True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 1 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
We just gave them a most successful attack when every objective was
gained besides 6,000 to 7,000 prisoners--174 officers were taken. We
assisted Section 18 of the American Ambulance and I worked from 11
o'clock Sunday to Wednesday at 7 P.M., and during that time
had only about seven hours sleep. But strange as it may seem, no doubt,
the excitement and all, I did not feel sleepy or tired but as fresh
as if I never had worked. We secured our meals after a fashion, often
times missing some.
The wonderful part is the few wounded other than very slight wounds
upon the French side. The Boche said the artillery work was awful. One
English speaking person said he had no food for three days and of a
battalion of 1,000 men only twenty-one were left. The food they are
getting is very poor and very little and every one was tickled to death
to be a prisoner.
Some of the strangest sights were the Germans working as brancardiers
helping to carry the wounded. One instance which I photographed was a
Boche coming down the road helping a wounded Frenchman. Another was
five prisoners coming down from the post of secours that we moved up to
as soon as the position had advanced, which before was on the three
line trenches, came down the road without any guard at all. They just
told them to walk to the next village. It is all so wonderful; never
have I been so close or in such an interesting place.
From our post secours, which by the way has been advanced again to the
spot which before the attack was no man's land--you can see all the
French lines being on the side hill, the Boche positions being on top.
Now advanced about four kilometres. This attack we have been through
makes up for the long repose we have had. Our division was not in the
attack, only one regiment, and we only assisted Section 18, but they
are a white livered bunch and our section did duty continually while
they sat around telling their weird tales of gas and having to work so
long without sleep, &c. Far from the spirit all section four has, who
were fighting all the time for more work. All the time grumbling did
not have enough.
One man who is dying now I heard is to get the Medaille Militaire, the
very highest honor the army has, and is only bestowed upon the men when
there is no chance for them. Some section we have, haven't we? Now
another of our boys will receive the Croix de Guerre medal. He came
down one portion of the road usually shelled with three couchés and one
assis on the seat beside him. As he came down they were dropping them
in. The boys were tiring and replacing the cars in between the shots,
which came at 2½ minute intervals, and one broke near him, wounding
the assis beside him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account