The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-04-15
AMERICANS PRAISED
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pers from the Twenty NTH and Six
tl-hfth Iandwehr regiments, and
some Of them are Jhlans. of the cav
/ airy units So frequently mentioned in
the first part of the war
These prisoners admit that they be-
lougtd to reserve forces, and that
they thought they could scare" the
Americans and take our third line and
hold 1t with ease. They were stunned
by the smashing repulse administered
to their assault.
one OF the heroes or the battle is
an American lieutenant whose home is
! near Boston and who was formerly a
grocery clerk. He commanded "A ma
chine gun unit. and, accompanied bv
sergeant and three privates, he
stumbled on nineteen Germans in the
enemy's first line. The Germans de-
manded: Surrender"
Nothing doing" bawied the Amer
'can lieutenant IN plain United States,
anu added: IAN together. fellowsi"
W hereupon he shot the German
lieutenant through the head with his
pistol. The other Germans tb,rn
threw up their hands and surrender.
ed. The lieutenant put the captiyes
on truck aud personally took them
to headquarters.
No Time for Details.
Invited by his superior officers ia
explain the capture. the lieutenant re-
Piled
I'd like TO report the details later.
sir. There's lots of work back there
ana m anxious TO get back"
Tie members of the regimental
n@"d volunteered for litter service in
the front lines. They worked under
the wtther'ng artillery and machine
gun fire until they were exhausted.
courier ran through a rain of
shells, a message in his left hand. an
automatic in his right. lie. was
fr"lhing At the mouth and had Just
strength enough to gasp:
our fellows are driving EN-, they
'the GeTmans) didn't get through. &c '
lie fell, unconscious
The EH-fiu.mbor's Story.
Here's the way orc American pri-
vate formerly plumber. describes
the fray:
There was no time 10 be scared
after it warmed up. fellows. We
wondered how we'd come out and if
We d stand the gaff like Americans
should be expected to stand it. The
H'ght before, when I heard the Ger
ran barrage, my knees shivered; I
tad fuany feeling. and gripped my
ritie hardr~ and faced ahead Then
somebody started 20 sing. Hail. Hail.
the Gangs All Here and I started 10
loin in. The first words didn't come.
Then. all at once. everybody was sing
ing and me as loud as the rest.
4 could hardly wait for the word
10 "a forward. / didn't think Of VIVA,
might happen. but only of what |
could do. Our guns banged away. and
tho Germans came stumbling through.
" @ went AT them singing. The Yanks
Are Coming You ought to have
seen our gang mix II up and jump over
INTO. the midst Of the Germans.
Some Dutchman clipped one of
our gang; he'll never clip another.
you betcha- Our eyes popped and
our throats were dry. and our faces
like blistered with chalk. But we
were all sorry when we were ordered
to quit.
We roundered up a gang of Dutch
men They were sorry lot. Back
OF our lines they gave 'em a swell feed
In the cook shack, rice. creamed DO
tatoes and caImon. The Germans had
a regular American banquet. They
said they hadn't had much to eat for
two days.
One Of our lieutenants took nine
teen. He and his squad carted 'em
away in truck TO the prisoners pen.
SOME harvest, eh?"