The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-07-13
D. c. BOY HELPED
STOP GERMANS AT
CHATEAU THIERRY

The first days Americans spent in
the trenches before the big German
push were like a matinee at Keith's
compared to the-open fighting around
Chateau Thierry and Bel.cau Wood.
according to Nelson Shepard, who was
a reporter in the press gallery at the
Capitol before he enlisted as a marine
shortly after the outbreak of the war.
Shepard has been through some
tough fighting since he went 'over
there" and today he writes OF his ex-
periences while helping to stem the
German tide at the Marine. He says:
I'VE were before the drive) forty
five days in the American sector OF
the trenches-we thought it was
fierce at the time, but it's like a
matinee at Keith's compared to this
open warfare on the other front
Without q days rest we hiked over
100 miles, and Unanswered for eight
days at the second division mobilize
ton point
Then ali of a sudden they routed
US out without a minutes notice,
rushed the entire division in motor
trucks clean across France-didn't
of the front; in half an hour were
headed. Outside Paris the roads were
choked with refugees and French
troops-then we sure did know where
we were going. Late that night we
struck a deserted farm near one part
of the front, in half an hour we were
back in our trucks again, making for
another part of the front as fast as
gasolene could take US Rode all
night and part the next day-every-
thing was chaos, refugees, wounded
soldiers, everything that makes war
such a nice, quiet little game.
All of a sudden they dumped us
out in a big field, machine guns and
all, with the Germans headed our
way like sixty. We were ordered TO
hold our positions at all costs-and 1
don't reckon my hide had much OF
value on 1t at that time. Besides It's
one thing to laugh at high explosives
aad shrapnel when you're in a per-
fsctly safe dugout thirty feet UNDER
ground, and quite another thing 10
try to dodge them In an open Wheat
field.
GFor four days our one marine
brigade stopped that German ad-
vance like a stone wall along our
sector-glory to the infantry, II De-
longs mostly to them Then we De-
gan to assume the offensive our
selves, and in our first attack cap
tured the German headquarters town.
After that we kept driving them back
every day, holding all our gains. One
battalion of our infantry and eight
machine gun crews (yours truly In
cIuded) took 1,O2S prisoners in one
DAYS attack. The Germans brought
down their famous Fifth division
Prussian guards, and what didn't hap
pen TO the noble Prussian guard isn't
worth telling.
I'VE had tweaty-ons days OF II be-
fore we were relieved-it's wonder
any Of US were left to write home at
all-you can imagine the hell Of IT,
when you consider how the artillery
tore down the trees. The Germans
would hoist light machine guns in
the treetops and blaze down at us
There was rough and tumble hand-to-
hand nghting-that's where the in
fantry had to bear the brunt OF II
all, and they even got near enough to
drop over those damn souvenir hand
grensdes.
"But all that is simply q side show
to the real show-artillery barrage.
I am not exaggerating one bit when
I say there was not a single hour Of
those twenty-one days when the ar
tillery, on one side or another. was
not in action. II you are lucky, you
dig yourself q shallow grave to pro-
tect your body from the shrapneL
Either way, you have to lie face
down on the ground, just trusting to-
luck. The barrage may last half
an hour, or many hours. All the
German batteries would turn loose
at once, hundreds OF shells all over
the woods. But after all, it's sur
prising how few men the artillery
actually does kill-but It nearly
drives you crazy, however. which is
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