Show Germans Acc Accomplished Great Greatest st Feat of Arms in All World I r History in Terrible Battle Fought in France for 6 s Son Soo of Kaiser Writing Wonderful Story of Gigantic Engagement in in Champ Champagne District So Declares De De- iI t F cares clares as He Sets Down for Posterity Eye Witness Description of This Most Terrific of All Clashes Between French Daring and German Resistance o J C COMPLETE STORY OF BATTLE BATILE ADVENTURES OF ROYAL ROYA WARRIOR-AUTHOR WARRIOR GIVEN HERE FOR FIRST TIME TO AMER AMERICAN CAN READERS REAPERS II Herewith is presented th the th first instalment nt of Prince Oscar of 1 i Prussia's story of the winter battle In the Champagne It is is a story of th the fighting that raged about Hill and Is described by the kaisers kaiser's author son as the greatest continued battle to in history Another instalment instalment in instalment in- in will appear in this of this royal narrative of the great war appear paper tomorrow Editor Th This s translation made esp especially for the New Newspaper paper Enterprise ass association and copyrighted 1916 I The winter battle in the Champagne has been fought and for forus forus us Germans it has been carried to a victorious finale In these days I of ours when the whole world has come together I r in terrible warfare the wheel of industry is turning I r with unusual rapidity New battles new new victories s sI push the earlier ones into the ba background k round and it is I brilliant accomplish accomplish- accomplishments only only human nature that the I ments meets of ever continuing wa war with its in incredibly gigantic results draw all eyes to themselves themselves' and an put 4 r in the shadow the heroic deeds which carried earned 9 through with no such visible res results were accomplished n pushed in the battles of the Champagne 4 The past is already weaving her veil vell and andin in n Forgetful Forgetful- her steps follows very closely her sister Forgetful Forgetful- ness But we may not we must not forget Not t only because the Champagne battle was the greatest great great- greatest greatest est and most lasting defensive battle that HISTORY v HAS SO FAR KNOWN and because our weapons I Y led to victory not only in thankfulness s to our out outbrave brave leader and his troops who did the impossible who suffered beyond description and still finally conquered j one other thing calls calls' us not to forget It is our many many brave dead who in PRINCE OSCAR passed self denial and from the truest sense of duty gave their lives for kaiser and country for home and kinsmen As children we e have stood before some grave gave T rested teci an unknown hero of long lanK ago aeo HILL NORTH OF F LE MESNIL LE-MESNIL MESNIL IN INTHE THE CHAMPAGNE CHAMPAGNE CHAM CHAM- CHAM 1 IS SUCH A GRAVE No unknown hero of forgotten ages but many brave men of our splendid army army much noble blood of our dear German people people- is la resting there on I Fr French soil soli They are our brothers our sons our husbands who rest there The many thousand silent hero heroes s who lie Ue on yonder hill hUl which they themselves them them- selves pelves with unparalleled heroism jn in inhuman in inhuman In- In human conflict ct defended faithful till their last breath They are crying crying- to tous tous tous us Do not ever forget torget how we died and for tor what cause we gave our lives Y ot In Itt order to realize the full significance cance of the battle of the Champagne in order to understand the mammoth grandeur grandeur of of the accomplishments of our b brave ve troops we must ask sk the question What did the battle in the Champagne really mean wherein mean wherein does the greatness of our victory lie These questions can be be- answered Ina Ina in ina a few words It was the first great greata a attempt at an offensive on the part of oft t the e French in which they by venturing ventur ventur- venturing ing their best corps and a mighty ar- ar r- r tillery sought for tor weeks and for months cost what it might to force a passage in the Champagne in order to break the surrounding steel chain of t 1 German army anny from the land 1 Had a their attempt been successful had they gone thrOugh here with powers powE powers pow pow- E ers S unimpaired as they intended it is plain that the consequences for the i army army anny would have been far dif dif- ferent Our victory in the Champagne is as the results show no less important im lm- than the victory at Tannenberg Tannenberg Tannenberg Tannen- Tannen berg and at the lakes But ButIn Butin Butin In the way of demands on personal courage and in in patience under the utmost difficulties the sufferings of our troops have been nowhere else equaled ed NOW ow in order to realize what these accomplishments were in order to present the heroic steadfastness and arid the patience sublime beyond all praise on n the part o of our troops in order to judge the terrible difficulties with which leader and troops had to battle for many heavy weeks we must keep keepin in mind the following When the French offensive began in int February t our troops had for several months been engaged in hard battle With but few pauses and had had to defend Itself against many and severe attacks of the French First and Seventeenth SeventEenth Seventeenth Sev Sev- corps In rn fn addition to this our troops no longer possessed their full tull strength and powers at the very time when they met In a heavy conflict In which the enemy with continually Increasing powers and a mighty y strength was doing his best to force a passage at no matt matter r what cost If we keep this fact continually in mind then the deedS of our troops rise to an almost unbelievable height Only Iron w Hall n power discipline transformed Into flesh and blood and self sacrificing fulfillment of duty could hero lead to victory And that they did lead to victory will be till Ull the end of time a leaf of fame in the histories of ot all alla a armies in a like situation The Tho masses of Iron and men which the the enemy hurled against our positions positions positions night and day together with their great tenacity and cleverness not only Id hi attack but in defense also would r really realy seem able to overwhelm greater strength than that which the Third army my had ad at its disposal It It was a battle between st steel el and andiron iron fA A great mass of Iron is able to tob b build bend nd and twist a narrow band of steel through sheer pressure of size and weight but it cannot break the steel it if is true tru that the French through continual con con- l and ever more severe attacks an and and- by artillery fire the tire the severity of e which hick defies description could description could force torce our lines back ack a 8 a little here and there and so a few Hundred Undred meters of trenches fell into their h hands but these were were bought at a terrible sacrifice of blood for the entire affair resulted only onty in their realization that German will power and German Gennan discipline can r not be broken The opponent broke their wills wllIs and the Third army had conquered e d. d During the time we are considering IH here liere re the French offensive took place mostly on the left or eastern side of the Third army and was directed al almost almost al- al most without exception against the theS S Seventh army anny corps and the Eighth reserve corps Here the topography is hilly and aff affords affords' affords affords' af af- f fords fords' a good chance nce for concealment it is set here and there with narrow fir woods and the soil is of f white chalk There are few villages and these have been practically destroyed by the enemy's fire tire During the entire time the weather was unspeakably vile For Foi weeks it rained day and night c continually so that the chalky soil solI became a grayish soapy mass of slime As a result the roads roads became almost useless for wagons while the few main roads which led from the re rear r of our positions positions were almost as ba bad because of the columns and wagons going back and for forth h over them continually This was particularly bad for our pr provision vision and wagons which had al already already already al- al ready In month long battles seen unusually unusually unusually un un- usually hard service a hindrance al almost almost almost al- al most beyond the possible The continual rainy weather brought along many unpleasant happenings in regard to the lodging of our troops As we said above the villages villages' in the neighborhood had all been shot to pieces and the troops had to build I themselves shelter by hut but and trench It is easy to see that a a stay in such shelters during a long rainy spell could not be without its influence on on our soldiers In spite of this no word of complaint was heard from our om me men l. l Our Seventh army corps and Eighth 1 reserve corps originally were opposite only the First and Seventeenth army corps Both corps had suffered considerable considerable considerable con con- con con- losses during th the repeated attacks at Christmas time and during January For their great attack the Fren French h now brought up a much stronger force Gradually against our pur two corps there were ranged the First and nd Seventeenth nth the Second Fourth Sixteenth two colonial coloni l divisions and half halt a territorial division All to together together together to- to gether y therefore there were almost seven whole army corps In a disproportionately disproportionately disproportionately small space Besides they had considerably strength strengthened ned their artillery Our two army corps corps were reinforced only by single battalions and the regiments of the Fifth and Seventh armies as well as the Sixth army corps and the Twelfth reserve corps In the department of the Eighth corps the First Bavarian landwehr brigade was brought up as well wel as the Hessian landwehr Finally the First garde infantry garde-infantry infantry division n was added which regiment was to take a great part in this battle too foo In III this mighty battle sons from eyer every corn corner r of our out fatherland fought shoulder shoulder shoulder der to shoulder and strove to outdo one another in courage and endurance Prussians and Da Bavarians Saxons and Hessians from east and west from south and north they stood together there formed there a united brazen wall against which the fanatical fanatic l de despairing despairing despairing de- de attacks of the French had to togo togo togo go to pieces And with wonderful force they came along storming over the hills of corpses of their dead dea comrades that that we must allow them The They struck good blows those thos French regiments regiments regiments regi regi- ments but ours struck better The results showed that But It was not the infantry attacks that made the great winter battle of the Champagne for us not the hand to hand struggle In the trenches man against man where the German being the stronger always overcame the Frenchman No the terrible artillery which the French brought up and the endless mass of munitions which they had at their disposal these made the stay in our trenches a hell and turned the difficulties of our troops into un- un I deeds of heroism In a proportionately small space the French threw In a single day grenades We found a French order of battle wherein the writer allowed eighteen grenades for each meter of trench at the place of attack And those were not divided through the whole day but for tor perhaps one or two hours The speed of firing was wall like lUte that of ofa ofa ofa a machine g gun gun- n excepting that these were not infantry shots but grenades of every cali caUler er Drum fire we called this kind of artillery fire and Its re results results results re- re were fearful The wire entanglements entanglements entanglements were totally destroyed as If wiped out the trenches were turned into flat troughs the shelter were broken to pieces no method of fortification fortification fortification cation was able to hold out even for tor a short time against such fire One thing only did hold out German discipline German faith Germane German courage Whenever such a drum fire lire began there rose from our mounds a gigantic wall of sm smoke ke chalk dust and PRINCE RINCE OSCAR R of Prussia and his I morganatic tic wife who was Countess Ina ma von Bassewitz 4 Y R s ij wy i jH hY i ab 4 fG ia 3 be eda esi of ot shell eh w which ich cut o off f the world Seen from the rear it was a picture to shudder atIn at atIn In addition there was an and Intermittent intermittent Intermit intermit- tent rolling thundering crashing which even miles away sounded like a heavy hea thunderstorm It seemed impossible imp impossible im im- p possible that any living thing could endure in that hell And if the firing stopped suddenly or seemed to hesitate and a French French a infantry attack followed then out of the hollows from half destroyed destroy de de destroyed stroy d shelters from torn sacks sacks' of sand our brave musketeers grenadiers I or fusiliers rose fixed their weapons wiped the dust from their th ir eyes and repelled the attack And not only once but dozens of times did they do this But If It chanced that one of ou our tr trenches under fire was emptied in order to diminish our losses sometimes a French infantry attack under protection protection protection tion artillery carried the empty trench especially since there was no longer any hindrance Then straightway straight straight- way our oui brave men In field gray leaped out put of the nearest trenches with bayonets bayo bayonets nets and hand grenades fixed for at attack attack attack at- at tack and nearly always threw out the enemy with heavy losses or killed them But 1 if this attack was wa's was for some reason reason reason rea rea- son postponed for one or two hours the result was not so sure and usually cost a great deal of blood for this short time sufficed for the French who are very clever at making any sort of defenses to seize quickly for their purpose the captured trench and to build it up to too bring up several machine machine ma ma- chine guns to erect on each side a barrier and sand bags bags and and the so called French nest was ready Then our regiments had the heavy task of again taking this nest after a long hard battle sometimes lasting several weeks We Ve went at the enemy with min mines s while he threw from above shells hand grenades and bombs Then If we thought th the nest was r ready ady a group of volunteers made read ready to storm it led fed ed by officers at the head I of a group of pioneers armed with grenades and implements to tear away the sand bag protection and on both sides the storming began at the same time Usually these attacks took place at night When the grenades had ex exploded exploded ex ex- our troops stormed up with utter disregard of death and there arose a a. raging hand to hand band battle wherein bayonet and hatchets boot heels and spade edges carried on a murderous work until the enemy was killed or surrendered With what terrible bitterness it was fought the following ex examples will show A musketeer from a Infantry regiment had his thumb completely bitten off by a Frenchman It was the tho hand in which he carried his hatchet The brave man concealed his pain took his his' hatchet hi hatchet in his left hand and with it smashed the head of the Frenchman and the man behind him In another regiment three men had come so close together that they lo looked ked like a clover l leaf af The middle one one the strongest carried in his left hand two hooked together shields intended as a protection against machine guns guns and andIn andin andin in his right hand a hatchet hatche Right and left close behind him followed the other two one of ot whom carried a goodly amount of grenades while lle the other I was armed with a bayonet This I strange clover |