America's War for Humanity Part 35

The corporal shouted to them and dashed alone toward the Germans. The other Belgians rallied and threw themselves upon the Uhlans. Within a few minutes only Van der Bern and two others of his command remained.

Twenty-seven Belgians were dead or wounded. Within a few minutes more of the corporal's companions fell, mortally wounded. Then the boy picked them up and displaying almost superhuman strength carried them to safety. As he was making his retreat, burdened by the two wounded men, Van der Bern was. .h.i.t twice by German bullets. He staggered on, placed his men in charge of the Red Cross and without a word walked to headquarters and reported the engagement. Then he fell in a faint. WHEN THE GERMANS RETREATED

A vivid description of the rout and retreat of the Germans during hurricane and rain on September 10, which turned the roads into river ways so that the wheels of the artillery sank deep in the mire, was given by a correspondent writing from a point near Melun. He described how the horses strained and struggled, often in vain, to drag the guns away, and continued:

"I have just spoken with a soldier who has returned wounded from the pursuit that will go down with the terrible retreat from Moscow as one of the crowning catastrophes of the world. They fled, he declares, as animals flee who are cornered, and know it.

"Imagine a roadway littered with guns, knapsacks, cartridge belts, Maxims and heavy cannons even. There were miles and miles of it. And the dead--those piles of horses and those stacks of men! I have seen it again and again, men shot so close to one another that they remained standing after death. The sight was terrible and horrible beyond words.

"The retreat rolls back and trainload after trainload of British and French are swept toward the weak points of the retreating host. This is the advantage of the battleground which the Allies have chosen. The network of railways is like a spider's web. As all railways center upon Paris, it is possible to thrust troops upon the foe at any point with almost incredible speed, and food and munitions are within arm's reach."

PRINCE JOACHIM WOUNDED

Prince Joachim, youngest son of Emperor William, was wounded during a battle with the Russians and taken to Berlin. On September 15 it was reported from Berlin that the wound was healing rapidly, despite the tearing effect of a shrapnel ball through the thigh. The empress and the surgeons were having considerable trouble in keeping the patient quiet in bed. He wanted to get on his feet again and insisted that he ought to be able to rejoin his command at the front in about a fortnight.

"The prince treats the wound as a trifle," said the Berlin dispatch.

"He smilingly greeted an old palace servant whom he had known since childhood with the remark: 'Am I not a lucky dog?'"

From an officer who was with Prince Joachim when he was wounded the following description of the incident was obtained:

"It was during the hottest part of the battle, shortly before the Russian resistance was broken, that the prince, who was with the staff as information officer, was dispatched to the firing line to learn how the situation stood. He rode off with Adjutant Captain von Tahlzahn and had to traverse the distance, almost a mile, under a heavy hail of sh.e.l.l and occasional volleys.

"As the Russian artillery was well served and knew all the ranges from previous measurements, the ride was not a particularly pleasant one, but he came through safely and stood talking with the officers when a shrapnel burst in their vicinity. The prince and the adjutant were both hit, the latter receiving contusions on the leg, but the shot not penetrating.

"To stop and whip out an emergency bandage which the prince, like every officer and private, carries sewed inside the blouse, and bind it around the thigh to check the bleeding was the work of but a moment. It was a long and dangerous task, however, to get him back to the first bandaging station, about a mile to the rear, under fire and from there he was transported to the advanced hospital at Allenstein, where he remained until he was able to travel.

"Prince Joachim, who was already recommended for the Iron Cross for bravery before Namur, received the decoration shortly before he was wounded. The prince, who has many friends in America, conveyed through his adjutant his thanks for a.s.surances of American sympathy and interest."

EX-EMPRESS DEVOTED TO FRANCE

The aged ex-Empress Eugenie of France, widow of Napoleon III, has been living for many years in retirement in the county of Hamps.h.i.+re, England.

She was recently visited by Lord Portsmouth, an old friend, who found the ill.u.s.trious lady full of courage and devotion to the French cause in the present war. In explaining her failure to treat her guest as she would have desired, the empress said:

"I cannot give you dinner because most of the men of my kitchen have gone to war."

A "BATTLEs.h.i.+P ON WHEELS"

Just before the war France added to its equipment the most modern of fighting devices. It is a train of armored cars with rapid-fire guns, conning towers and fighting tops. As a death-dealing war apparatus it is the most unique of anything used by any of the nations. This "battles.h.i.+p" on wheels consists of an armored locomotive, two rapid-fire gun carriages and two armored cars for transporting troops. The rapid-fire guns are mounted in such manner that they can be swung and directed to any point of the compa.s.s. Rising from the car behind the locomotive, is a conning tower from which an officer takes observations and directs the fire of the rapid-fire guns. Rails running on top of the cars permit troops to fire from the roof of the cars. For opening railway communications this "battles.h.i.+p on wheels" is unexcelled.

GAVE HIM A FORK TO MATCH

The scene is a village on the outskirts of Muelhausen, in Alsace. A lieutenant of German scouts dashes up to the door of the only inn in the village, posts men at the doorway and entering, seats himself at a table.

He draws his saber and places it on the table at his side and orders food in menacing tones.

The village waiter is equal to the occasion. He goes to the stables and fetches a pitchfork and places it at the other side of the visitor.

"Stop! What does this mean?" roared the lieutenant, furiously.

"Why," said the waiter, innocently, pointing to the saber, "I thought that was your knife, so I brought you a fork to match."

DECORATED ON THE BATTLEFIELD

On a train loaded with wounded which pa.s.sed through Limoges, September 11, was a young French officer, Albert Palaphy, whose unusual bravery on the field of battle won for him the Legion of Honor.

As a corporal of the Tenth Dragoons at the beginning of the war, Palaphy took part in the violent combat with the Germans west of Paris, In the thick of the battle the cavalryman, finding his colonel wounded and helpless, rushed to his aid.

Palaphy hoisted the injured man upon his shoulders, and under a rain of machine gun bullets carried him safely to the French lines. That same day Palaphy was promoted to be a sergeant.

Shortly afterward, although wounded, he distinguished himself in another affair, leading a charge of his squad against the Baden guard, whose standard he himself captured.

Wounded by a ball which had plowed through the lower part of his stomach and covered with lance thrusts, he was removed from the battlefield during the night, and learned he had been promoted to be a sublieutenant and nominated chevalier in the Legion of Honor.

This incident of decorating a soldier on the battlefield recalls Napoleonic times.

"AFTER YOU," SAID THE FRENCHMAN

Lieutenant de Lupel of the French army is said to have endeared himself to his command by a most unusual exhibition of what they are pleased to term "old-fas.h.i.+oned French gallantry."

Accompanied by a few men, Lieutenant de Lupel succeeded in surrounding a German detachment occupying the station at Mezieres. The lieutenant, on searching the premises, came upon the German officer hiding behind a stack of coal. Both men leveled their guns, and for a moment faced each other.

"After you," finally said the Frenchman courteously.

The German fired and missed and Lieutenant de Lupel killed his man.

The French soldiers cheered their leader, and he has been praised everywhere for his action.

A "WALKING WOOD" AT CRECY

A correspondent describes a "walking wood" at Crecy. The French and British cut down trees and armed themselves with the branches. Line after line of infantry, each man bearing a branch, then moved forward un.o.bserved toward the enemy.

Behind them, amid the lopped tree trunks, the artillerymen fixed themselves and placed thirteen-pounders to cover the moving wood.

The attack, which followed, won success. It almost went wrong, however, for the French cavalry, which was following, made a detour to pa.s.s the wood and dashed into view near the ammunition reserves of the Allies.

German sh.e.l.ls began falling thereabouts, but British soldiers went up the hills and pulled the boxes of ammunition out of the way of the German sh.e.l.ls. Ammunition and men came through unscathed. By evening the Germans had been cleared from the Marne district.

CHAPLAIN CAPTURES AUSTRIAN TROOPERS

The Bourse Gazette relates the story of a Russian regimental chaplain who, single-handed, captured twenty-six Austrian troopers. He was strolling on the steppes outside of Lemberg, when suddenly he was confronted by a patrol of twenty-six men, who tried to force him to tell the details of the position of the Russian troops.

While talking to the men, the priest found that they were all Slavs, whereupon he delivered an impa.s.sioned address, dwelling on the sin of shedding the blood of their Slav brethren.

At the end of the address, the story concludes, the troopers with bent heads followed the priest into the Russian camp.

A BRITISH CAVALRY CHARGE

Here is a picturesque story of a British cavalry charge at Thuin, a town in Belgium near Charleroi, and the subsequent retreat to Compiegne:

"On Monday morning, August 24, after chafing at the long delay, the 2nd British Cavalry Brigade let loose at the enemy's guns. The 9th Lancers went into action singing and shouting like schoolboys.