Evening star., 1918-05-19
ENGINEERS HELD
AP'FORS|XDAYS
u. S. Men, Amateurs With
Machine Guns, Called "Ban-
ner" Company.
CAREY 0EcEiVES ENEMy
CAREY DECEIvES ENEMY

Correspondence OF the Associated Press,
LONDON. May i.-The banner COM
pany or Carey's detachment which,
under Brig. Gen. Sandeman Carey.
heId an important gap in the fifth
British army in the first week of the
German offensive, was made up of 400
American railway engineers. Like all
the others of the famous "nonde-
scripts" which included Canadian ana
British supposedly non-conlbatant
units. the Americans were yolunteera
The American engineers won cutie
reputation for the manner in which
they handled machine guns. a weapon
entirely new to the road and railway
builders.
A disastrous looking gap appeared
In the fifth army, south OF HameI in
.r .ne later stages of the opening battle.
me Germans had crossed the Somrne
at Hamel and had a clear path for a
sweep southwestward
NO troops were available to throw
INTO the opening. A certain brigadier
general was commissioned by Mai
zen. Cough, commander of the fifth
army. to gather up every man he
could hnd and to hold the gap at any
cost"
The general called upon the amer,-
can and Canadian engineers, cooks.
chauneUrs. road workmen, ANYBODY
ne could md: gave them guns pistols.
any available weapons. and rushed
them into the gap in trucks. on horse
pack or on mule-drawn limbers.
Amateurs at Guns.
A large number of machine runs
from machine gun school nearby
were confiscated- Only a few men.
however. knew how to operate the
weapons and they had to be worked
by amateurs with one Instructor" for
every ten or twelve guns. The Amer
leans did especially well in handling
this arm.
For two days the detachment held
the mile and half gap. At the end
OF the second day the commander,
having gone forty-eight hours with
out sleep. collapsed. The situation OF
the detachment looked desperate.
While all were wondering what
bile came bounding along the road
from the north. 1t contained Brig.
Gen. Carey, who had been home on
leave and who was trying to find his
headquarters.
The general was commandeered bv
the detachment and he was found TO
be just the commander needed. He is
an old South African soldier of the
daredevil type. He is famous among
his men for the scrapes and escapades
his daring exploits in South Africa.
Carey Takes a Hand.
Carey took the detachment in hand
and led it in a series of attacks and
counter attacks which left no time for
sleeping and little for eating. He gave
neither his men nor the enemy a
rest. attacking first on the north, then
in the center, then on the south
the idea of convincing the Germans
that large force opposed them.
Whenever the Germans tried to feel
him out with an attack at one point
where else. even if it took his last
available man, and drew the Germans
onto the defensive.
The spirit of Carey's troops was
wonderful. The work they did was al
most supernatural. 1t would have
not physical giants. but the Ameri-
cans and Canadians gloated in it.
They crammed every houI of the day
full of fighting. 1t was a constantly
changing battle, Kaleidoscope. free
for-all, catch-as-catch-can. The Ger
mans gained ground. Carey and his
men were back at them, hungry for
more punishment.
Plenty Of Ammunition.
1t was fortunate that Carey's supply
of ammunition was well nigh mex
haustible. for he had a big ammuni-
tion dump right behind him.
Here alsc was a good backing OF
field artillery and the 75s supported
sights