"I have received no news, and probably I shall not receive any for some days. The whole postal service has been stopped; all places have been bombarded to such an extent that no human being could stand against it.
"The railway line is so seriously damaged that the train service for some time has been completely stopped.
"We have been for three days in the first line; during those three days the French have fired so heavily that our trenches are no longer visible."
Number of wounded.
"September 24.
"For the last two days the French have been firing like mad. To-day, for instance, a dug-out has been destroyed. There were sixteen men in it. Not one of them managed to save his skin. They are all dead. Besides that, a number of individual men have been killed and there are a great mass of wounded.
"The artillery fires almost as rapidly as the infantry. A mist of smoke hangs over the whole battle-front, so that it is impossible to see anything. Men are dropping like flies.
"The trenches are no longer anything but a mound of ruins."
Sufferings of the soldiers.
"September 24.