Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-04-30


ner received from her husband
today says he will visit Chicago
In the Liberty loan campaign but
does not say when he will come
to OttumWa.
New York, April ga detail of
fifty American soldiers from the
American trenches in France includ-
ing six members of the Rainbow divi-
sion, has arrived here. The men rep
resent different branches of the serv-
ice. Six wear the Croix de Guerre.
They will tell the story of the
trenches and will boost the Liberty
loan.
The commander of the detail, Color
Sergeant Hefferman, who has been
in the regular army for twenty years,
said that in his opinion the war
will be won in the air and by America.
The German prisoners with whom he
had conversed told him that from
their point of view the war was war
of capitalists and the military classes
in Germany.
"They look for America to end it
finally with aviators," he said, add
ing that the prisoners had predicted
that the close Of the war would be
followed by "a revolution in Germany.
"QUIET" SECTOR FOR YANKEES
Sergeant .Hefferman said that
Americans in the trenches had plenty
to eat and plenty of ammunition. He
explained that when the American
troops first arrived on the other side
1t was planned to put them on
quiet sector, but that 1t did not re-
main quiet very long after the
Americans entered.
"Our boys" he said enthusiastical-
ly, began fighting the first moment
that they could and have been at 1t
ever since. The Americans go into
the battle cheering and waving their
hats. I have seen some troops going
in as though they were going to ordi-
nary work, but these were the vet
Grams. The American boys dearly
love a scrap, and go into it with the
most heart In the world"
TAFT'S SON is THERE
Hefferman took pride in talking
about his fellow soldiers. We've got
a very fine lot Of boys over there" he
remarked. Charley Taft, Taft's son
is one of them. have seen him under
the hardest conditions acting like the
real man that he Is. He Is sergeant
major
Hefferman was on duty in Wash
fngton when the United States en-
tered the war and asked to be allowed
to 70 to the front. He is in the field
artillery.
1.-THE Germans" declared the SER
geant. will hold out until we get air
planes in great numbers. The Ameri-
can aviators are the one to do It. The
fight must be carried into the air. Just
now It is q case OF firing off big guns
and little guns. We can never win the
war by firing guns"
TREAT PRISONERS KINDLY
Speaking Of German prisoners he
said:
"The last saw in France were men
who were captured from an airplane.
It got to be the practice Of the Ger
mans to come down in an airplane
away from our lines, get out, put on
French uniforms and then stroll
through our lines. One day an order
was given that every man in our VI
entity had to have pass.
"The Americans had always said
that when they got the boches they
would give them bad treatment, but,
as matter of fact whenever we cap
tured Germans we treated them with
the utmost kindness. We even stole
chow to feed them, gave them to-
bacco and the best of everything that
we had.
GERMANS EXPECT REVOLT
"The officers we captured were al
ways bullheaded and wouldn't give in
formation, but the German privates
were sick of the war and told US that
they. wished they weren't in It. They
look for it to end in revolution In
Germany after America gets into the
air, but they don't believe we are in
it yet. Until they were captured and
saw US they thought we wouldn't get
over the seas" ..
The story of how the Americans
fired the first shot against the Ger
mans on October % was told by Cor
poral Osborn de Vanilla, 10 year old
lad from San Francisco, who fired it.
The men Of his unit took their places
behiad the town of Battlefront on the
night Of October 81. Under cover Of
darkness they pulled their IS milf.
meter guns up steep incline and
planted them on a slope which had
previously been carefully camouflaged
with trees.
FOES AIM WILD
The Germans did not know that the
Americans had taken over part of
the French sector. At 6 a. m. all WAS
in readiness, the gun was placed and
pointed, Captain I. r. McLondon and
his gun crew were waiting the word
to fire. It came at $50 o'clock, and
one minute after eighteen pounds Of
shrapnel went screaming across the
100 yards of No Mans Land and
into a German communication trench
In the first line. Corporal de Varilla
found their concealed battery about
fifteen minutes after the Americans
fired their first shot and opened with
heavy fieldpieces. The Germans
range was poor he said, and the shots
fell several hundred yards. to their
left.