The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, June 16, 1915, Page FIVE, Image 5
I
1 GEORGE BENE!
I WRITES FROM PARIS
4
LETTER FROM THE' FRONT j
TELLS OF THE FIGHTING AND j
THE GERMAN "DRIVE"
Canadians Saved the Day But Were j
"Wiped Out?Trains Coming Into J
v Paris W?f? Overcrowded With I
Wounded?Dr. Benet Writes His j
I Brother About breat war.
A (Columbia Record)
v Paris, May 9, Sunday.
For the past ten days the work
here has been very heavy, following
< the German drive on Ypres and Dunkerque,
to the north of Paris. They
made a desperate attempt to break
through the line there, and but for
the magnificent work af the Canadians
and Scotch, would have succeeded.
As it was, they gained one
mile, due chiefly to use of asphyxiating
bombs (chlorine and bromide
gases) against which the Canadians
were helpless. While unconscious the
Germans rushed forward and brained
them with the butts of guns, but
were checked finally, so 'with no ultimate
gain. The losses on each side
were heavy, and the Canadians were
practically aliped out. One of our
blesses told me "they do not run, the
Canadians." From all I can hear
that sums them up. They do not
run. But for that matter, the French
can show any of them how to stick.
The trains bringing wounded into
fans were su cruwucu tuncuu
middle of the week that our ambulances
went direct to Dunkerque over
the road, bringing the wounded back
in relays. Young Laurence Hemenway,
George Denny's brother-in-law,
* was in the thick of It, with his big
Pierce-Arrow ambulance. He told
me the sight at Dunkerque was terrible.
He is not a doctor, or even a
medical student, but he had to give
first aid to dozens he found in the
streets. He said he was "scared
stiff" of the shells at first, but after
warming up to the work, sou 1 forgot
about them, and hardly heard the
banging and smashing.
Dr Greenough and I commandeered
one of the hospital roadster :, and
with a driver went to La Chapelle t
ward the middle of the week, to mee:
one of the hospital trains. There
we found our Fords. We were very
courteously received by Capt. Durler,
the artillery officer detailed that
week to manage the station. He was
on furlough following two months
active service, and I noticed the Le,
gion of Honor modestly pinned inside
his breast pocket. This meant
he had run right into hell somewhere,
and got out. I later learned he
* pulled his sergeant out of a hot spot,
after the latter was down. The
captain spoke excellent English, so
I got quite a bit of information from
him. (Meeting him cn the stret,
you couldn't have told him from j
Skipper Dan Crawford, so I constant- J
ly expected him to call me "Georgie").
The station is composed of i
? a train shed, separated from the receiving
rooms by a long black curtain,
which adds a very dramatic element.
Although handling 700 to
1,C0C men a day (at that time) there
was absolutely no confusion?no !
shouting: and withal the entire behavior
of the place was "dignified," if
that describes what I mean. Capt.
Durier and a French surgeon were in |
charge, and that means everything. <
What they said was done, with no :
back talk, and no suggestions from J
? anyone. The result was, the entire ,
train of 600 badly wounded men j
were "commissioned" in some four j
or five hours. Such as were able to :
I walk stepped from the train, passed i
through the black curtain, and entered
the receiving room. His knap- J
-A- and fhpf>ked.
ISaCK, etc., WCXC Larvcii 1*4.V. -
A clerk then took his name, regi-!
ment. home address, wife's name and ^
address, and he was passed to a little j
French surgeon, who hastily examined
him, and if his wound was serious,
passed him to an excellently equipped
dressing room, where a French surgeon
and an American nurse (recognized
the best in the world) dressed
him. He has a card made out here,
stating nature of wound and dressing,
and he is then turned over to the
ambulance drivers of the American
hospital, the Japanese hospital or
whatnot. With the wounded men, the
stretchers are brought in to the
receiving room, a hasty examination
made, and the man sent at once to
a hospital. This in brief is the rou>
tine. Capt. Durier escorted us ovei
the place, and as I passed one pool
devil in a cot he noticed the "American
ambulance" on my uniform
sleeve. Raising himself, he said in
English: "How's everything at home.
Doc? I'm from Kansas, and got in
four months before the Bosches got
me. And say, Doc, for God's sake,
have you got an American cigarette?"
He was a Frenchman running
a farm in Kansas, and enlisted
last fall. His shout upon receiving
a real Fatima that I brought over
here did me good. He had a shell
wound of the thigh with the bone
sticking out, but knew the value of a
Fatima in France. No one but the
French would have thought to make
such a place attractive. There were
flowers everywhere, and in place of
trying to partition off the big shed,
they had simply erected portable
houses, brightly painted and serving
admirably. These were arranged
around a little "square," in the center
of which were braziers of coals,
as the day was chilly, and the poor
devils, in their tattered coats, and
bloody faces, drinking hot soup, and
smoking the eternal cigarettes, was a
great sight. We came back with 12
Fords filled, each carrying three
"blesses." It was a very inspir.ng
sight to see the fortitude and placidity
of these wonderful Frenchmen,
putting up with anything suggested
Mr tViA (>nmmanrfinp officers of the sta
tion, and eternally saluting and smiling,
and "Bon jour M'sieur-ing."
They are a great people.
By Rail to Meaux.
The most interesting day I have
spent outside the hospital was at
Meaux, with Dr. Greenough and couple
of us. We left Paris in the morning
and went by rail to Meaux, where
we were lucky enough to find an old
Delahaye limousine, and an Englishspeaking
chauffer. We covered in all
65 miles up and down the old lines of
the battlefield of the Marne, the most
sensational fight in all history. It was
here the hastily mobilized and green
French army demonstrated to the
world that the splendid "machine" of
V. AlucK was not oniy not invinciuie,
but capable of doing the 2:20 in record
time?back the way they came.
The Germans fought desperately, and
for three days the losses were frightful,
but the little Frenchmen shoved
them back 50 miles, and although the
"contemptible little army" of General
French did much to turn the tide
for the allies, still the French deserve
the major part of the credit.
Keen for "The Tommies."
Due to the English having practically
saved Meaux, on the second day
of the fight, the inhabitants of this
pretty little place are naturally pret
ty keen for the "Tommies." Unfortunately,
our uniform, the regulation
French Red Cross uniform, is almost
identical with the English officers'?
which, added to our talking English,
produced considerable excitement.
Small boys yelled after us, "V\vo
L'Anglais," etc. I was somewhat embarrassed,
as it seemed unfair somehow,
but as Dr. Greenough said, "you
can't be in the English arm / every
day, and we didn't design the uniforms."
Hence I tried to give what
I supposed was a Lord Kitchener return
to the salutes. All of the: e
towns are garrisoned, so we were
kept busy saluting. Dr. Greenough
is a very striking looking man, nr.d
*v-i o ! /if n flria in Vile "llil .
form, so naturally the sold'ers
thought he was a big gun out inspecting
the lines with his stafF. (T
wasn't such a bad figure of a subaltern
myself.) Eut I could never
get used to these splendid big cuirasseurs
stiffening up and saluting;
while I stalk by, wondering if I saluted
with my off hand or not. They
are the big chaps with the steel helmets.
and horse hair tails hanging
down.
First Line of Trenches.
Just out of Chambrey, we found
the first line of French trenches, hastily
built to check the German advance.
These were not more than
three feet in height, but seemed to
have served their purpose . Just behind
and across the road was a cemetery
wall, pierced with holes for the
muzzles of the French mitrailleuse,
which did such terrific slaughter in
the German lines. They each fire
8UU per minute, ana mey must xiuve
50 of them. I took some pictures
here of a gutter pipe on the wall,
showing the terrific fire this spot was
subjected to. Each of the above
mentioned towns presented the same
pictures?houses tumbled into the
street, churches slashed, and always
swarms of polite and charming little
i
!
I
^rench children climbing about the ]
uins. These particularly impressed
ne. They were so friendly, and not *
he least shy or self-conscious. They |
i ;ried hard not to laugh at my French, $
i The most impressive sight of the day $
, .vas the hundreds, and I might say, i
thousands, of graves that I passed for ij
niles and miles. Each French grave g
with its little tri-colcr and flowers, |
xnd each German with its little wood- |
?n cross and stenciled "Allemande"
md flowers?always the flowers.
The fields were all under cultivation <!;
md very green and fresh loking. One
could hardly visualize the scene of a !;
few months ago. About 15 miles ;!
from Meaux we passed along the historic
mile of poplar lined road (my j!;|
idea of "France"!) so well described !(!
by R. H. Davis in his "With the !jl
Allies" Here the trees two and !;!;
three feet in diameter at the base ;>!;
were literally shot ofl', and still lie ;
sprawled in the ditches. The limbs v:
J2
hanging down looked very much like
the blazes we made as kids in Cash- 1?!
iers, to mark a trail, only these twigs
were 18 inches in diameter. Many
unexploded shells still appear high ;j'
up, imbedded in the trunks, and
others passed through two feet of !
live wood, leaving holes as smooth
and roimd as if made with an auger.
For a mile the trunks at the height
of a man's head were "fuzzy" from
the frightful rifle and machine gun
fire that raged here for 48 hours. I
saw dozens of the red French caps in
the ditches and fields. Here and ;jj
there a gray German overcoat, or ft
what was left of it, showed as a reminder
of that awful day. It is reported
that 2,000 mer were killed in $
this mile of road those two days, and , !>;
in one grave there lie over a thous- j ;>!;
and Germans killed in a wheat field : \\\
300 yards from the French machine
guns (which were invented by' an.'!!:
American and refused by our army.) Mi;
Over this big grave a huge cross had ;i;
been erected by bolting a 20-foot log ;j;
blown from a poplar by a German
shell, to the trunk it came from. At ,!;
the foot were the inevitable flowers, hi'
placed there by the people the Ger- ;i;
mans came to wipe out. You can't I
beat the French. While I stood there jjf
an old priest came up the road, head
uncovered, and passing the German 3
grave, he stopped and mumbled a. l?
prayer. He then saluted us for =
several seconds, and walked off. Over rr
a single grave, someone had spread a d
gray German overcoat, and there it ti
has been since the fighr,. I wanted a si
German button, but no t bad enough t\
to take it here. I wonder how many
women and children that bie German si
grave means everything to. They will h
never know where those poor fellows
lie, as the day was hot and unless a w
menace to their own health, the Ger- f;
mans ignore their dead. Hence the si
French buried them, and helter skel- a
ter, as hot weather was not over, and n
they had no time to catalogue the f]
little zinc numbers attached to each "
man's wrist. But afte:: all, that's a ji
small matter. They arc "missing," c;
and that word serves to keep hope si
going, and perhaps it h^lps?I don't r<
A Word as to Trenches. S]
I could go on and on, and tell much s<
of inspecting the new tranches Joffre y
is digging across France, but I must i?
stop somewhere. However, a word as _
to the trenches. These are wonder- |
fully constructed, and built for five
years. Owing to our(uniforms we got
down in them, and took pictures ad li
lib. Standing in the trench as it is ?
now built, my eyes were about 15
inches below the edge. By standing
on a shelf, I could just see over?so
how these Frenchmen expect to, I t
can't say. The walls give my shoulders
about 12 inches on either side,
and are covered with willow osiers, ^
"wicker work," to prevent washing.
The floors are paved with gravel and j
with corduroy, beautifully made, so ^
there will be no more standing in
water. They are well drained. At
intervals of 20 feet the trench turns
about a heavily logged abuttment,
which was not present in the first 1
trenches built, and enabled the Ger
mans to pour^i flanking fire down a
trench, "enfilade" with terrific
slaughter. This practically obviates
that. Shelters are scattered here and 1
there and very "comfy." Underground
passages connect with other
trenches, and with the "75" ("75"
is the name for the French field guns
?means 75 mm. diameter at muzzle)
gun stands 200 yards in the rear.
These pass under the roads where
necessary. All in hope they never
have to use them. But the Germans
simply can't take them. In addition,
there is a 50-yard wide barbed
wire entanglement running down the
entire length of the trenches, so how
I): ;', fj ^|Wg?M
I ; J
I Kool Kra;
Sjij: during this hot
S CLOTHES lik
jfjf tive to start witl
njij: and keep their
jjj| lies in the fact t
I $6.50, :
SI; We give you a
S| style, fit, and la;
SI ^4
| Pari
ian or beast could get through
on't see. Add to this the 75's, n
ailleuse' and rifles, and you have
:rong team. But enough. We r
jrned to Paris about night.
I dined with Dr. Du Bourchet, tl
jrgeon-in-chief of the ambulan
ospital, here.
One thing that impressed me the
as the ease with which the enti
imily switched from their own Ri
an to English. This included the
11 down to a 16-year-old boy.
lakes me ashamed. Here we ai
rom Harvard and supposed to ]
educated," I supose, and not ma
ick in the crowd, including Cushin
an do more than ask "Do you si
tamps here?" There's somethi:
Dtten about it all. Dr. Greenouj
peaks Canadian French like a stre;
3 eets about perfectly well, but
liss DuBourchet confided in me,
? "ter'ble Franch."
Comparison is the highest form
uttery. All cigars sold in Abbevi
re represented to be as ?ood, or bett
lan Speed's Cinco's. There is nothi
ke them. Stick to them. They ke
good taste in your mouth and a ek
ead.
Old Gold and Silvej
aken in exchange ?
lew Jewelry Store tli
anieas Cash.
R. Kirk wood.
sext to the Caiul
Kitchen.
MAXWELLS
MARKET
T. H. MAXWELL, Propriet
ALL PORK SAUSAGE
MALL HAMS, KOAST PI<
FRESH FISH and OYSTER!
iighest Cash Prices Paid 1
Cattle, -Hogs and Sheep,
Salted Hides.
PHONE 298
Maxwell's Market
^ PEOP)
. THAT
yk sho\\
2| NewS
is by far
complete i
^ so t0?'|/^
ia wearing
sh and Palm!
weather, and there s real <
e these. They're not on
a, but they give service, t
* good looks indefinitely
;hat they give so much mc
AT
$7.50, $8.50 a:
.11 that is best in good ?
stine satisfaction.
u
<er & F
Ti Who Struck Billy Patterson?
I
n-l
a New York Sun.
e- To the Editor of The Sun?Sir
The saying "Who struck Billy Patter
he son?" originated many years ago ii
ce Baltimore during a political cam
paign. There was a ward boss wh<
re
re
isI
PALM R
If '
i | Cleaned a:
as '|J
on ,
J? U\J ^
?? We have bo
tep h\ ~
" j Press for t
'4 Tr*
/jy AUUiV HJiW M V
* riion
' ?>
3
Cigars
or ??'??-??"
Speed's E
G' Phor
3
Always [Read}
Stationery
LE TELL US jjg|
OUR jjjB
ZING OF |2
?Stjte:||
; Ithing If
flip Idfrorpcf o-nc\ mriGi :*????
n town. You'll find ;jsjp
There's real pleasure i?aS|
f these new
Beach Splits ijjit
economy in buying i 1g1
ly the most attrac- i 111
hey're made to lastr ijijg ?
Their economy ijigr;
>re lor your money |jg |;
ad $10.00 II
Summer Clothes?
?eese || .
thought he was it. One dajrr ic: at
crowd some one struck him. Nc*.?ac>
knew who did it. The boss said:.; fl".
: will give $10 to know who sttmrik:.
- Billy Patterson." He never found.'
* It was immediately taken, as
- word all over the city.
> Baltimore, Md. May 29*
-V ?
H SUITS I
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Candy \
rug Store.
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Toilet Goods