Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-11-17
TANKS ARE REAL
 STUFF FOR REj)-
 blUODED TANKS


 France, Nov. 15.--(Correspondence of The Associated Pres.) --American i fighters i'll the French twO-man tanks ran into some hot work lA front of Romanee during the Ameri- can army's advance along the west bank of the Meuse earl iii October and Sergeant James Ayerett. of Bir- minsham, Alabama with his "huddy' did their share in giving the Hun his due. AGertt's buddy was killed in the thick of the fighting by a bullet that entered peep hole in the side of the tank and struck him fair in the face.
 It was during an Amelic ican push" ill the Argonne sector Averett's tank went along with lot of other "brother" tanks in line with the American infantrymen crOwding them in the rear. Avertt was the machine gunner of his tank while his buddy ran the engine and steered the tanE
 T was so near a number of Ger mans encountered in a shallow trench that ] could see the terror in their faces when my gun began to let fly bullets almost in their very faces" Sergeant Avertt said These were the first Boches I ran into or this drive and l certainly let them have 1t as fas as my old machine could fire, and that was some fast, and I just kept going ahead and pounding away until every last one of them was stretched out on the ground
 Passing beyond this hastily dug trench, l. in the meantime, watch ing my brothers on the right and left and at the same time keeping tab on the doughboys coming up, I I got sight of little batch of Germans behind a hump in the hill along the roadway or, what had been a road way before our heavy artillery open ed up that morning. These were machine gunners. I soon learned, and bullets began to splash off the tanks sides particularly those which struck a glancing blow.
 'E ordered my tank buddy at the wheel to keep after those gunners if It cost us all four wheels. He did, and went up after them sort of side wise, and I got around on to the other side of that hump, and my brother on the other side was doing the same, and we wiped out thai bunch in a iiffy--I believe ii was by enfilading fire, as the officers call it." Sergeant Avertt explained that the tank men, all of whom were Ameri- cans. using two-men tanks invented by the French. always watched each other closely, or endeavored to. the idea being to keep a hundred yards or so apart for their mutual protec- tion, and it being important also that they not get too far ahead of the infantry.
 Just beyond the hump was a 1 clump of woods, and we began to pour bullets into that" Sergeant Avertt continued, "and for time there was some smoke arising above tthe tree-tops so we knew there were 1 Boches in there. About four of us opened up in full force and shower ed that woods with lead.
 "The machine gun answers were !! pretty stiff for awhile, as we went forward, but I just kept peppering away and talking to my buddy all the time and telling him what we were going to do-clean out that WOOuo. wy UlOlHCla Oll CltuoI olltC some way had the same hunch. The doughboys back of me too were fir ing right along with us and the Boche in that thicket must have thOt all hell had broken loose. because first thing I knew the firing virtu- ally stopped and l figured all the Bcches had been killed or had de- cded to beat it before we all got there in force. Along about that time I noticed that the tank boys on the right were swinging around the side of the clump of trees, and from the posi- ton of their guns and the. speed of their tanks I judged, that they were giving fits to some Fritzies running away. l then switched so as to rua alongside the thicket, at a distance and joined the tank. boys going around the end.
 Just about that time there was a volley of machine gun bullets, and some anti-tank gun stuff too, from hill bit to my left, suddenly my tank just began to tremble or some thing, and then stopped, and shud- dered all over, looked down and my buddy was limp in his seat. One of those damned bullets had come in through my 'buddy's' peep hole and hit him square in the face. I
 '|My buddy was dead. His final clutch on the throttle shut off the gas and the old tank stopped, and there I was, and the other toys went on. That's about all I know about 1 that fight or whatever it was, and Pm waiting around now for another tank and another buddy too to take