Evening journal., 1918-05-07
From the Thick oi the Fighting
in the Latest German Drive
ConHnued from Page Three.

Continued from Page Three,
,cut this battery and he was dropping
mis- six-inch shells a little too close for
comfort.
Then I made a lovely mistake. was
10 establish an aid post near battalion
headquarters and went blithely on when
met company commander and asked
him where to 60.
Book there about a quarter OF a
mile" he replied This is the front
center company. II you keep on in the
direction you are gOing you are going
MP over that ridge and Fritz Will be
waiting for you with a machine gun"
Escapes From Trap.
So my sergeant and orderly and my
self didn't waste any time IN clearing.
on the way back / found a gallon can
fun OF water, got into a corrugated
iron shelter and had a wash and a
shave. Il certainly felt good. ! don't
believe / had washed FOR 36 hours. II
was warm and bright. I could look out
Of my shelter and see our support lines
digging themselves IN several hundred
yards away. The cannon fire ceased,
The machine guns settled down to an
occasional fltful burst and It was mid
day OF a beautiful spring day.
A couple Of partridge flew over me.
What did they know or care about all
this noise and racket and men getting
up in line and killing each other?
Along about o'clock things began to
liven up again. In the meantime head
quarters had been established IN a
sunken road with banks about i5 feet
hieh on either side later this cut was
alf fllled with dead My aid post was
a dugout nearby and gradually things
hotter and hotter
our men had dug themselves IN and
were popping away with their rifles.
The field batteries behind us were put
ting up a barrage. ailplsnes We're cir
cling overhead, both ours and the Ger
mans The Germans put up a coun-
ter barrage, the machine guns were go
ing like mad. ] was standing with the
coioAel on a little rise OF ground above
the Eunken road when the Germans
broke through about a mile TO the north
of us. They could be plainly seen
pouring over the ridge in close forma-
ti0n.
Tanks Drive Huns
Then the tanks came I'D, and YOU
should have seen them runl Just like
rabbitsl The tanks retired: the bOches
reformed and came at It again. They
tell me that at certain places our men
'vithEtood 50 successive attacks and that
the Germans went down in thousands.
one Welshman told me that his gun
accounted FOR . in three minutes dur
ing one wave.
Machine gun bullets were nlpping
around me, the shellfire was getting
hotter, and even though it was a won
derful sight TO watch I decided "dis-
cretlen was The better part OF valor. ="
or something like that, and got down
In my dugout.
was sitting there smoking a cigaret
when my orderly came down and said
p was being relieved and was TO 90
back and work with tho ambulance.
Fifteen hours later the man that re-
lieved me was captured But I am get
ting ahead Of my story.
] went back TO the advanced dressing
station through the hottest shellfre ]
ever experienced. More than once
went down on my face when a shell
burst and tho pieces went whizzinl
over my head. I spent tho night in
mined village where the advanced dress
ing station was located, and all nigh
they shelled 70 TO blazes. 10 was re
narkable how few casualties we had.
Shell Hits Post.
About A o'clock the morning Of tn
third day a shell blew in the side o.
orr post but luckily no one was hurt
We stuck TO Il until about IN the art
ornoon, when we saw our men retiring
over a ridge in front OF us. keeping uJ
a continuous machine gun and rifll
IRE. and we beat Il back to another vii
lage and opened another post.
About 40 o'clock on the morning o
she fourth day Lord Thyme, my col
onel when I was with the battalion
stumbled into the shack where ! wal
sitting. He looked like a ghost. Ia
had lost his hat. his face was covered
with a four days beard, the sweat haI
traced tracks in Mis- chin. His sleevl
1yas torn and bloody and he had a gast
IN his arm where he had been strucl
BY a piece OF flying shell case.
My God, doc. are you here2" he said
~You got out just in time. The bat
talon is all gone The sunken road is
filled with dead-mostly Huns, damn
'em. The line broke on the right. we
were surrounded, and at the last we
were fighting back 20 back. Only 30
OF US got away"
Germans Break Line.
SO we knew the boohe had broken
TO our right and our left, and
70 was a question Of how long 10 would
he before we. too. were surrounded, but
we wanted TO stick 70 out as long as
we could
But not more than an hour later a
medical officer rushed in from one Of
tho baitalions and between gasps for
.nrasSl told us the Germans were on