GRAPHIC STORY OF
BLOODY CHARGE OF THE TURCOS TROOPS.
“It was like hell cut
loose”, is the way a French Officer of zouaves described the charge of the
Turcos France’s black troops at the Battle of Charleroi.
Telling of the
terrific charges of the blacks, the officer declared, “they fought at such
close quarters with the Germans that many of the men got hold of the noses of
the enemy with their teeth.
“When the fighting was
at the height our colonel suddenly ordered, “give the Turcos free rein,” said
the officer.. Then the avalanche began , it was like hell was set loose., They
tore along the Marseillais,” but no man could even hear the man next to him in
the ranks, so terrible was the pounding of guns, infantry and artillery poured
shot into them, and they fell by the dozens, but dashed on. When they were within fifteen yards of the batteries,
the Germans had to cease firing to avoid shooting their own guards. A bloody
bayonet fight then followed. While a man was bayoneting a German and could not
release his weapon at once, he would whip out his revolver and shoot another.
In the meantime a companion, by his side would be attacking the bayoneting foe
with the butt of his rifle. The soldiers of the Kaiser were giants, but they fell like flies. Blood splashed
everywhere, I must have shot a hundred with my revolver.
The remnant of the
Germans command finally fled for their lives, but not many escaped.. When our
survivors got back to Charleroi
, we lost more than a score, when the Germans mounted a howitzers in the church
steeple, despite the fact that the building was flying the Red Cross flag.”