Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ... had once been a trench. At midnight on the 21st the men were in position, and our first proceeding was the propitious one of capturing sixty-three prisoners who seemed extremely glad to be robbed of the opportunity of measuring themselves against us afterwards. They rubbed their hands and looked as pleased as schoolboys to be out of the war. Among these prisoners was an officer who attempted to escape and was promptly bayoneted by the sentry who was in charge of him. Our counter-attack took place on the 22nd, at 4.30 in the morning. After a short time the Germans themselves returned to the charge and neither side could claim any definite advantage in the end. All that day incessant grenade fighting went on on both sides, while working parties attempted to consolidate the ground. At that time we had no artificial cover. Herbebois is little more than a very thick copse, in the middle of which rise some fine trees. Most of it is simple thicket. But the artillery of the Germans had reduced the wood to a skeleton, and in many places there was nothing but a complicated tangle of branches"and tree-stumps. In this maze all we could do was to make barricades of logs and organize the shell-holes. It was snowing hard and this added to the trials the men had to endure. The Germans renewed their offensive in the night of the 22nd, yet in spite of a hurricane bombardment which was especially noteworthy for its accuracy, their infantry were not able to capture an inch of ground when their turn came. Our men beat them back with devastating loss.. They suffered even more heavily on the 23rd. Once more they deluged our lines for hours on end, and this time sent against us at least the equivalent of a battalion. This attack en masse raised our men's...