ulse the Germans? How strong were the enemy! They
seemed to have no guns, but the number of our soldiers in that field was
not very large.

ATTACKED WITH BAYONETS

"A piercing yell rose from the enemy. Was it a cry of triumph? A short
command rang over the field in French, an order to retreat. A swift rush
followed; our troops were being pursued by the enemy. What on earth were
we waiting for in our ditches? A bugle signal, clear and bright. We
sprang to our feet, and 'At the bayonet!' the order came. We threw
ourselves on the enemy, who were at the same time attacked on the other
side by the division which formed the other 'leg' of the V, while the
'fleeing' French soldiers turned and made a savage attack.

"It is impossible to say or to describe what one feels at such a moment.
I believe one is in a state of temporary madness, of perfect rage. It is
terrible, and if we could see ourselves in such a state I feel sure we
would shrink with horror.

"In a few minutes the field was covered with dead and wounded men,
almost all of them Germans, and our hands and bayonets were dripping
with blood. I felt hot spurts of blood in my face, of other men's blood,
and as I paused to wipe them off, I saw a narrow stream of blood running
along the barrel of my rifle.

"Such was the beginning of a summer day."

SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Writing from Sezanne a few days after the battle of the Marne a visitor
to the battlefield described the conditions at that time as follows:

"The territory over which the battle of the Marne was fought is now
a picture of devastation, abomination and death almost too awful to
describe.

"Many sons of the fatherland are sleeping their last sleep in the open
fields and in ditches where they fell or under hedges where they crawled
after being caught by a rifle bullet or piece of shell, or where they
sought shelter from the mad rush of the franc-tireurs, who have not
lost their natural dexterity with the knife and who at close quarters
frequently throw away their rifles and fight hand to hand.

"The German prisoners are being used on the battlefield in searching
for and burying their dead comrades. Over the greater part of the huge
battlefield there have been buried at least those who died in open
trenches on the plateaus or on the high roads. The extensive forest
area, however, has hardly been searched for bodies, although hundreds
of both French and Germans must have sought refuge and died