The horror of warfare is more ap
parent during an offensive when an
ls ad T c , Ing than at an y ot H her
time; even during a defensive action
{n a retreat . Attacking troops advance
over the enemy's positions, dotted with
dea d and dying, then dig in and fight
among the corpses and maimed. Often
in a counter-attack they are temporari
ly thrust back a few yards, and there
dig and Û£ht again, this time among
the bodies of their own fallen coin
rades -
When their advance becomes deeper
and enemy's retreat more general,
as ln Von Boehm's retirement from the
Marne to the Vesle, the terrain be
comes even more ghastly. A wide belt
country is littered with dead men
and dead horses. The advancing army,
eager to maintain contact with the
enemy at all times, has no time to
bury or burn these corpses, respec
tlve, y- The supporting troops follow
In £ up *be advance guards must live
and eat amon « these grewsome sights.
Never Feased Them.
Fresh, untried Americans, who had
not seen the frightfulness of war, al
though they had been trained In Its
artifice and had been in the line In
quiet sectors, traversed the ghastly
country like veterans, never turning
a hair at the sight of dead, friends
or foes, even when they came upon
such sights as Reddy farm, Bellevue
farm, Cierges, Scringes et Nesles and
i
Sergy.
In these places, particularly the
first two mentioned, the bodies of the
Prussian Guardsmen were literally
lying in heaps, for these picked troops
had been told to maintain their
strong point positions until death, and
in most eases they followed orders.
