Battle of Fismes and Fismette

The Battle of Fismes and Fismette was a battle in Fismes, France, that took place during the First World War from 3 August to 1 September 1918 after the end of the Second Battle of the Ourcq and the Aisne-Marne Offensive.

• It took me about half an hour to crawl to the river. I had to put my mask on at the last, as the mustard gas was strong in the little hollow in which I lay. My hands were smarting. Some of the shells brought my heart into my mouth; lying there waiting for them was intolerable. I was sure I was going to be blown to pieces. The river was very nearly in flood and so there was no bank, the field gradually getting soggy and swampy till it sloped out into the water. There was a lot of submerged barbed wire that made going ahead very painful and slow. I had, of course, to throw away my mask as it got full of water. My pistol went also. It was too heavy to risk.
  Once in the water, I worked under the single board of the footbridge, shifting along hand over hand, which took me halfway across. There I struck out, plunging in a few strokes to the other side and working through the wire. Swimming with shoes was not so difficult as I had thought, but the cold water seemed to take all my courage, which was what I needed more than ever. Our own machine guns were playing along the railroad track on our side of the river. After getting across, it seemed for a while that I would be caught between the two fires.
  I lay there in the river for a minute and gave up. When you do that something dies inside.
  • Hervey Allen, Toward the Flame: A War Diary, rev. ed. (1934), ch. 17