World War: In the Vosges

• Share

(2 of 2)

"The German patrols are usually armed only with grenades, pistols and knives. Their objective is information. They want prisoners if possible [to learn about French troop dispositions, replacements].

"They also want to tempt us to fire with automatic arms in order to get our position.

"They haven't succeeded in taking a single prisoner. We don't fire automatic arms at present, so they can't get our positions.

"When my men discover the approach of a patrol party, they withhold action until they hear the marauders encounter our barbed-wire entanglements running down the slopes on all sides."

At 6 p.m., artillery opened up. From Far back in France, big shells roared through the sky "making the sound of thunder which accompanies sheet lightning." Each shell took 68 seconds to reach its destination in Germany after a flight of some nine miles. "The angry 'pang, pang, pang' of French 755 joined in the chorus. Their shells followed a short trajectory and made a sharper, hissing sound above us." German shells came back over, bursting far in the rear, each making a wide glow in the night.

Right after supper, in a dugout, "we heard the sharp crack of a rifle and then the pop of two grenades on the east side of the hill.

"An anguished cry rang out, followed by convulsive moans. After a few seconds, the moaning was cut off as though a hand had been clapped over the mouth of the sufferer. Some 30-odd more grenades went off.

" 'I believe we got someone,' the officer said.

"We again went out into the blackness. After a few minutes the shadowy form of a Moroccan slipped up to the captain and made a rapid report in Arabic." His patrol had grenaded a German patrol. About midnight a rocket shell cast a bluish-white light on the German ridge. " 'Ah,' said the French officer, 'you see, the Boches are mad. One of their patrols did not return on schedule, so they are showing the way home. It is probably the group with the wounded man.'"

Other dispatches of last week told of a French night patrol which captured three Germans. When they got back to a French dugout and could see, Captive Kurt Stöpel, German cyclist, recognized Captor Robert Oubron, French cyclist, against whom he had often pedaled in international races.