UNDER THE GERMAN SHELLS [Illustration: The author at Camp Grant. The American soldier is Divisional Interpreter Umberto-Gagliasso.] UNDER THE GERMAN SHELLS BY EMMANUEL BOURCIER MEMBER OF THE FRENCH MILITARY COMMISSION TO AMERICA TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY GEORGE NELSON HOLT AND MARY R. HOLT _WITH PORTRAITS_ NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 1918 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS Published May, 1918 [Illustration] PREFACE Life is a curious thing. In time of war Life is itself the extraordinary and Death seems the only ordinary thing possible for men. In time of war man is but a straw thrown into the wide ocean. If the tossing waves do not engulf him he can do no more than float on the surface. God alone knows his destiny. This book, _Under the German Shells_, is another instance of war’s uncertainties. Sent by my government to America to join the new American army as instructor, I wrote the greater part of the book on the steamer which brought me. The reader will, perhaps, read it when I am dead; for another steamer is about to carry me back to France, where I shall again be “under the German shells,” before the book will see the light. This is the second work which I have written during the war. The first, _Gens du Front_, appeared in France while I was in America. I wrote it in the trenches. The second will appear in America when I shall be in France. The father will not be present at the birth of either of his two children. “C’est la Guerre.” My only wish is that the work may be of use. I trust it may, for every word is sincere and true. That it may render the greatest service, I wish to give you, my reader, a share in my effort: a part of the money which you pay for the book will be turned over to the French Red Cross Society, to care for the wounded and assist the widows whom misfortune has overtaken while I have been writing. Thus you will lighten the burden of those whom the scourge has stricken. I hope that you will find in the work some instruction--you who are resolutely preparing to defend Justice and Right and to avenge the insults of the infamous Boche. I have no other wishes than these for my work, and that victory may be with our united arms. EMMANUEL BOURCIER. CAMP GRANT, December 16, 1917. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE MOBILIZATION 1 II. THE INVASION 21 III. THE MARNE 50 IV. WAITING 93 V. LA PIOCHE 101 VI. THE GAS 120 VII. RHEIMS 134 VIII. DISTRACTIONS 148 IX. THE BATTLE OF CHAMPAGNE 166 X. VERDUN 177 XI. THE TOUCH OF DEATH 200 ILLUSTRATIONS The author at Camp Grant _Frontispiece_