Evening star., 1918-08-11

and we. had two battalions of the 5th
and two of the 9Th in line. At 5 pm.
we started out for our new objectives.
on wonderful day, and the. twilight
is so long here that It was practical
ly broad daylight. The eastern edge of
the Bois de Belleau eand Bouresches
were our main detectives. with Torcy
and other parts of the Belleau the
5th's. Sibley's battalion had the ad-
vance, with Holcomb's in support. The
colonel and Capt. Laspiere, our French
military adviser. went out to Lucy.
the central point behind the advance.
Sibley moved out in perfect order. and
poor Cole told me the night before
they got him that when Holcomb's
96th Company moved out later and
came through the woods and into the
wheat fields in four waves, 1T was the
most beautiful sight he had ever
seen. The artillery preparation was
short and one of the platoons of our
machine gun company laid down a
barrage. But out in the thick Bois de
Belleau liaison was extremely difh-
cult. The woods were alive with ma
chine guns and at times where our
lines and those of the 5th had passed
through they soon found boche and
machine guns in their rear. The ad-
vance on the left was held up by stub
born fighting, but about 9 Sibley sent
in runner with word that his left
was advanced as far as his right.
that he had reached the northwest
edge of the woods; that the worst OF
the machine gun nests was on rock
plateau near his post command, put
that he had surrounded it.
Col. Catlin Hit by sniper.
In the meantime, word came in that
Col Catlin had been wounded, and
felt that the bottom of the war had
dropped out. He had such complete
grasp of military situations. was Ia
miliar as no one else could have been
with what was to be done, and officers
and men, invariably looked to him.
and there seemed no limit to his ca
pacity for work or his ready sym
pathy with and understanding of his
subordinates.
.aThe colonel had moved a short
distance out, as he had planned. from
Lucy to watch the first phase. He
was standing up in a machine gun
pit. with his glasses up. when a
sniper drilled him clean through the
right chest. 1t was clean wound
and our reports lead US to believe
that he will be out by the middle OF
July, if not sooner.
In the meantime. because of the
extreme difficulty of liaison and with
a dDk night closing in. orders went
before we had word from Sibley.
1t was just a:45 when word came in
that BoureScheS had been taken by
Robertson's platoon of the 06th. or.
rather. the twenty-odd men of his
Aatoon who had managed to break
through a heavy machine gun barrage
and enter the town. One of Sibley's
companies had been assigned the
town. with Holcomb's battalion, to es-
tablish the line from there to where
the eSd's left flank lay; It had been
unable to advance and at the same
time keep in touch on its left. as or
dered. Duncan, hearing. however.
that this company was 200 yards in
advance (an error raced ahead with
his 96th company. and was met by
a terrific machine gun barrage from
two sides of and from Bouresches.
Men Went Down Like Flies.
"As Robertson told me. he had
managed to get part of his platoon
through the barrage. and, looking
back, saw Duncan and the rest of
the company. charging through the
barrage. go down like flies Robert
SON had one-half of the line and
Duncan half. Robertson blew his
whistle Just before this to bring up
all of his half of the line. and missed
Lieut. Bowling. He passed the word.
Where is johnny and saw Bowling :!
go stumbling ahead with bullet in
his shoulder. Duncan. the last he
saw of him before he was moved
down. had his pipe in his mouth and
was carrying a stick. Dental Sur
geon Osborne picked Duncan up and.
with Hospital Corps man. had just
gained some shelter when a shell
wiped all three out.
"Just after Robertson gained the
town and cleaned out the boches. after
street fighting. in which his orderly,
Private Dunlavy. killed later in the
defense of the town, captured and
turned on them one of their machine
guns. others filtered through, and the
10th Company. under Zane. Hoicomb
hcndling of the town.
I'm the meantime, although the cap
ture of Bouresches was the most
of the first fighting, Sib-
ley was having heavier work in the
Rois de Belleau. He reported early'l
that there were many machine guns |
in. the woods. At first prisoners came
in early, and the men who brought
them back reported that the compa- !
nies were cleaning up fast, with few
Young Zimmerman charged
one machine gun nest at the point of
the bayonet and sent in seventeen
prisoners at a clip.
Woods Full Of Machine Guns
after the first patches of prisoners
came into the courtyard of our post
command and stood with hands up in
the orthodox kanierad style, and the
runners were full of the eaSy manner