Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-11-10
GIANT j. s. GUNS
ENTANGLE FOE IN
RUSH TO RETREAT.
While DoughboyS Are Press
ing Forward, Heavy Guns
Send lnceSsant Stream Of
Shells Into Enemy Lines.
BY Lincoln Eyre.
Copyright, 1918, by the Press PulaiSh-
ing Co.


ing Co.
(The New York WORLDLY !
Especial Gable Dispatch TO the World
and Albuquerque Journal)
With the First American Army.
Nov. 9.-While our doughboys We're
pressing ahead in the advance that
swept across the Meuse recently our
monster cannon kept pounding at en-
envy communications in the back
areas. Long range fire on the Met
zieres- Longuyon railroad has been in
cessant.
There was evidence that the enemy
is badly tangled in his attempts to
move his guns and ammunition north
ward None of the positions of natur-
al defense on which the foe had re-
lied could be successfully held against
our advance.
Artillery Opens Fiery DcIugc.
II was the business of our gunners
to spray the German defensive organ
izations, particularly the battery em
placements, with pitiless streams of
high explosives, and Mt the same time
punish the German infantry with
shrapnel and gas.
Just before dawn on the day the
attack began thousands of cannon be-
gan to carry out the task assigned to
them. Under a clear and moonless
sky, flashes from the gun barrels belt
ed the horizon with scarlet flames
along the entire fifteen miles Of front
on which the first army struck.
Across no mans land geyser-like
fires from shell explosions did their
bit to illuminate the battlefield. The
night air trembled with the thunder
GUS intensity OF the bombardment.
Wait Word to Charge.
Covering in their tomb-like fox
holes, the German infantry must have
trembled, too. Our own fighting men,
filled with the confidence of soldiers
who have never yet known defeat
earnestly awaited the jump-off hour
When it came they surged forward
like high-strung race horses at the
raisin4of the barrier
Ahead We're protective shell cur
tains, beautifully aligned by our 1873
In the first hour there was no ma
chine gun opposition, but at most
points it was squelched by our artil-
lery Enemy shell fire was far weaker
than had been expected.
Wherever our positions had been in
ferior to the foes they had been made
superior by small local attacks. Thus
when our waves of attack swept for
ward, our boys gained a Topographic
cal advantage over the Germans at
almost every point.
Opposing the first army were nine
divisions in the front line and three
in close support. The enemy high
command must have been aware of
the arrangement of our troops and
of the accumulation Of ammunition
They could not tell him where or just
when the blow would fall.
Packed Like Shad Roe"
In the sector that seemed most
menaced the Germans packed their
battalions like "shad roe" as one of
our flyers expressed it, Most of the
twelve divisions on which Won der Mar
WITT relied TO thrust at Pershing had
been engaged many days and were
sadly reduced in strength. Two were
down to about 5000 men each, and
few have as many as 5000 The aver
age number per division was proba-
bly, less than 1000.
The enemy was evidently deter
mined TO hold hard and ito meet
death rather than cede ground. Such
was the purport Of Won der Marwitz's
latest order.
Every battery Won der Marwitz
could bring into service was I'M
limbered against the Americans. So
General Liggett was obliged to place
more and more guns behind his infan-
try to offset the numerical superiority
possessed by the foe prior to the be-
ginning of our preparatory lombard
ment.
A considerable percentage Of our
newly massed batteries was unmarked
only at the final moment. Exploita-
ton of our successes on September 26
and the days Immediately following
was handicapped by the difficulty of
bringing up guns and munition sup
plies fast enough. In the entire area
of our advance there were only two
roads leading northward, one of them
through Montfaucon and the other
through Yarennes Both OF these
roads passed across a country that for
four years had been no mans land.
Consequently stretches for several
miles had been practically rebuilt by
our engineers.