The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-07-18

quiet for two hours before our gong
over. Our men were resting, calmly
awaiting the hour. My platoon was
to go over with the first wave who
had about 700 yards to go. Then the
French artillery, our artillery and
all the heavies opened up in concerted
action to blow c. (the town we
were to take) off the map. One could
see half a building rise hundred
/ feet in the air, then spread out in all
directions. We were to follow our
own barrage. A hail of our own
shells would be bursting about so
| yards in front of us, moving forward
all the time. We were to follow this
until We reached our objective 700
yards away, then dig in. When ga
came the - Infantry as one man got
up and climbed into No-Man's land
and started for the Germans. Tn
| French tanks were right along with
US, but were not needed very much
as the German machine gunners
either ran or threw up their hands.
Just before we reached their front
lines they swarmed out and soon be-
gan trying to put as much distance
between themselves and us as pos
sible. Run! They simply faded
away. Our rifles got many of them.
Most of the Boches however came
out of their trenches running toward
us waving hands frantically over
their heads, and yelling "Kamerad.
These were taken prisoners. Finally
we reached the place where it had
been agreed we would stop, we'll be-
yond the town. Everybody was dig
ging in just as fast as possible before
Fritz organized himself and opened
up with machine guns and artillery.
l was distributing my men out and
getting them on a line so we could
dig a more effective trench by con-
Meeting up shell holes, when some
body said my platoon was too far
from the one on my left. went over
to tell the lieutenant on my left that
he would have to move his platoon to
the right flank a little more. By this
time machine gun bullets were filling
the air, and snipers were active. The
Boches had found where we stopped.
When l went over to see the lieu
tenant something hit me in the right
thigh and knocked me down. 1t was
the sniper's bullet. / crawled to the
hole couple of men we're digging
and not a moment too soon for the
Huns played a machine gun right
over the top of it nearly all day. The
lieutenant of this platoon was wound
ed also, and several other men around
us. So l spent the day in that hole.
For about ten hours stayed there
not daring to stick my head up, be-
cause machine gunners and snipers
we're active. After several hours a
corporal (who had been sniped also)
concluded to crawl back to get some
kind of first aid. He had hardly
gone ten feet when l heard something
crash and a bullet hit clod of dirt
in front of my head. The way l got
back into that hole would startle you.
The corporal was not so lucky as he
was shot second time just as he was
crawling into the hole. Then in the
afternoon they began shelling us. For
two hours 1 stood just the same
thing that l had stood the day before.
This means a counter-attack. He
shells the trenches until he thinks
he's killed everybody in them, then
he comes over. The way he shelled
US for two hours was fright. l lay
in the bottom of the trench and wish
ed for a chance to fight him on an
even basis, knowing that I was as
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1 absolutely gave myself up as lost
and could see no earthly chance Of
getting out alive.
No place to go but through death
over land to a communication trench
to the rear which started about three
hundred yards away. I would have
given twenty years of my life to be
in that trench which was 800 yards
away, because there was a chance.
1 had been wounded for many hours,
my wound needed dressing badly and
1 was weak from loss of blood and
lack of water. I ventured to peep
over in the direction of the communi-
cation trench, between it and my
self several shells we're at that in
slant exploding and the machine gun
bullets were ficking up the dust
everywhere. l concluded I'd be fool
to try it but got right up and beat it