. Then, covered with wounds and
parched with thirst, the survivors surrendered.
The American squad when the first regiment moved north from the
Champagne region early in May included Kenneth Weeks, of New Bedford;
Paul Rockwell, of Atlanta; Paul Pavelka, of Madison, Conn.; Russell
Kelly, of New York; Frank Musgrave, of New Orleans; Jack Janz, of
Boston; Lawrence Scanlan, of Cedarhurst, L. I., John Smith, of Los
Angeles; Neamorin, of Calcutta, a graduate of Oxford and a frequent
visitor to America, and Madji Zennis, of Constantinople, formerly an
interpreter for a New York importing house.
The squad was led by Corporal Didier, a gigantic Moor. All were
volunteers for the war except Janz. Janz was the only American in the
entire Legion that had seen African service, having been seven years in
Morocco.
He was shot through the forehead while looking out of a trench toward
the German lines shortly after the arrival of the regiment in the north.
During the fighting around La Targette and Neuville-St. Vaast on May 9th
Janz was shot through the chest with a rifle ball. While he lay on the
battlefield a shell exploded near him and badly lacerated his hips.
Later he was carried off the field to a hospital.
ONLY 700 OF 4,000 LEFT
After the fighting on May 9th, 10th and 11th the Legion was sent to the
rear for re-organization. Only 700 of the 4,000 who had gone into action
answered the roll call.
In the attack of June 16th, which preceded by a terrific thirty-six-hour
bombardment of the German lines, the legion occupied a position near
Souchez and Cabaret Rouge.
The first line of German trenches was literally knocked to pieces by
shell fire and easily taken. The advance on the second line was met by a
stream of lead from rifles and machine guns. Whole sections of the
attacking party were mowed down. Corporal Didier fell, his left arm
literally shot off. Zennis’s lower jaw was torn away. Neamorin fell with
a ball through his abdomen.
Pavelka was the first of the American squad to reach the second line. He
just got to the edge of a trench held by Bavarians when he was stabbed
in the leg with a bayonet.
GERMANS THROW DOWN ARMS
By then the German trenches were filled with a yelling mass of
Légionnaires, zouaves and tirailleurs. Such of the Germans as could
climbed out of the trenches and threw down their arms. They ran for the
rear, the French in hot pursuit.
Pavelka took shelter in a German trench to bandage his wound. He was
joined there by Kelly, who had been hit in the shoulder, and Smith with
a ball through his leg.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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