The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1918-12-28

5TOukul pIlCco bdch I'd the start III
/ day or two. Then We got an inter
prefer and told them II they ever
raised again we would not let them
sell TO Americans a. long as we were
In town. This little performance
was always enacted in each new
town.
While in Champlete our entire
time was taken up building barracks
for the men, whos came after US to live
"a. We were the arsrof our division
ID get to Frunce. and had to provide
tot' The men WHO followed,
After getting the building well un-
der way Company T. was sent to
0uqdrecourt leaving companies,D and |
r 10. camplete the work at chainple.e.
The first corps school was located in |
lGoudrecourt, place where. all the |
most modern methods OF this war
swsEe taught. Three officers and about
a. dozen noncoms were sent for a
course at the school, Tie rest OF
the company worked at the school.
The courses were. Gas. Machine Gun,
Bayonet Engineer, Hand Grenade and
the new wave formations. .of attack.
wIeH the courses were completed the
men who attended the schools came
back and taught the whole company
what they had learned. This was
our finishing school, when the train
ing was over we were ready to go to
the front as trained men There is
ne such thing as sending a company
of unframed men on the line, they
! may set their training here. at home
or they may get 1t in France-but get
liz they do, and lots Of g. Early in
March, | think, we were sent to the
Aniehs sector. brigadea with the Eng
lish and Australians and put to work
lbphding heavy steel bridges across
the Somme. There are several kinds
OF heavy bridges, all knock-down,
With pieces numbered ready to be
bolted together. They are designed to
carry the maximum army load Of
thirty tons over about hundred foot
span The bridges are built usually
at right angles TO the stream, and
when completed hauled across the
river by block and tackle. Gin pole
and wench, We completed one bridge
across the Somme in time to blow II
up when the Germans drove on
Amiens. The company fell back to
villers and Gretnaugh where they
went partly into some old 1914 trench
es and partly into some that were dug
that night. They stayed there fol
seven days, strengthening the posi-.
ton with wire and more trenches. II
was at this line that the German adj
vance was stopped in front Of Amiens
At one time the Germans put rath.
er elaborate barrage down on our re-
serves when we didn't have any, anc
did considerable damage to woods
: In our rear At the end OF a weel
/ the compay was relieved by som,
: English and went back into the re
! serve area for a two days rest, theI
! moved up again 10 go TO work dig
I ging more trenches and dugouts,
: During this time and through tn
! summer the men lived in little two
man dugouts built by themselves
They either tunneled back in the re
: verse side of hill or dug down abou
! three feet, covering the top with log
J as large as they could find and foo
!, OF dirt on top OF that. A little stray
for a bed and they were all fixed
9 Nobody did much kicking about tn
! size Of their home because the small
er it was the less likely to be hit,
d on the English front the aeroplane
e were active, especially at night whe
/ they came over bombing. 1t didn
y take long 70 lfarn the sound Of
boche machinG, and you would la
/ there at nighY with one overhead
i seemingly for fours, waiting for It
n drop something and be gone. Yo
) would hear Il come, circle around, &
i and then come back Maybe drop
d light. then circle around some mor'
: Pretty soon a bolab; then more eli
a Giles II was a funny thing how the
4 always seemed TO be directly owe
o your head All the time the anti all
J. craft guns would be shooting, but the
q didn't ever seem to hit anything.
d This night bombing kept up ever
favorable night and most Of the otl
,r ers. the entire time we were on n
= English front.