The Washington times., 1918-06-07
One Of Brgg. Best COOns BE ~ sday. linz.

by German batteries lighted up the
sky.
The weather was fine and clear.
-~one youngster- who was wounded
IN both legs thus described the at
tack:
1--WE were ordered to go straight
ahead, whether we met machine gun
FIRE or shells from Big Berthas' or
anything else. Not a man hesitated.
Our platoon was on the center, and
we got beyond the tanks, so that We
had TO fight the Boches in the rear
and in front and on both sides. But
we licked them to a fragile. Holy
smoke but the machine gun bullets
whistled. You would think that the
grass was full OF rattlers."
Describes Fighting.
Private John II. Marks, OF Thorn
ton, Ark, a litter bearer, who took
part in the lighting, in his peculiar
way paid high tribute to the lighting
abilities Of the marines.
ave were in on the rush." said
Marks. Talk about football playing.
Say, our fellows gained q dozen yards
every push and kept on going. Ny,
but those buzzards from the navy
(the marines) can shoot All they
wanted to do was squat down and
blaze away. / saw a lieutenant who
was wounded keep on leading his men
until he grew faint. He refused to
go to q dressing station.
"He was hit second time, but stop
ped only long enough to put on a
first aid bandage. He was wounded q
third time before he went TO the hos
pitaL None OF the wounds were
serious. But there were lots like him.
Our fellows just naturally took the
wind out Of the Germans. and did not
give them any chance to catch their
breath. II was just like the fighting
in the civil war that l have read
about. Charging in the open is q
regular walkaWay for us"
The morale of the German prisoners
is very low. They are thin and ema-
ciated and said they had not been fed
in four days, owing to the inability
Of the commissary to deliver food I'M
der the fire Of American artillery and
machine guns. Few OF them were
equipped with helmets, but all car.
rled new gas masks
Details continued to filter back
about the fighting. As the Americans
charged up the slope or the hilly
ground they had TO walk over the
bodies Of many dead French and Ger
man soldiers.
The earth shook with the thunder
OF the bombardment that accom-
panied the infantry fighting. Where
the correspondents we're stationed
the whine OF shells was plainly audi
BILE. The great projectiles described
arcs overhead, and there would be q
dull crash as they landed and ex-
ploded in the German lines.
swallows and pigeons in the farm
yards. accustomed to the sound OF
battle. paid no attention to the rae
ket.
Old shells Strew Ground.
The ground was scattered with
rusty remnants OF shells from the
first battle OF the Marne, nearly four
years ago.
A thirty-year-oId French woman,
hearing that the Americans held her
parents farm. instead Of the Ger
mans, drove through the zone OF FIRE
TO get a rag doll for her baby laugh
ter and also some family trinkets and
papers. She arrived in a tNo-wheeIed
cart. being the only woman TO reach
the battle zone. Guards held her up.
but she got by. When she arrived at
the farm she rushed to the hen coop,
where she fed the chickens, and then
patted the family cow on the nose.
She found American Officers in the
house tOtinE AT typewritcrs and
telephones. French Officers were din
ing in the barn. American and
French soldiers were sleeping on
straw in the COW shed. In the mean
while, shells were raining down on
the fields near by.