Well, old man, I can certainly tell of some real experiences now. The
latest: Last night we had an air raid, beginning around 9 o'clock,
when the Boche came over and dropped some bombs, trying for some gun
positions near here, then at exactly 12:30 A.M. a big raid.
There must have been at least five machines or more came flying very
low and dropped a bomb within twelve feet of our barracks, wounding one
of the boys who slept in the corner nearest the bomb in the bottom of
his heel. He will be all right soon, but will take quite some time to
recover.
It is a wonder to all he did not get it anywhere else. I drove him to
the hospital with our Lieutenant and waited until they extracted the
eclat, and am keeping it for him. It went through the wooden wall,
through the blankets and carried a piece of blanket into the wound.
Then another of the fellows lying opposite received a hard scratch, but
only a scalp wound.
Our Brigadier, or Quartermaster, who keeps tires, etc., was sleeping
in a little shed within seven feet of the hit, and when we all rushed
over we heard him groaning, and I broke in the door to find him on the
floor. He was hit in three places, a long piece in his side and one
little piece piercing his backbone. He is dead now. Our barracks is
riddled with holes from the eclat. The hole is about three feet deep
and very narrow, the eclat spreading in all directions. There were all
told eight bombs dropped around us.
Sept. 26, 1917.
One did not explode and can be seen in the ground near a stable. If
it had exploded it would have no doubt killed many horses. That was a
pretty close call for all of us, no doubt being brought on by the new
gun position. One of the guns, by the way, was the one that silenced
the German gun that used to shell Dunkirk, being able to shell twenty
to twenty-five miles.
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.
A piece of eclat caught our man in the arm, making a slight flesh wound
and leaving a piece of wood in it. It had passed through a part of the
body of the car and blew this wood into him. He had enough gas in the
feed pipe to carry him about a hundred feet outside of the zone when
another of our section cars came along and took his assis, who by now
was a couché down for a dressing. Our man stopped a carrier and had
them take his blessés back to the post while he tried to start his
car, but was unsuccessful. He ran down a trench through the falling
shells from another post of secours with a note to our post telling
that everything was O. K., and the wounded taken care of. They took him
to the hospital, and he is now back with us, but not in service for a
while. He is to get a medal.
We are certainly being hammered up a bit, but think the worst is over,
so there is absolutely no need to worry about me, as I haven't come
near anything yet. Pershing and Pétain were down the road while the
attack was on, and also our post was visited by a Regular American Army
Medical Colonel while we were in action. It is now all over and the
service is to be taken over by the American Army. I don't know what
difference it will make with us. Since last night's fracas we are to
have a guard posted all night to warn us of any more raids so we can
get into our trench, which is more than safe against any repetition.
An English speaking boche gave me a photo postal card of himself and
mate and gave the date and place and signed his name. I have a boche
gas mask and many buttons and shoulder-straps. The boches do not
recognize hospitals plainly marked with red cross, since they threw
bombs on a nearby hospital, burning up four buildings, killing 170 and
wounding forty-one. 'Tis one of the hospitals we evacuated too, but
now is being evacuated by a French section. A British section of the
best which has been in this section with the French army two years and
has been twice cited in army orders was hit and one couché killed and
four were wounded and the driver only a slight flesh wound during the
attack. Strange to say, so many ambulances always come clear. Their
speed helps. Good luck to you all.