Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1917-05-31


west front-in fact letter from one
of the soldiers who participated in
the capture of Vimy Ridge, one of
the most important advances that has
vet been made on the east Fronts
presented to Graphic readers this
week thru the goodness Of Louis
Dawson, formerly of Wiliston who is
now in an English hospital recover
ing from wounds received in the at
tack.
The letter was received by John A.
Corbett Sunday evening and is vivid
first hand description of the famous
Vimy Ridge attack. Dawson was in
the thick of the trouble and was
wounded on the hand and is still in
the hospital as result of the affair.
Here is the letter:
England, May Z.
Dear John:
am we'll aware that | owe you a
letter and will proceed to pay the
debt as we'll as l can. At that do
not know that l can give you any
thing in the way of news. AS you
know we started something on April
9th and as ever the Canadians were
in the thick of it and in fact have
been ever since. ...-
We went into the line on Sunday,
Easter Sunday, "better the day, bet
ter the deed" We cooled our heels
all night in foot Of mud and just
before daybreak on Monday things
started. Man you should have heard
the racket, it sounded like all hell
let loose. Every gun on our front let
loose at the same time, the biggest
and heaviest artillery bombardment
the world has ever known. I have
no words to describe the noise, but !
was mighty thankful they were our
guns. 1 can imagine the feelings OF
the German sentry that morning
v:.!h:n, hearing the opening, he took
a squint through periscope and saw
coming towards him stream of iron
tonks followed by wave after wave
of infantry.
Coming His Way
think that he must have mentally
decided that things were at last COM
ing his way and with rush. Every
thing was with us from the start and
we went through them with a rush.
The "Fritz" was taken by surprise
completely and his heart was broken
by the bombardment. They surren-
dered in patches. The password OF
the day was "Kamuad" and the
countersign both hands pointed to
heaven. If ever an army was de-
moralized the German. army was
that day but as ever in this war the
weather was with them and prevent
ed pursuit. It started to snow heav-
ily in the afternoon. 1t was muddy
enough Lord knows when we started
but by evening even cavalry could
not get over the ground.
AS it was it was big day for the
Canadian army, and although it must
be admitted we had enormous weight
of artillery behind us, the fact re-
mains that the Canucks captured,
held and went far beyond the famous
Vimy Ridge, the best defended and
most wonderful positions the Ger
mans held. 1t had broken the back
of more than one army before US.
Describes Vimy Ridge
1t is high ridge with wonderful
observation both directions and after
being over it several times l still
wonder that we took it. You will
probably see pictures of that attack
some day and while from the appar-
ent Indifference Of the troops going
over you may think it's a rehearsal
just not that it's the real thing. We
passed cinema operator grinding
away right in the middle of it. While
he was protected against rifle and
machine gun bullets his chances OF
connecting with hardware store were
pretty good and such that no man
in his right senses barring soldier
would take. He earned his salary
that day. You should see how glad
the "Fritzes" are after they have
been taken prisoner by US. They are
only too glad to pack out wounded
and it's not an unusual sight to see
a couple of them helping one Of our
lads out.
Germans Well Treated
A German prisoner in British hands
in the luckiest soldier Of the day.
Considering all things they are treat
ed like princes, are well fed and
housed and compared to the soldiers
life they live a life of fattened ease
and when they work get paid for
their labor. However, that is the
English part of it that we can't un-
derstand.