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Show WDUHDED MEN MAKE DEF0BEOF TRENCH Lieutenant Pericard Calls Upon the Dead to Get Up and Fight. STORY IS INTERESTING 'Officer Describes Sensations During Furious Attack Made by Germans. Special Cable to The Tribune. PARIS, Jan. 1. Perhaps the episode of the whole war which has most touched the imagination of France is the defense of a trench by sorely wounded men under Lieutenant Pericard. "Dead men, get up!" shouted Pericard aa the Germans entered the trench, and' a handful of "corpses" drove out the invaders. The story of this incident is retold by Maurice Barres in the "Echo de Paris." "My section, with three others from different companies, was ordered to attack at-tack a German trench," says Lieutenant' Pericard. "It was a stiff fight and we had' many killed and wounded. "All ' night through we kept up thft action with bombs under a torrential I downpour of rain which drenched us to the skin, but we held the trench and I j experienced a great exultation, dilation, 1 of spirit. On two occasions a torpedo knocked me over, covering me with earth and wreckage, and I picked myself up laughing as if at a good joke. Men in Panic. "In the morning we were relieved, so that we might have a rest, and we went into a second -line trench and tried to i sleep. Toward midday we woke in a hurry. The Germans had just counterattacked counter-attacked with an avalanche of grenadea and torpedoes. They were repulsing us. It was panic. "Not only had they retaken their own trench, but they were reaching ours. Already our men were pressing into the communication trenches, shouting 'The Boches! The Bodies !' "Those terrified eyes, those convulsed , faces, those twisted' mouths! AH the of-i of-i ficers were wounded; only the narrow-; narrow-; ness of the communication trenches held : back the fugitives, who were crowding one on the other. "I brushed a passage for nrvself .through the scared crowd and, still making mak-ing play with my elbows, called out, 'No, my friends; no! The Boches are not there. They have gone back!. . They have taken to their heels!' Retreat Stopped. 1 "Similar words, passing from mouth to i mouth, stopped the retreat a bit. A few ! volunteers joined me. I leaped forward and my bomb-throwers scattered their missiles among the Boches, who fell back. I was the first man out of the French trench. I was as sure of my deatli as I was of the sunshine, but what serenity was mine! "Still throwing bombs, we reached the enemy trench and recaptured our position. posi-tion. Before us, in a communication trench leading from the first to the second sec-ond German line, I had a sandbag barrier bar-rier erected and enjoyed a breathing space. "Their artillery rages. A lieutenant his name escapes me who has come to support me and who is smoking a cigarette, cig-arette, laughing at the projectiles, is struck by a bullet above the temple. He leans against the parapet, both hands behind his back, his head slightly bowed. "The blood pours heavily from the wound, describing a paranoia like wine from the mouth of a cask. His head droops more and more, then his body bends and, more sharply, falls. It is impossible im-possible to move a step, without treading on a corpse. Becomes Reckless. "I am suddenly conscious of the rre- cariousness of my fate; my exaltation abandons me; I am afraid. I throw myself my-self behind a heap of sand bags. Only a soldier named Bonnot remains. He is untroubled and fights on like a lion I recover myself, shamed by his example. "A few comrades join us. The day is coming to Its -close and we cannot stay thus. To the right there is still nobody. Some -tbjrty meters off I notice an interruption inter-ruption In -the trench In the form of an enormous splinter shield. Shall I go to see what is happening there? I hesitate and then sharply decide. "The trench 'is full of French dead ; j there Is blood everywhere. At first I go care'fuliy with little assurance. I alone with "all these dead! Then little by little I pluck up courage. I dare to look at these bodies and to me it seems that they are looking at me. From our own trench behind men watch me with eyes of fear, in which I read, 'He is going to his death.' "I turn toward the extended corpses. I think their sacrifice then is to be of no avail; thev will ha.ve fallen in vain? And the Boches are going to come bauk? j They will steal our dead from us?' Calls Upon Dead. I "A sacred fury gripped me. T have no recollection now of my exact actions' or words. All I know is tha t I shouted something like this: 'Oh there! I'p with ' you ! Get up and kick these pigs out of it!' " 'Get up, dead men" A touch of madness? mad-ness? No, for the dead answered me. I They said to me,' 'We follow you." And, ; rising at my call, their soul mingled with my soul and made of It a great fnran- j descent mass, a wide river of fused met:tl. I "There was nothing now that muld i astonish or stop mr. I had the faith I that nioves mountains and the ralta- j tlon of the tnannin turge, who works miracles by his v 111. j "What', happened then? As I want to tell you only what I remember, disregarding disre-garding what I was afterward? told I : must frankly admit that I don't know. ! There is a gap In my recollection: action ! swallowed up memory. I have simnly a j vague Impression nf a disord'- v n:"in- 1 sivp in which, always in the front rank. 1 Bonnot statvls out. "One of the men-if my section, wound- ed in the arm. continued to hurl at the enemy bombs st otied with his blood. 1 Twice we ran short -of bombs and twi-e ! we found, at our feet, sticky, full of them, i mingled with the sandbars." |