ting the
enemy so soon. We hurried back to our companies, imparting the
news to the men, who broke forth into shouts of enthusiasm. All the
fatigue so plainly noticeable only a few minutes before, suddenly
vanished as if by magic, and every one seemed alert, springy, and
full of spirit. We energetically resumed the march in the direction of
the distant rumbling, which indicated that the artillery of our advance
guard had engaged the enemy. My regiment then was part of the
main body of a division. A second division advanced on the road
parallel to ours, about a mile and a quarter to our left. Both columns
belonged to the Third Army Corps and kept up constant communication
with each other through mounted dispatch bearers and motor cycles.

The cannonading had meanwhile come perceptibly nearer, and in
the midst of the dense forest we again came to a short halt. Orders
were given to load rifles, and upon emerging from the woods we fell
into open formation, the men marching abreast, the companies at a
distance of three hundred yards, with the battalions at a distance of
about a thousand yards. We were slowly entering the range of the
Russian artillery. About a mile ahead we could see numbers of
harmless looking round clouds, looking like ringlets of smoke from a
huge cigar, indicating the places where shrapnel had exploded in
mid-air. Our men, not being familiar with the spectacle, took no
notice of it, but we officers knew its significance, and I daresay many
a heart beat as wildly as mine did.

We marched on until the command was given for us to deploy, and
soon afterwards the first shrapnel whizzed over our heads. It did no
harm, nor did the second and third, but the fourth hit three men in
the battalion in the rear of us. Our forward movement, however,
was not interrupted, and we did not see or hear anything beyond
two or three startled cries. The next shell burst right ahead of us,
sending a shower of bullets and steel fragments around. A man
about twenty yards to the right of my company, but not of my
platoon, leaped into the air with an agonizing cry and fell in a heap,
mortally wounded. As we were advancing very swiftly, I only saw it
as in a dream, while running by. Then came in rapid succession
four or five terrific explosions right over our heads, and I felt a
sudden gust of cold wind strike my cheek as a big shell fragment
came howling through the air, ploughing the ground viciously as it
struc