they had the village
in its cup-like hollow at their backs. At one point German infantry to
the number of about two hundred had been placed on the crest facing
across the bare level plateau, while in front of them some two hundred
and fifty paces distant was a pine wood through which the French were
advancing. The Germans had evidently had no time to entrench but had
quickly lain down in skirmish order in the outer edge of a potato
field; each soldier had then pushed up in front of him, as protection,
a little heap of potatoes and loose earth. A hundred paces to the
right of this German skirmish line, two mitrailleuses had been
skillfully thrust forward some fifty yards in advance, and concealed
in small trenches hurriedly dug. They could thus fire across the front
of their own infantry and take in the flank any French who advanced.
This action was one of a series which had taken place along this line
of hills. The German flanks were not unprotected, but owing to the
fact that the country was much broken and obscured by woods, such a
force would be partly hidden from its neighbors to the right and left,
and largely independent in repelling any attack made against it.

A body of French infantry three to four hundred strong had advanced to
the edge of the woods, facing the Germans, and had there taken up a
skirmish position. The opposing bodies had then fired at each other a
collective total of about twenty-five thousand rounds across a
perfectly flat field. We were able to estimate the number of men
engaged on either side from the impressions which their feet, elbows,
and bodies had made in the soft earth, and we could judge how many
rounds per man had been fired by counting the little piles of empty
cartridges which had accumulated beside each rifleman. When we arrived
upon the scene the wounded had nearly all been removed, but the dead
were still untouched, and we were able to see that, as a result of
this fusillade of twenty-five thousand rounds, only three Germans and
six Frenchmen had been killed outright.

After this rifle contest, the French had made a bayonet charge across
the open. The Germans had fired until the French had advanced about
half way and had hit a score, after which they temporarily ceased
firing and the French then promptly "charged home." The two German
mitrailleuses were unperceived by the advancing French, and as the
French passed them in flank, the mitrailleuses opened fire; at the
same mom