Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-04-30
AMERICAN
BOYS FACE
GRIM FIRE
U. S. Machine Gun Battalion
Moves FearIess|y Into Thick
of Wars DeadIieSt
Battle Scene.
By WILBUR FORREST.

and the New York Tribune. Copyright
1879
With an American Machine Gun
Battalion in the Field, April 30
Under a rain of metal American
troops today are more than holding
their own in sector in northern
France.
The way they marched into posi-
ton, obvious Of the hellish fire. in
darkness that was as pitch except
for the sinister red stabs of bursting
shells here and there is the best aug
ury of Americas future in this war.
The sectors which have been pre-
viously held by these same Americans
on the French front during the pres
ent war were quiet in comparison
with this.
The machine gun battalion left the
small town, in which the American
headquarters are located, at dusk Be-
hind them came two small auto trucks
containing thousands of rounds of am
munition for our machine guns, which
were placed under cover of the heavy
atmosphere during the early after
noon.
Fog Prevents Observation.
The weather prevented the enemy's
observation from airplanes and sat-
sage balloons.
Traversing the next village, it was
necessary to proceed at a snail's pace,
continuously passing the silent snake
like khaki stream whose feet were
beating a rythmic tramp, tramp,
tramp, occasionally audible above the
din of the guns ahead and the grum-
Bile of Our heavies in the rear.
Darkness was awaited to cross the
treeless fields between the rear and
the firing line.
The enemy, who works with flaw
less maps, knows every road and
every crossroad, and his artillery fire
is ceaseless.
Passing the marching column and
approaching the next village, the
squeal of the enemy's shells and their
sharp explosions made conversation
impossible.
Our automobile proceeded cautious
ly and suddenly careened into shell
holes where the enemy had sought
out the crossroads and pounded them
with tons of steel and high explosives.
He was now pounding the village,
and through this village lay the route
of our marching column behind.
1t was here at the shattered cross
roads that one of the little automo-
bile trucks decided to balk in the
shell craters and neither engine nor
Drawn could bulge it and
its load of heavy machine gun ammu-
nition. 1t was a case of unload the
ammunition and lift the car out bod
lily, which kept us at the crossroads
for IS minutes.
Desolate Ruins Ahead.
A month ago this village was one
of the many peaceful agricultural
communities of the department. As
we passed through the streets. occa-
sionally throwing ourselves fiat on the
ground in order to escape fragments
of bursting shells, we were able to
see the desolate ruins. silhouetted
against the feeble light that occa-
sionally loomed out Of the noisy
darkness from the shell bursts and
activity on the front line, several
hundred yards beyond.
The ancient church and the local
chateau were nothing but gaunt skele-
tons. The buildings around them
were mostly reduced to common deb
ris. Stately trees once lined the vii
lage square, but these are now only
jagged wrecks.
Flat on Their Stomachs.
Flat on our stomachs we saw
German freight train tear up the vii
lage square and heard its fragments
tear the air and cut into the buildings
on all four sides.
1t was through such fire as this
that our young veterans marched
erect and silent, through the village
and on into the village beyond. They
into the war without whim-
per and without a waver in the ranks.