BLOODY CHARGE OF THE TURCOS TROOPS.

GRAPHIC STORY OF BLOODY CHARGE OF THE TURCOS TROOPS.

Paris Sept 2, 1914

“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.”