The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1918-01-31
1918 TO DECIDE WAR R--W|LS0N
AMERICANS DIE
IN GERMAN RAID
ON U. S. TRENCH

BLOW WAS STRUCK IN FOG
All Quiet Then ''HoII Broke.
Loose, Soldier Declares
WITH THE AMERICAN
ARMY IN FRANCE, Wednes-
day, Jan. 30.-An American
position on a section Of the
French front was raidcd dur
ing a heavy fog shortly after
daylight this morning. The at
tack was preceded by n violent
artillery barrage.
Two Americans were killed
and four wounded. One soldier
is missing and is believed to
have been captured by the
enemy.
Casualties have been occur
ring almost daily for several
days on this sector. II il now
permitted to disclose that all
the recent casualties given out
from Washington occurred in
this sector. The deaths were
caused by shell fire, mostly
shrapnel.
Night Was Quiet.
Last night was quiet throughout the
American sector. The usual number ol
shells came over doing no damage, and
there were the customary sporadic
optbursts of machine gun fire from
both sides at points where the opposing
bnek are nestest.
AZ daybreak this morning the heavy
fog which had been cnyeloping the
whole position and the country for
miles around for several days. became
still thicker blotting ont all except
the nearest enemy positions ht7o'clork
three muliled reports sounded through
the fog There were three whistles
followed quickly by three shell bursts
The projectiIeS exploded on three sides
Of an American listening post Just out
side the wire within forty-fiyc feet OF
an enemy listening post.
Hell Breaks Loose.
Then hell broke loose" said one oi
the men there. "l'or fifteen minutes
the enemy broke hundreds ui high cx.
plosiye Us around the post and the
surrounding ground cutting of the
men there. Two Of them were killed
in the first few minutes
Another man who was al the post
told the correspondent later, as he
was lying on cot In a field hos
pital, that he saw four Germans ap-
preaching out Of the fog as the bar
rage lifted. He brought his auto
matte rifle into play and saw two
of the Germans fall.
He kept on firing until shell Spln-
ters hit him IN the hand and arm.
smell Prevents flTlnR
"The last remember in the time be-
fore | reached the hospital" said an
other wounded man, "iS seeing some.
thing moving through the fog ! de
termined to get some Germans and put
my rifle to my shoulder. but never
pulled the trigger. There was a deaf
cnng explosion behind me Frozen
earth, stones and shell splintcrS came
my way"
Inspection Of the scene oi the raid
showed that the ground was plowtd
up by the explosion Of shells
Wounded; Nearly Drowned
One man wounded was hit by
Snipcr's bullet He fell in trench
filled with water and almost drowned
before he was rescued by his com
panion' Several Of the wounded had
been listed as accidental woundlng,
These were mostly wounds ON the
hands
It is certain that the enemy casualties
from the American cannon and machine
gun fire has been as great or greater
than ours
One Man Decimated
The casualties given out IN Washing
ton recently occurred over certain re-
cent period The dead were buried
within the sound and range OF the
guns. One man was blown to piece
by shell in a rcgimental hcadquarter,
town as he was following his colonel
into a dugout
Three men we're killed by one shell
which fell in a trench and another died
OF wounds in a hospital Quite a few
Of the men sent 10 the hospitals were
wounded in the upper part OF the body
or on the head from Shrapncl
For military reasons it has been in
advisable to send earlier or other de
tails
This is the second time since Amer
ican troops entered the front line
trenches in France that their positions
have been raidcd In the first raid on
November Z. the American losses were
three killed five wounded and twelve
made prisoner by the enemy There
were three Oklahoma boys among the
casualties Of the first raid,