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Show MARINES HAVE NO FEAR OF HUNS . Wounded Are Only Anxious to Get Back Where the Battle Is Raging. ONLY CONTEMPT FOR ENEMY Say When They Get Into Actual Fighting Fight-ing Contact With Foe There Is No Fight Left in Him. London. A naval attache who saw about 50 American marines In hospital suffering from wounds or gassing in the recent German offensive found ?very one of them full of cheer regarding regard-ing the future; every one anxious to get well and be back In the fighting line. And every one of them held a poor opinion of Fritz as a fighting man. They were unanimous, the attache declared, de-clared, In stating that the Germans were long-distance fighters only. As one oi tnem said : "They are not so bad when they are 50 yards away with a machine gun, but at close quarters the German soldiers are no good." Marine after marine asserted that when he and his comrades got Into actual ac-tual fighting contact with the enemy there was no fight left in him. Then the Germans would throw down their guns, and, waving their hands, over their heads, cry out "Kamerad !" Feel Contempt for Huns. "Our men," added the attache, "gave mo the impression of looking with utter ut-ter contempt upon the German soldiers, who can fight only when they feel that they have the protection of artillery and gas, and surrender when it comes to hand to hand fighting. "Far from feeling the slightest dread -of the enemy, every man expressed eagerness to get out of hospital and return to the front. Every one of them wanted a chance of getting even with the Germans for having been gassed or wounded. "The men were justly proud of the record that the marines had made, and their morale appeared to be of the very highest quality. The cheerfulness cheerful-ness of all, Including some, infantry in the wards, may be summarized by the remark of one recovering from gas: 'Why,' he said, 'there's nothing In it. When all of us marines get going, we will wipe Fritz off the map, and we will eat our next Christmas dinner at home at that.' " A British officer who has seen much of the American marines at their headquarters head-quarters in France, and seen them at work against the Boche, writing on what he describes as "an instructive glimpse at the American war spirit and American efficiency In the field," says : "On the roads to the front there Is perpetual movement. Hundreds of motor mo-tor lorries, each one packed with French soldiers, pass us in quick succession suc-cession on their way to another part of the line. Again and again we pass bodies of American troops on the march, then a group of women and children. Although the road winds over the face of a well tilled countryside, country-side, few birds are seen, except for an occasional pair of ring doves. Such Is the incongruity of war! Aircraft Hum Continuous. "We find the marines' headquarters at an old farmhouse, shut In on every side by woods. Here the hum of aircraft air-craft Is continuous, and links up the Intermittent crash of artillery fire. A Boche observation balloon hangs above the woods to eastward, and a 'woolly bear' shell lays a vivid black smudge against the limited skyline ahead. In the farmyard we seem to stand in a little world apart, but the sounds of adjacent fighting are close about us. "A marine officer who has had no sleep for three nights comes In, dusty but cheerful, from the trenches. The murines are doing themselves proud out there, he says. There has been some stiff fighting In the woods, but the Boche will have to shift soon ; that Is the opinion of this old campaigner, whe has fought by sea and land all over the globe. We leave the farm under tt guidance of a young lieutenant, lieu-tenant, a 'broth of a boy,' with the face of a Greek god. "A rough cart track runs behind a belt of woods, and in this, vicinity the American artillery Is stationed. We approach one of the batteries, well hidden hid-den even at close quarters. A telephone tele-phone fixed to a tree trunk rings sharpJ ly, and the captain, capless and without with-out tunic, a megaphone In one hand, answers the call. " 'Very good, sir I' He swings 'round to the guns. " 'On barrage 1 Fire I' "Through the megaphone his order penetrates to every corner of the wood, and the gunners leap to their work In a moment. Crash I Crash-Crash I Crash ! The guns fling out their deaf-eniDg deaf-eniDg message of death almost simultaneously, simul-taneously, and In the momentary silence si-lence between the rounds the whizz of the shells can be heard as they fly on their way to the wood where the Boche still lingers. "It Is real team work, this gunnery, nothing else describes it the work of a team, perfectly trained, in which keenness and efficiency produce a result re-sult beyond praise. For a time salTO follows salvo. Then comes the order 'Cease fire !' and silence descends upon the battery." |