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ROM LIEUT. W. D. WILKINSC 'ells His Experiences in Big Battli On Western Front. The following letter was receiv y Mr. Lewis Perrin, who kindly < ered it to us for publication: (Officers Division, 74th General Hospital, B. E. F., France, Oct. 27, 1918. ear Mr. Perrin: We have been most too busy wi ritz lately for much corresponden id we are still entertaining him b made the acquaintance of one s gas shells and have been payi e penalty for the past ten days. (m glad to say tnougn, mac on lore I have been declared fit a ill leave here tomorrow for t ront again. For fear the next sh meet will not be so considerate te I will write you another insta lent of that "history for future g( rations" giving just a few of r xperiences in the famous old Hi snburg line. For several days we were renched in front of it and I hop* ever see a hotter place. Dead Gi lans lay everywhere but it was c f the question to bury them. 0 wn dead were removed at night. I ind us we had the heaviest conc( ation of artillery since the beg ing of the war. I might say, in t istory of the world. I was told n artillery officer afterwards tl oon/lincr nuer KO.OflO shf day over our head. It is impos !e for yoa to imagine the terri oises. The earth shook contir nsly like a big earthquake. T ight before the attack we had ivance 400 yards to straighten t ne. My guns were to go forwai he advance began at 9:30 and as as dark as pitch. We didn't fty yards before two of my m ere shot down right beside me. llled them in a shell hole a essed their wounds. One was Chi B' Armour, (from J. R. Glenn'i here we had to leave them. On ' ent jumping from one shell h< another. Then I heard a cry !mg Dut too late?we an diu I into his barb wire and eight ere caught. One of the boys g to get loose tore his clothi the white underwear gave . It seemed like all the n 1 guns in the world opened s. We came out but mir ing and most of us left soi ictly good skin as a warning s. 2 eventually reached our obj< and mounted my guns. We k? up during the night until t leers put down what is kno^ ie jumping off tape?a wh about two inches wide stretch s the whole front to insure t ice getting the right directi< work finished we withdrew ?ht to our old position, xt morning the big show sta its beyond description. Eve h weapon was used?The Tar II, our infantry next, then the cs y waiting for a chance to bre rough. The sky was simply fill th aeroplanes and during the shi ! saw a good many luckless cha me down in flames. Our men we inderful. Two hours after ze gy were through the Hindenbu ne and still going. Part of this line was an old turn ilt by Napoleon?a wonderi gineering feat. The canal is point runs under the city of? rough this massive tunnel?t1 les long and fifty feet in diamefr Irge boats were moored in it a p Germans had used them as I b. Branching off from the mz pnel were many small ones us dwellings. In one of these 1 and one of his much talked of g rine extracting plants. I kn< u won't believe what I now t u but I vouch for the truth of one end of a large room we fou furnace very much like a bak< rnace, built of brick. On it w? [ee . copper caldrons which woi Id about three bushels each. 0 Is filled with water and parts of man body cut into pieces about |ge as your hand. The head v, I shed but not beyond recognitic i next was plain water. The thi i water with a coat of hea ase about an inch deep. By tl nace were fourteen bodies stac like cord wood. In the back room was a large chopping bio h a severed hand lying on it. I i it a large meat axe. The fi >N r.ace was still warm. We had evident-jt< *y surprised him at his horrible task, f ss The roof and windows bore an im- r mcnse red cross. Can you imagine t! anything more horrible. c e(*j I will skin a bit here and go into ^ )?. I ^ T' the last stage 01 the fight. In five days we pushed him back nearly ^ twenty miles. It was great sport * . but a little trying on the nerves. s We sat up all night the night be- ^ fore the push began discussing plans. e ^ Everything suited me fine for it:0 I looked like I was out of it but at the ce . last minute I was ordered to geti v j ready to go with the first "wave." Ija ' as too late to start with them butj a n ^ to my sorrow, I caught them and s 'then "business picked up." I start-'s 1C6 . I ed through a village which I had! t nc*i reason to believe our infantry had c ll6 1 oassed throueh but when I reached e the center of the town I had better a reasons to believe that they had not. b 11 Machine guns opened up on every f 5n" i side and we had a merry half hour. 1 n^! There was only one thing to do and v ^n~ j we did it. That was to fight our u ! way out and as there were as many !n" j behind us as there was in front, we t ! ^jkept on pushing. Fritz couldn't un- c B1>! derstand that move so he quit and as v unusual called "Kamerad." We took f ur five officers and 150 men prisoners o *e* and counted twenty-five killed. Pret- i: ;n* ty good I think when there were * in- less than fifty of us and we only h he; lnof turn mpri VillpH and a few minor by casualties. He must have found out C i&t how few of us there were for he fc ills tried to counterattack, but he was p ai- too late. We had my four guns C | mounted then and we cut them to a iu_j pieces. I had the distinct pleasure of v he j sending three to the happy hunting v to I grounds. It sounds heartless to talk c he: that way but after you have seen f fd. j evidences of their work in French h ^ I villages you cease to regard them as t SO | human. Our outfit killed and took j e en! j risoner more that day lhar. we had o 11 men involved. t Npvf. Hnv wp rMishe."! strain and d '- ? r "o ir" captured a little ?".7 v*:th tbcut a s 3^* thousand civilians in it who had been c prisoners for four years. 1! hey were wild.. After I saw their condition ?*j and their joy I felt that the war was in" j worth while. They were kept in ignorance of what was taking place in in the outside world and none of thorn ng( knew that the U. S. was in the war. usi Every able-bodied person (both sexia~i es) had been drafted and sent to the UP i rear long ago. USj We can imagine their fate?The ,e | houses were looted of everything of t01 any value and things they couldn't j carry away they destroyed. They; sc" | made no effort to bury their dead. 5p*| At this stage of the game I had to ;^e|drop out I had been gassed several wn j days before but thought nothing of | it. But when the excitement was e<*! wer, I realized what a sad condition '^e 11 was in so I reported to the nearest >n*i first aid station and was sent to the I .MAW MM A T n ?V\ AVI A llliwrlvo/l f real ailU licic x C.III vnc; nunuxcu | * miles behind the lines enjoying all t rt- the comforts of home.' c !ry Perhaps it would be interesting to c tks know how the wounded are handled, t iV- It is the greatest proposition we have 1 ak When our stretcher bearers are with c ed us its easy but its very seldom we a ow ever see one so we have to devise all s tps i manner of methods to get them to c I ire; the rear. If we have prisoners it to simplifies matters a great deal. We j irg make a stretcher out of a blanket or r an overcoat and two rifles and detail s lei a couple of prisoners to carry him ful back. During the village fighting we t at | used old doors for stretchers for the t ?! bad cases. The wounded are sent to j wo the nearest "First Aid Post" where c I er. ] they are hastily bandaged. From here c rd I 'hey are relayed on more stretchers >il-1 to the Advanced Dressing Station, a lin | where a fresh bandage is put \>n if 1 ed; necessary and the wounds bathed, h we ] Hot coffee and warm food is always ^ ly-1 waiting here and if you are lucky r dw and fall in a British station a good; I ell stiff Scotch awaits you. The ambu-j j it. j lances meet you here and back to the j g nd Casualty Clearing Station you go. o jrsj (about 20 miles behind the line), g :re Here an antitetanus injection is giv- g lid en and minor operations performed, t ! TT i! _1 . 1 t neinere tne patients are ciassmea? 1 : a j Some go Jback to the line and some asjto the hospitals in the rear. The ones o 'as to go to the rear are divided into f >n. three classes?"Walkers", "Sitters" a irdiand "Stretcher Cases." About mid- p vy | night the orderly wakes you and you t bistre again joy riding in an ambu- I :k-1 lance. This time to a Red Cross t I of j train. The one I came down on was 1 ck'the most complete I ever saw. Each s 5e-1 coach accommodated 24 stretcher lr-j cases and carried a nurse and two rf. sndants. As soon as we were com-'te ortably settled an orderly came a- rtj ound with a tray of whiskeys. A lit- ? !c later he came along with tea and ffl rackers. Eventually we reached our K estination, a tremendous British H [ospital where we were again classi- H ed and the slightly wounded took 58 he journey again. This time to the ea coast. The hospitals ne.ir the i? T:? ars clea^H as fast as the pati- Sl nts recover sufficiently to travel in'J# rder to make room for emergencies.1^ You cannot realize the horror of 9 rar until you stay a day in a Casu- S lty Clearing Station and see the "J hysical wrecks come in. In one Jf tation I know of nine hundred Am- U! ricans who passsed through in twen- U y-six hours. These stations are Io- U ated in trios. One receives a day? Q| vacuates the next?then tidies up U nd gets in shape again the next? |f mt during our push they were all ir orced to work almost continuously. A i'he slightly wounded are put to n rork at once caring for their more 3 tnlucky brothers. 3 The most remarkable thing I no- n iced was the fact that no one lost 3 onsciousness, and some of them yf /ere horribly mangled. One poor 3 ellow (a German) had both legs and 3 me arm broken and a gaping wound if n his side but he was still able to ( 'Kamerad." Thirty minutes later 5 :e was dead. I don't understand it. M We, of course have to care for II lerman wounded as much as possi- Q tie, also. During the scrap at one Q dace I had collected a bunch of Q Jerman wounded and placed them in n i cellar' out of danger. As fast as rt ye could put our hands on prisoners Q tre sent them to the rear. I had eva- R uated all but ten when orders came rf or me to go forward again and I g iad to leave them. Three days la er, when the battle was over, I pass d through this village and I thought f my wounded prisoners. I went !| o the cellar and found them "all lead." I have never had such a J ensation in all my life?but of I ourse it was unavoidable on my [ art. Such is war. t I There is another subject which j[ ew people like to discuss but its one J ve can't overlook over here, and U hat is the care of the dead. In B rench warfare its simple. The bod- 0 es are sent to the rear at night and sntered in cemeteries chosen at ? eisure and generally beautiful spots. Jermanent details care for them and hey are admirably kept. A small vooden cross with the name, rank, ind date of death marks the resting )lace. Then when the regiment :omes out of the line a day is set ipart and one service is h$ld for all. t is very impressive. In a drive like he past six weeks this cannot be 'one. Burial parties are formed arid hese follow the advance about tweny four hours behind. Sites are seected near cross roads or some spot lasily described on the map and all >odies in the immediate vicinity are lollected and buried there. Where :rosses can be obtained they are used j >ut generally a steel helmet on a I lon/Miaf TirifVi o cmoll iflon+ififafinri 11 lisc is the only record but a very ippropriate one I think. All these ire later exhumed and removed to >ne of the larger cemeteries. We have suffered heavily in the >ast few weeks, but we have won a eputation which won't be forgotten oon. I don't know how the Abbeville >oys came out and I won't be able ;o hear until I return to the com)any. Any way you will have the :asualty list long before you reeive this. Some parts of this are a bit black I ind not what you could call "choice! iterature" but its all facts, and II lope you will pardon my blunders.! Whatever you do don't let anyone: ead this who has a son in the army, t might destroy their sleep. After rou have been over here a bit you :et accustomed to such but for the >nes at home these thoughts are notj ;ood. Its tough at times but it, :rows on you and like the Hudson?j he farther you go the bet^r you! ilro it But don't you get foolish and come iver. We have enough over here to inish the job and we need some one it home to keep them from signing >eace until we have leveled Berlin J o the ground and revenged France, f they let the army make peace? here won't be a spot of Germany! eft on the map. No one who has een this country can talk peace. Give my regards to everybody. Yours, W. D. "i ri r*? r-? ririnn r-i 1-1 n r-i r? ri r i n r*i n n r-? n i-i n m r ocnniJDilTnilntnsu^ i | | What if You He | I Seen a White \ i Oop,ra House IT. I V V/ M* W AA V WAIW W ! FRIDAY and ( ! ! SATURDAY 1 I DECEMBER J FROIS 3 ROU( I 20th & 21st s ! ; | ADMISSIOI j I Children j I Adults T F A VINP, We wish to express ou .1 . i . _ tne patronage ana suppun g by the people of this com: this method of announcing t toSsell out our stock betwee uary 1 Oth. We are offerin on goods suitable for gifts. many useful articles. Com< they are picked over. FOUNTAIN PENS WRIST WATCHES POCKET KNIVES LA VALLIERES SILVERWARE DIAMONDS SHEET MUSIC BRACELETS TOILET SETS WATCHES UMBRELLAS LOCKETS CUT GLASS CLOCK TRAYS RINGS Mr. & Mrs. R. Kll Parties having repair work call for same before Janua I id Never 1 i Voman? [1 ARZAN )FTHE 1 i nnn !; Am I 11 l EDGAR RICE BOUR- I j IH'S FAMOUS STORY 'OF [ j JUNGLE READ THE ( j C A FIRST RATE AT- J j TRACTION | ! ??i i N !; 25 Cents | j 35 Cents | j f BOBBBBBBB r appreciation of ;iven our business munity and take hat we are going :n now and Jang liberal savings Look over our 3 EARLY before LEATHER HAND BAGS I nnr.F. EMBLEMS. 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