New Britain herald., 1917-12-21
WAS WITH FRENCH
IN VERDUN. DRIVE
William Lamb Tells Of Terrific
Battle Continuing Two Weeks
AMBULANCE DRIVER HOME

Manufacturers Son Spent Several
Months Carrying Wountcd-Hears
German Public Is inundated by
Soldiers With Machine Gums.
One of the first questions asked of
men returning from service in France
Is, "How long will the war last?"
This question was put to William
Lamb. son OF Vice-President Joseph F..
Lamb, Of the Landers, Frary & Clark
Mfg. Co., today, and he replied:
about q thousand years, I guess"
Young Lamb, who has been with
the American Field Service, driving an
ambulance in which he conveyed the
wounded from the rim OF the arepit
OF Europe to dressing posts and hos
pitfalls, has been in the thick Of tho
fray, and he believes that the war will
continue indefinitely, unless some un-
foreseen occurrence happens to weaken
home last night.
Lamb saw active service almost
from the time he landed in Europe
last May until his term expired, and
he left a. few weeks ago to return by
stages to his home in New Britain
But his most thrilling experiences
were at Verdun, during the French
offensive of last September, when tho
Poilus sought to recover ground CAP
tured by the Germans earlier In the
war. They were successful In their
efforts, but the cost to both sides was
heavy. Lambs ambulance section
alone brought in more than 5000
wounded men, most OF them French,
but some of them Germans. For two
weeks the. tide OF the battle swept
back and forth. At one time the
French appeared to have the upper
hand. Then the Germans would
launch a counter-attack with reserves
hurriedly brought up, and the French
would be forced by sheer weight OF
the enemy to fall back again. Hills
and other high places changed hands
continually. The air was literally
filled with large calibre shells and q
steady rain Of machine gun fire was
poured In by both sides. In many
instances the fighting took on q hand
to- hand nature, small arms and bayo-
nets beinE used in personal encoun-
ters.
Medal From Mayor OF Vcrdun.
Among Lambs priced souvenirs OF
to him by the Mayor of Verdun.
These medals were presented to every
foreigners who took part In that Ia
nous action, In commemoration OF
the role they played In wrestling back
the sacred soil Of France which had
been 40 long under the Prussian heel.
On one side is reproduced the gates
OF verdun and on the other is the In
scription: They shall not pass"
On German Territory.
Lamb sailed from an American
port and went directly to France, arr
rivinE In Paris few hours after
landing. He was sent to q training
camp for week and was then at
tached to the Yale ambulance section.
The sections were composed for the
greater part OF men from the same
college but as Lamb was the only
representative OF Syracuse university
he chose,to cast his lot with the Yale
volunteers. The section was sent to
the Vosges mountains, on the south
ern end OF the long battle line. Here
| the French occupy part OF Alsace,
| the only German territory In their
| grasp. Lamb remained there during
| the summer months and saw little ac-
| tivity as q deadlock prevails along
| that sector. But on September l the
| entire section Of 20 ambulances and
| 40 men was transferred to the Ver-
| dun front, where the French were
| preparing to hit the Boches. The
transition from the quietness Of the
vosges to the turmoil Of verdun was
startling and early in October Lamb
| was forced to go to the central hos
i D. DV11 $~ h41 NJ
drums treated. The intense and con.
tinuous concussion from the big guns
| had affected his hearing. He was the
| first American to enter this hospital
and had as his companions Indo-
Chinese. Sengalese. French. Italian:
and nearly every other nationality en-.
gagged In battle on the western front
After three weeks in the hospital
Lamb went to Chantilly to rest. A
sight that will remain impressed or
his memory during the remainder o.
his life was a review of 700 cavalry
men by General Petain on the famou!
race course at Chantilly. A number
Of soldiers were also awarded tn
Crois de 'Guerre and the Medaille Mill
taire during the ceremonies.
After two weeks at Chantilly, Laml
returned to Verdun and the Yale sec
ton was sent to the rear for ten day
en- repos. Their next assignment wa
in Champagne. where some Of tn
4 ffercest fighting Of the early part o
the war occurred. At present tn
sector is quiet. There the American
Field Service was taken over by TIL
United States army and the men Il
the field service were relieved.
Sees First American Soldiers.
Although Lamb left here after
state OF war had been declared be
tween the United States and German,
he was not aware of the active par
America was to take In the conflic
and he was surprised one day to en-