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003 - Part 2 · Letters from the American Ambulance in France

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part two of with the American Ambulance Field Service in France.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Personal Letters of a Driver at the Front by Leslie Busswell.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Monday the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: twenty eighth, yesterday we heard from Doc who wired to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: say that he would arrive at ten o'clock Sunday night.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I have just seen him, and he looked splendidly. I
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: soon retired to my room to read the mail which
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: he brought, letters from U and H, being the only
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: American ones. Last night I was on duty all night
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: at x and it was a great strain riding backward
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and forward in pitch darkness, up and down the very
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: steep and narrow road. I had to go to Obage
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Sampierre at about two o'clock this morning. This road is
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in full view of the Germans, and much bombarded and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: shrapne burst close by, which reminded me that a lovely
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: moonlight night, with trees and hills and valleys dimly shaping themselves,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: it can be other than romantic. It was a sad
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: trip for me. A boy about nineteen had been hit
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: in the chest and half his side had gone tray presee.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: They told me and as we lifted him into the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: car by a little brick house which was a mass
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of shell holes, he raised his sad, tired eyes to
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: mine and tried a brave smile. I went down the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: hill as carefully as I could, and very slowly. But
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: when I arrived at the hospital, I found I had
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: been driving a hearse and not an ambulance. It made
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: me feel very badly the memory of that faint smile,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: which was to prove the last effort of some dearly
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: loved youth. All the poor fellows look at us with
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the same expression of appreciation and thanks, And when they
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: are unloaded, it is a common thing to see a soldier,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: probably suffering the pain of the damned, make an effort
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to take the hand of the American helper. I tell you,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: tears are pretty near. Sometimes I send you some photos
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: taken by a little camera I bought, as my large
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  Speaker 1: one is too big. Oh my love to you and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: to those who make the memory of America so dear
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: to me. Pont A Mousson, July second, I have just
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: written you a short letter, but as a doc was
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: not here to take it and mail it from Paris,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I could write nothing of interest in it. Therefore follows
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: this long detailed one for him to post for me
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: when he comes. Since my last to you, he returned
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to Paris after being here two days. He looks very well, indeed,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and amuses us by pretending he does not see any
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: excitement here. As a matter of fact, whenever he comes,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: we do seem to have a lull in the fighting.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Why I don't know, but one of these days he
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: will arrive when something exciting is going on. Up to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the day before yesterday, one day seemed very much like
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: another continual explosions of des par a, arive a, collecting wounded,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: et cetera. But last Thursday Doc left. On Wednesday, we
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: had forty eight hours of truly hard time. I was
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: on day service at x, a little village, as I
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: told you, about one and a half kilos away of
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  Speaker 1: one street, about two hundred meters long, and one church.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I got up there at seven thirty and after taking
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: two or three trips with wounded to dear Luire was
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: returning to lunch at eleven o'clock when an urgent call
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: took me to Obert Saint Pierre, a little post desecur
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: on the top of the hill past Montaville. I also
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: wrote you about Oberst Saint Pierre in my last letter.
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  Speaker 1: To get there you have to go on an uphill
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  Speaker 1: road within uncomfortable range of both German and French fire.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: On this trip, as my little car climbed along up
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  Speaker 1: the hill, I saw shells bursting on both sides of
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the road, and I do not hesitate to say that
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: my feelings were strained as I entered the wood. When
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  Speaker 1: I arrived at my destination, I felt a bit shaken,
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  Speaker 1: but the sight of some eight wounded made me realize
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: that the sooner I got them down to safety, the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: better for us all. So back I went down the
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  Speaker 1: little winding road to the sound of shells exploding uncomfortably near.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: That was the day's start. Later, the Germans fired fifteen
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: thousand shells into the Bois of Petre. The noise was terrific.
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  Speaker 1: Almost the whole of our first line of trenches was
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  Speaker 1: plowed up, and our cars had to run all night.
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  Speaker 1: About six o'clock I went back to dinner, but no
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: sooner had I arrived than a call took three of
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: us back to x and I had another trip with wounded.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I chatted with the matissin Chef, a fine looking man,
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  Speaker 1: and he told me he would give me some photos.
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  Speaker 1: My car was standing outside his little posta de secours,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and he asked me a few questions about Fords in general.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: While the wounded were being put into my car. On
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  Speaker 1: the way down, several shells fell all around the road,
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  Speaker 1: and I was glad to get back to the bureau.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Next morning, Friday, we learned at breakfast that the Germans
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: had sent over a hundred shells into the little village
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of X one Street, only about three hundred meters long, remember,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and that there was urgent need for our men there.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I went up on foot with Schroeder. In the afternoon,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I was off duty and learned that my friend, the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: mattise Chef, had been blown to pieces by a shell
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: which landed exactly where my car had stood the night before.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: The poor little village looked very sad, for although a
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: hundred two Thames would not utterly destroy a village, one
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: of them makes a house look stupid after it has
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: been hit. We had been asked to go and see
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the French one fifty five firing, and on inquiring whether
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: it would be safe to go, a smile and an
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: answer to the effect that shells were dropping eight at
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: a time all around. The battery sent the three of
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: us back to pont A Mausan Saturday. The bombardment going
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: on now is terrific. I have been standing about a
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: hundred yards from my little house and looked across the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: valley at Monteville Bois a Petre, and watched the shells
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: exploding by the dozens. Monday, July fifth, I was called
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: away suddenly an emergency. And this is the first moment
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: I have had to myself since. I doubt if I
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: shall ever forget the last thirty six hours. They have
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: been so full of work, apprehension and horror. Tuesday five
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: p m. I must write down the events of the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: last three days, for I suppose they have been the
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: most tremendous ones I have experienced. I tried to write yesterday,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: but only got as far as those three lines. And
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: any moment I may be called for an attack, which
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: we expect hourly, let me see. I must go back
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to Sunday, the fourth of July. We had arranged a
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: grand fete, and the Governor, the colonel, and the major
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: were our guests, with three other captains from various regiments.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: An elaborate meal was prepared, and all was decorated. A piano,
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  Speaker 1: a stage, and many flowers and so forth. The feast
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: was to start at seven o'clock, and nearly every soldier
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: in all the regiments round here knew it was the
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: American Fete day. Suddenly, at about two o'clock commenced a
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: tremendous artillery duel. The whole earth seemed to tremble, and
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the noise of rifle fire almost drowned the explosions of shells.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: The Germans had attacked for some days. Most of the
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: French batteries had been leaving here for up north, where
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: a large army is concentrating, and the Germans, who know everything,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: attacked us at the most unfortunate moment, and by so
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: doing one back in that short attack much of the
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  Speaker 1: land they had lost since December, the winning of which
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: has caused France the loss of over forty thousand men.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: We all rushed to our cars to be ready for
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the call, and about six o'clock every car was ordered
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to x poor little village, already badly enough damaged by
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  Speaker 1: the bombardment of a few hours before. We worked late,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: and I got to bed at three thirty, having carried
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  Speaker 1: some fifty wounded a distance of about ten kilometers ten
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: trips two hundred kilometers in all, we carried away over
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  Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty crippled wrecks, who three hours before
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  Speaker 1: were the pride of their nation and families. Monday, of course,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: was a hard day's work, for I was on X
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  Speaker 1: service all night. I e two cars stay always at
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  Speaker 1: X all night for service. I took four long trips
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  Speaker 1: in the afternoon, and about five o'clock managed to get
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: an hour's sleep, and it was lucky I did. X
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  Speaker 1: was quiet when I got up there about seven o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: and till nine o'clock. I chatted to soldiers and then
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  Speaker 1: turned into the telephone office to sleep on my stretcher,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: fully dressed, until I should be called. At one o'clock.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I woke up to the sound of what might have
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: been an earthquake. The Germans had attacked again and were
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: bombarding X. We went down into a little dugout where
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: we stood listening with strained faces for thirty five minutes
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: to the shouting of soldiers, the cracking of rifles, and
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  Speaker 1: the terrific reports of French des pars and German a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: RIVEI literally the whole place trembled, and when a shell,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: probably at two ten, arrived in the village, it always
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  Speaker 1: seemed to us, poor rats, that it had exploded in
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  Speaker 1: the room above us. No sooner had the attack stopped
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: than a phone message came through. Can an ambulance come
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: immediately to Aubert Sampierre? And of course I climbed out
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  Speaker 1: of the cellar, wound up my car and drove up
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  Speaker 1: the hill. The old car, which was in the Battle
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: of the Marn, seemed to know it was on a
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: pretty dangerous trip, and it went like a bird. Any
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: unpleasant shocks of bursting shells, et cetera I may have
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: received on my way up were quickly compensated for by
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the greeting of the major. I wished to thank you
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: and to congratulate you on the quickness and efficiency with
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: which you and your comrades execute their orders. I took
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: four more trips, and at twelve o'clock returned to x
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and thought I would get a little rest. I was
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: just talking with the phone operator when we saw a
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: flash and an explosion in the courtyard. After picking ourselves
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: up from the floor where we had thrown ourselves, we
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: hastily returned to the dugout. For three quarters of an hour,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the second attack went on, and in this dugout, three
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: hundred yards from the German trenches, the noise was terrific,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: and I wondered whether I was to be a corpse,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: a German prisoner, or still a conducteur Amboulan's American. When
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the attack and bombardment ceased, work began and a general
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: call was sent to our bureau. And before long, as
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I descended the hill to pont A Mousson with the
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: first carload of mutilated, I passed our fellows, tootling up
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the hill full speed. We worked until six o'clock, carrying
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: down a hundred and eighty or more wounded, and then
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the cars returned to headquarters as I could manage the
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: few remaining blessees. About seven o'clock, tired out, I made
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a last trip to Obe Lampierre, and, finding no wounded there,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: descended to the next Costa de se cour Claubois and
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: asked if they had any wounded. No. None, but surely
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: there was a couchet on the stretcher there. Come and
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: see he is we fear not suitable for your ambulance.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I went up and lifted the covering from his head,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and all I saw was a headless trunk. Our dearly beloved, lieutenant,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: said one of the soldiers, and his voice was not
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: a steady one. Nor were my thoughts peaceful as I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: went home to cafe o lay and some sleep. At
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: four o'clock on Tuesday, I woke up with orders to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: evacuate the Ponto Moussin hospital to Beville. I turned in
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: about two o'clock next afternoon to sleep again, pretty tired.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Wednesday came the counter attack. I must now tell you
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: what we have authentically learned. On Sunday, July fourth, the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Germans made such a successful attack at cas En Reserve
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: a lacrois des came positions of the boisle of Petre
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: with petrol and gas, hand grenades, mines, torpedoes, three twenties,
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  Speaker 1: two tens and one fifty five's, one o fives and
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: seventy sevens. That the French lost much, that they had
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: gained in the last six months, that they had been
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: taken unawares, and that we must have everything ready to
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: leave Pont m Mousson at a moment's notice. Next came
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the news that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday attacks had been
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: so successful for the French that they had regained all
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: they had lost on Sunday. Wednesday was a very exciting
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: day for me, and I had my nearest escape. We
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: were evacuating Pont m Mousson Hospital for Belleville. We had
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: not finished this on Tuesday, and I had three couchets
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: and three assis in my car. A captain was seated
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: next to me, wounded in the knee. As I neared
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: de Lois, I heard sounds of shells exploding, and as
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I reached the outskirts of the town, I saw a
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: two ten land in the railway station, some hundred yards
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: to the right of the main road. I asked the
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: captain if he thought it better to wait till the
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: bombardment was over, and he replied, I must leave this
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: to your judgment, as we are in your car. So
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I decided that, as the shells generally fall at regular
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: intervals of three, five or seven minutes, the Germans are
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: so methodical that when you know the time they are firing,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: you can know to the second when the next shell
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: will arrive. I would go on this time. However, more
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: than one battery was shelling Dieu Laois, and as I
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: was passing a house on the road, it was hit
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: by a shell. All was black dust and smoke, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I had perforce to pull up a minute. Two people
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: in the house were killed, and although my car was
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: covered with brick, dust and debris, no one was even bruised.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I don't want to come any nearer. However, I carried
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: over forty wounded yesterday, a distance of one hundred and
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: sixty kilos, and at nine o'clock turned in to sleep,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: to be waked up at two o'clock to go to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Aubert Saint Pierre. Schroeder and I both went, as they
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: had some fourteen wounded and it was necessary to have
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: two cars. It was a glorious morning, and when I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: got to the top of the hill, all was quiet,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and God's peace seemed to be everywhere. The Major was
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: there to receive us, and so interested and appreciative is
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: he that any one of us would do anything for him.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Just as I was starting down with a full load,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I found I had picked up a nail, and a
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: puncture was the order of the day. Two fellows ran
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: forward and explaining that they were chauffeurs in peacetime refused
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: to let me work on it, and the major made
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: me sit on a fallen tree by the roadside and
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: smoke a cigarette and talk to him. We are, of
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: course mere soldiers, but to be treated so kindly and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: so thoughtfully makes us feel that we must go on forever.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: The major said, you have no idea what comfort and
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: reassurance your cars and your work give to these French soldiers.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I made one more trip to Claubois, where they gave
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: me some coffee, and I paid my respects to the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: bodies of three officers just killed in the trenches. I
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: had a German wounded cochet given me, and I probed
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: out the fact that there were some six or eight
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: French waiting to be taken. Oh, but he is seriously wounded,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: take him first. When I arrived at the hospital, I
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: watched the German prepared for operation. He had seven bullet
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: wounds in the shoulder, five still remaining, three in the leg,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: and both arms broken. I picked up his overcoat and
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: I noticed that the top button was pierced by a bullet.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: So I cut it off and kept it as a remembrance.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: A gruesome one but I will always remember that in
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: France the German went before the less wounded frenchmen Thursday
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: four p m. An attack is now going on, and
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I suppose about seven o'clock there will be a general
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: call to X Sunday my prophecy about an attack was correct.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Now there is a lull again, and I have some
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: moments to myself to write about the last three days. Ever,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: since Sunday, July fourth, there has been an attack and
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: counter attack, and life has been real hell for those
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: poor fellows in the first line of trenches. Every imaginable
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: kind of instrument of destruction has been hurled on them mines.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: The narrow part fits into the gun, which is a
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: sort of mortar radius about four hundred meters, torpedoes radius
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: about four hundred meters, three twenties, two fifties, two twenties
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: down to seventy sevens, burning petrol, chlorine, all this not
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: in dozens, but in thousands and tons. No one can
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: believe what it is like there. It is indescribable. And
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the Germans are getting the same thing too. I suppose
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the French have lost over twenty five hundred this week
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: in wounded and killed, and many prisoners, and this over
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: a line of seven Kolomns, and the Germans many more.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Day and night. Our section has gone backward and forward,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: full of wounded and dying, and we are all feeling
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: pretty done up. Yesterday they bombarded pont Ar Massan and
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: hit a church which burnt all day and killed some people.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: But there are not many left here now, and hardly
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: any soldiers last night. As after every attack, we eagerly
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: asked how the fight had gone. Here we had gained
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: a trench, there, we had gained two trenches. Here, we
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: had not won or lost, but always the same remark,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: But the dead and wounded. At any rate, the Germans
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: are held, and our many reinforcements have made the position
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: fairly safe. On Friday, I again took down a German wounded,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: this time a German of the Kaiser's or crown Prince's bodyguard.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: The German Crown Prince is against us here. He was dying.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Picture to yourself, a fine, truly magnificent man, over six
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: feet four, wonderful strength, with a hole through both lungs.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: He could not speak, and when I got to the hospital,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I asked in German if he wanted anything. He just
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: looked at me and then chokingly murmured katholiic. I asked
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: a soldier to fetch the priest, and then two broncardiers gretcherbearers,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and the doctor and the priest, and I knelt down
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: as he was given extreme unction. This is a little
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: picture I shall never forget. All race hatred was forgotten,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Romanist and Anglican. We were in that hour, just all Catholics,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and a French priest was officiating for a dying German,
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: a bosch the race that has made Europe a living hell.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: I came back about seven o'clock at night to the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: hospital with more wounded, and asked if he still lived, Yes,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: would I care to see him? I went in, and
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: although he breathed his last within an hour after, his
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: look showed recognition, and that man died. I am sure,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: with no hatred for France, I could tell you a
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: multitude of stories, stories so horrible I cannot forget, so
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: pathetic that tears are not rarely in my eyes. On
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Friday night, I was on Monteville a duty, and a
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: new regiment arrived bon comarade to me at once, how
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: many wounded, et cetera. They asked, I could not tell
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: them that they were going to a place where between
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: their trench and the German trench were hundreds of mangled
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: forms once their fellow citizens, arms, legs, heads scattered, gist
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: jointedly everywhere and where. All night and all day, every
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: fiendish implement of murder falls by the hundred into their
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: trenches or onto those ghastly forms, some half rotted, some
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: newly dead, some still warm, some semi alive, stranded between
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: foe and friend, and hurls them yards into the air,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to fall again with a splash of dust, as a
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: rock falls into a lake. All this is not exaggerated.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: It is the hideous truth which thousands of men here
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: have to witness day and night. Saturday night they came back,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: some of those poor fellows I spoke a cheery word
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: to on Friday. No arms, no hands, no feet, one leg,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: no face, no eye. One glorious fellow I took had
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: his hand off, And although it was a long, trying
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: drive to dear Lurrois, he never uttered a word. I
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: touched his forehead when I arrived and whispered, bon garage, mombros.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: He looked at me a moment and answered, would to
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: God he had taken my life, my friend. To day,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I went to take three wounded officers to tool, some
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: thirty the kilometers away, and before starting I went into
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: the hospital to see if I could do anything for
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: any of those butchered by civilization. I saw a friend,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the man who had offered me a journyman bayonet. He
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: beckoned me with his eyes, and then have they forgotten me?
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I have been here for five hours and both my
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: legs are shattered. It was true that every bed was
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: full of wounded waiting to be dressed. But I went
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: straight up to the metatzin Chef and told him that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a friend was over there with both legs broken, and
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: could he be attended to. Ah, we have been looking
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: after the others first, as he must die, but I
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: will do what I can. I stood there and watched
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: his two legs put into a position that looked human,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and then I bade adieu to a new found friend.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I think I am glad he will die. I would
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: prefer to die then to be crippled for life, and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: if my turn comes, I only hope I may not recover.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: To be helpless, it is no good trying to make
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: you understand what horror really is. You must see a
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: bit of it as we see it here to be
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: able to semi realize what that place, the boil of
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Puatre is like. It was known by the Germans when
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: held by them as ex and Kessel, which as cauldron,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and as Wittenwalde widows would. I wish you would cut
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: out and keep for me anything mentioned in the official
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: reports about the Bois of pletre pont Are Moussin cat
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: En Reserve probably the most mutilated, unthinkable place in the world.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Lacrois des Calme et cetera. Monday, I have just received
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the mail with lots of nice letters. It was so
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: jolly hearing from you all. I am glad to tell
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: you that this section is to be mentioned by order
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: of the army, and it will probably receive the coua
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: de guerre, which our section commander will wear. Of course,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: we may all get some sort of metal some time
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: as well. Perhaps if my letter seems too horrible, just
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: don't send it on to the friends who might otherwise
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: care to hear. My only object in writing so fully
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: is that I do want you all to realize the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: futility the other u damnable wickedness and butchery of this war.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: P s. The Governor of the Department of Lorraine, sent
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: from Nanci the following tribute on this day when you
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: celebrate your national independence, at the same hour that France,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: in violent combat, defends her independence against an enemy, whose
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: madness for domination threatens the liberty of all nations, and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: whose barbarous methods. Men of civilization, I address to you
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the expression of the profound friendship of the French for
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: your great and generous nation, and take this occasion to
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: offer new assurance of the intense gratitude of the population
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: of Lorraine. For the admirable devotion of all the members
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: of the American ambulance of pont Ammousson pont A Mousson.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: July sixteenth, it so happened that a wounded officer was
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: going to Paris, and he posted the letters of July
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: second to you for me, and therefore you got there
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: two weeks earlier. Now Doc has suddenly returned on his
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: way to Pennie, and I am writing about the last
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: few days. They have been full of misery and yet
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: full of pleasure. The fourteenth of July, the day of
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: the fall of the Bastille was to be a fete
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: day for France, as usual, but I little thought I
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: should spend such a wonderful day myself. Schroeder and I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: were invited to pay a visit to the batteries above
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: one of our postas Accoux, and as we were both
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: off duty, about three o'clock, we went up to be
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: in one of our service cars, and thence walked to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: see our friends. If anyone doubts what grateful friends and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: how appreciative the soldiers are for our little help here,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: they should have seen the welcome we were given. We
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: were shown the Soissantia kansas, the two twenties, the one
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: fifty five, and you must realize by that how completely
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: we foreigners are trusted. For could the Germans but know
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: where these guns are? Few of our friends would live
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to see France when the war next. We were shown
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: all over the Abri little dugouts about ten to fourteen
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: feet underground and covered with three or four layers of
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: good sized trunks like this diagram. These they retired to
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: when the Bosches bombard the wood. All along the paths
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: leading from one big gun to another were shells two
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: or three hundred great things, about three feet eight inches high.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: We then went and had some beer with our friends,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: all non commissioned officers, and about four o'clock a corporal
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: came to say that the one fifty fives were going
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to fire four rounds and would we care to go
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and watch? As the officer invited us, of course, we
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: followed our guide to the gun and they all posed
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: while I took a photo. Then the officer asked me
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: if I would care to photo the gun being fired,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: and I said yes. I stood some ten meters away
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and had just pressed the button of the camera when
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I jumped half out of my skin at the noise
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: of the explosion. I shall anxiously look for the negatives,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: and I hope they will be good. It was now
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: five o'clock and we had to return to pont A Mousson.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Would we stay to dinner the fourteenth July? What spend
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: France's fete day? With France's artillery in a wood some
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: two kilos from the Germans, surrounded by the guns that
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: were fighting for her liberty. It sounded too good, of
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: course we accepted, so five of us, three French artillerymen
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: and Schroeder and I walked down to get to be
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: on the road. Our ambulances travel all day long. We
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: were all in one line across the road when without warning, bang,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: thirty meters away, earth was thrown yards into the air.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: The noise was terrific, and then the black, dense smoke
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: began almost lazily to fade away. We all five stood still,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: semi crouching, although inwardly knowing that all precautions were then futile,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: that if we were to be killed by the eclaw
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: of that explosion, we would not escape. It was too late.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: After five or ten seconds, we breathed again, and I
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: looked at my companions. Three of them had been firing
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: heavy shells for eleven months, but their sun burnt faces
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: had assumed the most haggard, pale expression I have ever seen.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I had no looking glass, but I expect if Schroeder
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: writes his experience to his people, he will include my
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: face as being like the rest. Had we been twenty
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: yards further on or thirty yards farther back, FIENI the
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: ecclaw of a German shell always go like this diagram,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: but the French like this diagram. The strain made me
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: give a little laugh, which froze pretty quickly on my lips.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: For I was silenced with a look ATNT listen for
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the next des part. Ten anxious ears listened, but it
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: was just a chain Dan's German shell, and no more arrived.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: When we returned to go to dinner about an hour
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: and a half later, I asked them to help me
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: to find the fuse, and there it was still hot.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I shall keep it in memory of July fourteenth, nineteen fifteen.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: We sat down in that little wooden shelter, about sixteen
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: of us, and I cannot tell you what a happy
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: party we were, laughter and song fetting the two honored guests,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the American the captain heard we were dining with his
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: non commissioned officers, and sent up three bottles of white
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: wine to drink the health of the allies. We had
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: brought some moselle as a present to our hosts, and
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: when the others were finished, our bottles were a great surprise.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: They were quickly emptied. A candle was stuck in each,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: and we started singing and telling stories. Then, as an
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: act of courtesy, I was asked to sing our national anthem,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I got up a bottle of wine was fetched to
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: fill our glasses, and did so as loud and as
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: heartily as I knew. How it must have been a
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: strange sight for the casually passing French soldiers to see
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: their sixteen compatriots standing silently listening to a man sing
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: a song that they scarcely knew, though one which means
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: so much to so many thousands of our countrymen. I
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: had but finished when bang bang, bang bang, four seventy
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: fives were fired over our heads, going to kill those
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: who should sing another national anthem. The Marcielles followed, and
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I have never heard it sung in surroundings more fitting
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: or more impressive. Then an artillery duel started, and backward
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: and forward above us went and whistled the shells. Five
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: of our friends suddenly left us, and in three minutes
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: we heard the Big two twenty firing its death gift
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: into the German trenches. All the time the songs continued,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: and those woods must have echoed and re echoed with
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: the strains of the Marcielles et cetera. Strouder and I, however,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: began to get anxious, for the noise of the artillery
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: increased and increased, and we knew that in about two
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: hours all the ambulances would be needed at x so
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: we bat our friends goodbye and arrived home to find
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: that only half of our cars would be required. We
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: then turned into bed with the conviction that we had
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: really experienced the true feeling of France on the anniversary
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: of the great step toward which she believed would be
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: for the freedom of the people. Doc had arrived unexpectedly
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: from Paris, and your letters were very welcome. Also one
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: from mother and missus A it was the very night,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: fourteenth of July that you were giving your lecture. I
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: am sure it was a success. End of Part two.