Show A OJO CS el ar oel gesn chilen by lan officer 1 no parit c ap abed tithe 0 ag and pillaging of 1 it is abiva raw PAUP anally he said eld good by hla big wife hd had nothing to give biu bim no laundry no ao food everything had been lost loit and she ehe llred lived on the soldiers told lera bounty she gave him her lost last money and lie he refused to take it it she accepted the money bak it consisted of a few 5 and 10 pieces and some ome coppers all mile he hid had unable to endure andare this we took a collection among ourselves we made up more then than 10 marks marka which we e guie gae to the young woman oman she refused it at first then looking at her husband hue band she took it and tried to kiss our hands when we refused to lot let her do this she he ran to a store nearby and returned with cigars toE tobacco acco matches and tau enu sage age which she gave to tier her husband she smiled perhaps for the first time la a long the children were with their father and nd they kissed him as a be left he be bad one oce child on each arm and life his wife carried the third thard with the greatest happiness th the e family walked along between the two armed soldiers soldier when the moment of parting came all began to cry 0 this was the fate of thousands of poor french and belgian men and oleu women quartered near their homes yet unable to know who was dead or auve while we w stood at the depot ten germao german soldiers cold lers arrived with fixed bayo between them were three french citizens in civilian clothing whom they escorted all were elderly men we asked an old frenchman what this was about and he be said eald we receive our food from the th german military officials but it la Is not suf ur defeat to live on the people have nothing left all stock cod and food had been seized these three men refused to work any longer for the german military officials because they could act live on what they recel received they were arrested arre eted and are being sent lent to germany no one knows what their fate would be there the men were being taken away avay by the ger and interned in germany we W received orders to march to Veren verenne varennes nc and left tie next morning As we reached the heights of varennes rennea about noon we saw the wide country before us and the city nestling in the valley farther up on the th heights WM wai nothing could be seen of any ay houses but through our field glasses glasse we r could make mak out an enormous ash heap shells fell there continuously aad we wr were frightened at the pros pro k 4 0 4 A this village had changed Aang td hana mr more than fifteen times act pct of baring to to go to that spot t scarcely had bad we crossed the b heights eight when some she hla io burst behind us the trench artillery ten even singled mingled out individuals vi while was wan in their possession sion they could cv co the entire neighborhood W W understood now why this mob ah heap had bad been contested for so bitterly we W ran mn down hill till we came to varennes the southern section of the town had been wrecked by shells and am fir many chimneys were all that chat was luft standing of whole rows of louses solder Sold lr lerv em collected scraps crapa of metal which were transport od d to armany hr many the church bells were loaded om 01 wagons wagon and sent lent away all the ta copper ta brass and nickel which could be fond was gathered the next morning we went into the we had to reach our post alon bogere doi break for with me kept an ail the under fire there was not much of it a trench in all that could be seen been was a tingle single stone pile literally there was as not in this town toan one ston atone left upon another the ruins of this village had hanged changed hands more than fifteen times when we arrived one half of Vau quola wan waa in german hands the french were in possession of the highest points from which they could overlook the country for many daany talle miles in default of a trench we sought cover behind the stones for it was uns impossible to dig trenches here as the artillery leveled everything the soldiers concealed themselves behind stone walls walla and fired artillery of all call her covered these ruins amid all this destruction lay an army of corpses mostly german CHAPTER we were of the opinion at first that this was only a temporary condition but after a few duya days we saw a slaughter bordering on insanity undertaken again and again by night and day it was wag always the same using verdun as their base the french constantly brought up new masses of troops they had marshaled their heavy guns from froin the nearer verdun forts by ue tie U e use of field railways in the spring of 1915 both sides aides began ao an offensive of local but of an incomprehensible murderous nature german and french artillery bombarded so that not a square toot foot of land could be found which had not been torn up by shells thousands and thousands of shells large and small were hurled into the town for three days and three nights this continued until not a single mingle soldier was left in the village for both fience and germans had to retire from this fire from both sides bides as it was absolu tery impossible to have sur this hell the entire hill and ad joining heights were enveloped in smoke on the evening of the third day the enemy bombardment abated boine what and we were once more sent into the pile of debris which had been torn by a hundred thousand bhella it was not yet dusk and ns as the I 1 rench had also advanced an attack developed they came into our lines with strong reserve units and the wildest kind of a hand to hand encounter ensued sharp daggers lew flew from head to head hd brenat to breast men stood on corpses in order to make new corpses new enemies continued to ard arrive ta for each man who was as killed three others appeared we also recel received ed re thus permitting the slaughter to coo con jnue each man fought frenziedly expecting his death blow momentarily ily no life was waa worth a penny back man fought like a beast I 1 stumbled and fell upon the stones stone and in less time than Is in required to r relate lot it I 1 saw before me a giant french frelih man with a pioneers ern spade raised to strike a blow with lightning lIko speed I 1 dodged and the spade struck a stone in the next moment my adversary had a dagger plunged to the hilt hill in his bl abdomen lie ile vent ent down with a terrible cry awl and crumpled crump ltd up tip in agony on the ground I 1 thrust the dogger dagger into my boot and mazed the imade there were ere nm new cue ene iules tules hit all around and the spade came in hands I 1 struck an enemy between the head und tind shoulders the sharp spade en his bod and burled buried itself halt half WR N a in I 1 heard the bones track crack under tie the force of the ae blow alov another adversary was wag nearby and I 1 dropped the spade and seized the dagg r lie ile struck me ine with his fist and the mood blood run ran from my mouth and nose we clenched my dagger was in my tight light hand band each jacb of us held the other around the breast ile he was nas not super loi to me in strength vet he clung to me ine as a tightly as I 1 did to him we tried to reach each other with iab our teeth I 1 still held the dagger b but t wad to strike soon one of nf us would hose hae to let go while I 1 was in trying my best to find a iny ny to kill him there was a terrible bearb I 1 saw my opponent tall fall and I 1 my elf felt a terrible pain in the right ade ide of my lower jaw I 1 ran as quickly Ps pa I 1 could to the renoland ren rland and after a search of several i hours found it a dressing station where I 1 was isas hand bandaged aged uy my face was so swollen sollen that the doc tor could not tell whether hether N or not my jaw tad I 1 ad been broken I 1 was placed on a train tor for wounded men bound for germany Oer macy and was as taken to a hospital in I 1 arrived at du dui august 28 1915 my wound was not dangerous and they expected I 1 would he cured in 14 I 1 days aara aa ra yet it three weeks durl a this time mae 1 made up my mind mild firmly that I 1 V would ou 1 d not duider any more people at the order of abild to further forsbe r the to of ism that abil war would mean the end of the and of prussian militarism I 1 decided to desert to bol holland CHAPTER I 1 prevailed upon th the authorities to t grant rne me fin an eight lay lav furlough to visit my home and I 1 took advantage of this to cross the dutch horder border I 1 left my lay home under a predence pretence pre tence of intending to visit relatives aring civilian clothing I 1 bought it a ticket to kal kai den odenkirchen kirchen a medium sized sited town near the dutch borda during my trip to I 1 had plenty of time to review revie all that find happened hov hon different ev everything ever thing was after the first year of the war ar I 1 I 1 sly my horn home town once a country settlement was jas now as calm wt a Kr aveard in this tun town which had a population before the war ar of 1000 soul more than 40 had nan killed and many others othera cripp cripple ld bood ats verv high with lit tle tie to be had there was no enthusiasm for the war ar manifest any ft here Abere the people were veers downhearted stunned it was aft the wone nine in other cities the longing for peace was uni universal vermal yet no one talked of peace or expressed the desire delre for it one word ord spoken which displeased thi the autocratic government merited th severest everede eve punishment that to Is how it in 1 to be explained that the german people cannot force the into peace because the government with ith assistance of the military smothered every expression of peace with blood even tit at that early date the present prussian government will slaughter any german citizen to further its own interests in the same way that it attacked attached the innocent population of belgium without regard with a clean conscience and clean cleab hands I 1 gott strafe england ur kr strafe to eal I 1 going through the streeta street this was wa heard beard right and left as a comment and a reply to roe me fresh from the front this kind of greeting was unknown presently I 1 learned the reason of this modern fonn of salutation the hatred within the german nation mas wa not so great to toward aard france and lauw sla pla the people quietly accepted the enormous sacrifices which the war demanded from them in course of time but the government which even then foresaw the unfavorable course the war was as taking conceived the idea of setting england up as the archenemy which intended to destroy germany entirely the german war or machine made us use of the blockade which filch england drew dreir around germany to such an extent playing upon child murder so called that the people developed fin an everin ever increasing cr hatred to board toward ard england the french language was no longer spoken anywhere A large part of the german people formerly used the french word ord adieu as a fareA farewell ell expression but that wa an stopped care car had to be taken in the use of this word ord i to avoid arrest on a charge of high treason I 1 thought about these theme things as I 1 neared my temporary destination I 1 wax wa sufficiently fenty acquainted with the border to that when ben I 1 arrived in kal kai I 1 waa as able to reach it without asking any questions the spot which I 1 had selected for crossing lay la in a forest after a march of two hours hour I 1 arnved armed the border it was A as soon dark and I 1 decided to tn main in the woods over night the next morning at daylight I 1 ventured on and without being seen by the guards I 1 crossed into dutch territory with a nigh of relief I 1 arched at the next town toan ven in holland bolland everywhere I 1 was received in a friendly manner I 1 observed that the dutch people tinted the german people as much as I 1 did after passing several months in 11 holland olland where tens of thousands more german deserters ched I 1 made up my mind to move farther away annay than that from germany for the arms arm of the gerwan german government govern mert are long and its ita spies are everywhere in most cases caes conscienceless celess criminal some of my dutch friends made me acquainted with sailors and these consented to smuggle me to america on oa their ship when the ship departed 1 I was as placed in the coal bunkers and arrived after 14 days la fr now new york safe and v well ell the first thing that struck me on arriving arving ving in the united states was the wide latitude permitted german propaganda most of the german papers papera published here were body and soul for the kal kalter kaiser ter cind and tried delv to justify the german fight for the german cause in this respect the government ta la W washington certainly went too far until it was ss realized that no concessions could be made to the prussian golem government and that concessions made to washington were nothing but deceitful talk sustained only by action when it served its ita interests of imperialism the promises which the german government made to washington concern tug lug the lusitania case the U boat warfare and so BO forth were ere nothing but deceit beit on the part of the berlin govern benl it was waa the desire to preserve peace for the american people which impelled president wilson again and again not to declare decare war and it if america fights today it has only kept falth faith with inq K democratic principles and ai a al alsted ted the world in defensive war var against the autocracy that s i a constant menace for the world which prepared for this war var over several decades I 1 with the entrance of america into the wax war the backbone of kisslan Poi Pis selan mill will I 1 e broan the madan burgs burga and the rhe are nr doomed A victory for the allies will be a victory for dem democracy racy and a victory of the greatest majority x bilas kleif the nf the human raco me thiu END EN E D |