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Show PRIVATE'S DAILY j STORY OF WAR (Correspondence of the Associated Press ) Paris. Oct. 16 Here is the Btory of a German private who was found dead in a trench not dead from wounds, but from starvation and this story in the form of a daily journal kept apparently up to the last day, sva6 found on him It begins with the advance of the crown prince's army upon the Marne after the battle bat-tle of Charleroi and the fall of Longwy. It covers the battle of the Marne and the greater part of the campaign in the Aisne. French Rushed Back "Yesterday was a day of rejoicing Our first army has pushed back the French, defeated a division of English Eng-lish cavalry and is before the gatew ! of Paris In Russia our troops have taken 150,000 prisoners. The joy would have been greater if we had something to eat. Our division leaves for Marson St Amand and Bossuet, where we are to bivouac before cross ing the Marne tomorrow. We hope to get rations there. "We finally stopped long enough to take a bite. I did not take long because what they gave us was just enough to put a sharper edge on our appetites Then we went toward the Marne, pushing back detachments of the French They let us come to the very edge of the stream; our adwmce guard was even part'y across the bridge when their artillery opened fire; it seemed to us that it opened the gates of hell at the same time We could not advance and wo had no orders to retire. We could only stand and watch the carnage around the bridge, where our losses were terrible We succeeded In saving the flag and our commander and then were ordered to retire. It was not exactly a defeat, the officers say only a rctlroment. The battle resumed a little later and lasted nearly near-ly all night We went forward again, but were obliged to dig ourselves in to escape the terrible artillery' fire Our ovn guns seemed to be we-ak. "This morning (Sept 7) the French flying machines are circling above us Incessantly, obliging us to keep to our trenches. Our artillery seems unable to dislodge the French guns and we fear an infantry attack from the left. It Is artillery day and our troops occupying the canal bridge have suffered terribly Out of On men, 25 only remained when the combat com-bat was suspended without decisive results We got out of the trenches toward 9 o'clock and were lucky I enough to dig up some raw potatoes, w hich comforted us a little. "A great battle was announced for today (Sept. 9). We have been in the trenches four days uow and the rest after long marches would be agreeable if there were no dead bod les of men and horses and if the flies did not pester us. "The great battle did not come off. but today (September 10) we could see, half a mile off, the French artillery ar-tillery strongly entrenched. They say strong forces of the enemy are In front of us, but that vw need fear nothing. A heavy battle is going on on our right wing. It seems that the French army 16 In a bad position, to get out it must retire on Paris or break through our lines. "At 2 o'clock today September 11, we were ordered to leave the. trenches. trench-es. We thought if would be to at-ick at-ick the enemy but it seems we are io I go back Two French army corps have pierced our lines Away vs i w :it without taking tini" to eat. "Today (September 121 we had a little hrt-ad with coffee. We are Mif ferlng terribly from privation and exhaustion. ex-haustion. They tell us W are SXOCUt ing a turning movement, not a re-treal re-treal To us it looks like flight Finally Fi-nally we arrived at SouTain, where we hoped to eat, but instead of rations they gave us shovels with which to oMg trenches in the pouring rain While we were at it French shrapnel drove us back with the trenches uncompleted. un-completed. "Today, (September 14) we have dug oursehes in again and remain, stuck man against man, all day in our trenches have eaten nothing at all; we suffer atrociously from hunger and thirst; tho rain comes down In torrents, but we can't leave tho trenches because of the shower of shrapnel from the enemy's guns. Finally this afternoon we had ouf first repast for several days, consist ing of rice with a little meat and bread and a morsel of bacon. It was like a drop of water on a hot iron. French Reopen Hellish Fire. "The French have occupied tho trenche8 we left at Souain three milea back. Today the French artillery gave ns n little respite, and toward half past six reopenpd its hellish fire which continued very late in the night at the rate of a sht every ten mlnutps. just sufficient to leave us no repose. It is a dog's life we are leading lead-ing and we shall soon be sick every man ' Today, (September 2H) we were ordered Into the first line of trenches, having before us a battalion of the 161st, which has suffered great losses Toward eleven the artillery opened a violent fire and the shells simply rained upon our lines We were obliged ob-liged to keep elosely to our trenches, unable to Ieae them for anything We are all nearly famished "Today. (September 3") the devilish French guns have swept off hall of our company. Their fire is so constant con-stant that we have'nt time to fire ourselves. We are still confined to the trenches and it is two days since we were Berved meagre rations of rice and coffee made with rainwater Cold north winds have added to our suffering. Many of the men are so cramped with rheumatism that we are oldljred to lift them out of the trenches "Today. (October 4) wo have eaten again and the rations were more gen-erous, gen-erous, but it seems impossible for us to satisfy our hunger. Soldier Facing Death. "This morning (October 8) happily It does not rain, but the tempest blOWa from the north and makes us feel our hunger all the more. They there are plenty of provisions In the rear; the question is to get them to us in the face of the French artillery, ar-tillery, which sweeps the ground constantly con-stantly and make., life impossible, except ex-cept under cover of the trenches Hanger Is terrible I suffer horribly from the cold also I am no longer ablo to keep up I den t think I can last much longer." |