The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1918-05-23
CHAPTER XIV.

The entire forest of Argonne wal
blown to pieces when we arrived
Everywhere was artillery, which main
tanned fire on the villages behind tn,
enemy's positions.
One Of the many batteries which We
constantly had TO pass on our march
from the camp to the front, was in &C
ton when we reached 1t.
/ asked one of the gunners what his
objective was and he replied that II
was any village within range.
A substitute first lieutenant, In
charge Of the battery, stood nearby
One of my comrades asked him If De
| did not think there might be women
and children In those villages.
THAT would make no difference"
the first lieutenant replied. Women
and children are French, so what does
It matter? This breed has to be ex-
terminated In order that this nation
shall not think of war again for a cen
tury."
This day was designated for a
stOrming attack and we were obliged
to be in our positions at seven o'clock
In the morning. Promptly at s 80 regi-
ment No. 81 was ordered to attack.
Pioneers led the way. They were sup
piled with hand grenades. These week
ly attacks were opened half an hour
before the infantry went over by a
storm of artillery fire. The artillery
action required very careful calcula-
ton because the distance which sepa-
rated our position from the enemy's
was very slight. 1t varied from three
to one hundred meters; never any
more. At the point where we attacked
the distance was 20 meters.
Promptly at eight o'clock the artil-
lery started. The first three shells
struck a ditch, but the following ones
hit fairly, that Is, right in the French
trenches. Once the artillery had the
proper range whole salvOs Of batteries
descended upon them with admirable
exactness. The cries of the wounded
were heard once more, a sign that
many had been hit.
An artillery officer acted as observer
in the foremost sense and directed the
fire by phone. Promptly at s 80 o'clock
the artillery fires stopped and we at
tackled. The eleventh company of the
Sixty-seventh regiment, of which 1
spoke before, came under the fire Of
the enemy's machine guns and IS Of its
men were killed after they had only
proceeded a few steps outside the
trench.
Dead and wounded men lay among
the branches and the trees everywhere
on the ground. Every man who was
able to run sped forward to reach the
enemy trench as quickly as possible. A
part of the enemy defended itself des-
perately In a trench filled with water
and mud. A terrible hand-to-hand fight
resulted. We stood In water up to our
knees.
Men, severely wounded, lay in the
mud, holding their mouths and noses
above the water. During the fighting
they were trampled more deeply into
the dirt under our feet for we could
not see where we were going; we could
only "rOll up" the entire trench.
The section won was fortified with
all possible haste. Once more we had
acquired at heavy cost in human life
a few meters of the Argonne forest.
This trench, which we took, had
changed hands many times and even
now we were preparing for the usual
Presently the "jackasses" went into
action. The "jackasses" are the guns
Of the French mountain artillery. They
were so named because they were
drawn by mules. They are guns Of fat
trajectory, kept from so to 100 meters
behind the enemy lines. The shells
from these cannon flew directly over
our heads and cut their way through
the branches at high rate of speed. |
Because of the high velocity of the
shell and the short distance it travels |
the defamation when the shot is tired |
and the noise of the explosion, sound |
almost at the same instant. These |
'Jackasses" are greatly feared by the |
German soldiers because they are kept |
day and night.
1t was winter and very cold. The
trenches had been filled with water
md were now nothing except deep
iitches of mud. Under these cOndi-
ions, through the ice-cOld nights, our
outline consisted of 4S hours duty
Ind II hours rest. Every week a storm
ng attack was made, the success Of
which was entirely out of proportion
o the enormous losses. In all of the
our months was in the Argonne for
.sts we gained 400 meters. The fol-
owing data will indicate how heavy a
,rice was paid In lives for this little
,iece of France.
Each regiment had its own Gene
cry. There was the One Hundred and
'orty-fifth infantry regulars, the Sixty
eventh. and One Hundred and Seven
y-third infantry regulars and the
)ne Hundred and Fifth Hirsch-
erg battalion. On the day we were re.