Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-11-30

AS a matter of fact the American
engineers have been laboring on the
roads through the devastated battle-
fields of the Somme district for nearly
four months and two of their men
who were wounded were the first
American casualties announced from
Washington.
The speed with which the lines have
been laid through the broken linden
burg defenses during the past week
has called forth the highest praise
from the British authorities. The
Americans have been working in
shifts "a hours a day, and no such
amount of track has been laid in this
region In so short time before. The
manner in which they stood up under
the strain has led to their being
dubbed the force of American ath-
letes," for these untiring soldiers are
today as fit and as willing as they
were before the battle began.
Work Under Shell Fire.
! Naturally the Americans have for a
! long time been working under the
range of enemy artillery and more
than once they have come under
heavy slfeff IRE One Of the most
striking sights along the front has
been that OF the engineers laboring
coolly at their tracks while great
shells were bursting hundred yards
away
At one time the Germans cut loose
I xf . ~
tracks and tore up three miles Of rails
which had been laid with much la
Dor, but they scarcely had finished
this bombardment when the twin
lines of steel began TO creep forward
once more. After the engineers had
reached a point where they were ex-
posed On the skyline it was necessary
to work at night or on foggy days in
order to avoid enemy observations.
There have been three forces OF
Americans employed in this region
since about Aug. l. Two of them have
been occupied with the operation and
maintenance of light railways and the
other has been constructing narrow
gauge lines. The importance of this
work hardly needs emphasis for 1t is
we'll known that over these railways
food, ammunition and material OF all
sorts are rushed up to lend support to
the fighting forces
The correspondence visited many
OF these engineers since their arrival
and has found them as fit as possible
and eager for work. Most of them IN
doubtedly look forward TO the time
when they will be able to Join the
are content to do their bit here and
learn valuable lessons in military rail
reading,
/ Engineers Like Battle Noise.
The correspondent was talking witt
i three officers today and the only anxi
! ETY. they expressed about the future
] was the fear that they might later BIZ
= compelled to work far back of ths
lines out Of the fighting zone. The en-
gineers love to hear the guns and tt
get as close to the firing line as mill
tary orders permit Some of them hat
+ an unusual experience. much to theil
liking, on the first day of the offensive
The British called for yoluntee
stretcher bearers to go forward TO tn,
battlefield and bring in wounded Brit
ish and Germans. a large number O
the engineers offered their service
which We're accepted. They had jus
finished hard days work on the rail
way, but they gladly undertook tn
: new, arduous and dangerous task an,
labored through the night getting in
jured soldiers back to the dressin,
stations. They were highly compli
mented by the British for their worh