Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-12
|blldEE WOUNDS
THREE ATTACKERS
trapped as Barrage Lifts,
He Makes Gallant Fight
Against Odds
BLOOD STAINS TRENCH
pershing Praises Troops for
Brave Stand When Huns
Assail Dugout
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE. Nov. 12.

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE. Nov. ~.
How young American corporal, under
nre for the first time in his life, and that
onIy three hours after he had entered the
trenches for the first time. battled braveiy
AGAINST five Germans. is told in detailed
report on the recent German trench RAID
received by certain general.
The corporal was on duty at listening
post when the Germans began terrihc
bombardment. barrasing the hrst hne.
An officer signaled the corporal 10 re-
fire but the latter misunderstood the order
and remained at his post.
Suddenly the barrage lifted and the Ger
mans swarmed over the parapets. the cor
poral finding himself surrounded by hve
Germans, who cut on his retreat, Inc cor
porals story. as told at the field hospital
where he is now recovering from his
wounds, follows.
"A Boche made some sign at me as II
calling for me to surrender. ! answered
by turning my rife upon them and letting
them have hell. Three of them went down
in a row wounded and was just drawing
a bead on fourth when something mt
me on the back and ] woke up here
The generals detailed report further
showed that severe fighting occurred near
dugout in which Americans were cap
tured.
The dugout was twenty-five feet deep
. and the men had taken refuge there from
the furious sheling. The Americans ap-
parently had begun pouring from the dug
outs as the Germans came over the top
The few who feacned the surface inmedi-
iateIy attacked the Germans. who outnum-
bered them. The trench sides near the
entrance to the dugout we're splattered with
blood and torn bits of uniforms, both
American and German. showing that hand
to-hand fighting of the most savage char-
acter had taken place there.
PERsHING PROUD OF MEN
The General said he was well satisfied
with the conduct of the men and pointed out
they had been on the march all the night
before and were tired. Added to this. they
had been in a trench in the European war
only three hours and the shelltre had sew
cred the American telephone wires making
communication with the rear difficult
The extent to which the Germans had
MANNED the raid was shown by the fact
that they had brought up field telephone
switch boards behind the American barbed
wire entanglements. connecting with Ger
man batteries by three lines for signaling
the advance of the barrage during the
progress of the raid.
The American sector was normal on
Sunday.
General Pershing Is recovering from a
slight cold contracted during a recent visit
to the American lines of communication The
general, In speaking OF the SUCCESSFUL trans
portaton of American troops, said:
Thanks to the efficiency of the British
French and American naval protection, sub
marines have not claimed a single life OF
American soldiers on our troopships bound
for France"
General Pershing was much pleased with
what he saw on his tour and said in this
respect:
Our innovation in army organization Is
already showing excellent results In a
war Of all our strength against an enemy
who uses all of his. we need the service
Of every kind of expert co-ordinated toward
ons great purpose. Troops and supplies ar