South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-05-12
REV. \. D. bORLEY
DESCRIBES BATTLE
Son of Local People Tells of
Recent Engagements
With Y. M. c. A.

Mr.. and Mrs. w. Z. Borley. ST.,
119 y. Race ST.. have received from
their son, the Rev. II. d. Borley Of
Flint. Mich. now with the American
Cxpedltionary forces in France.
letter OF unusual interest which de-
scribes with extraordinary force ana
clearness a recent engagement be-
tween the allied and central forces.
Extracts from his letter here fol-
low:
Doubtless your daily papers tell
of the progress Of the war and you
we do about many things. I hope.
however, that you are not unduly
worried over the serious situation of
this particular time. AS far as ap-
pearances go II is true. a big ad-
vance has been made by the enemy,
but he has paid an awful price.
AN eye witness told me today OF
having seen an attempt OF the
enemy TO break through; his men
were massed II deep in close for
nation and tried to force line held
by British and Americans. The
enemy had to face a row Of ma
chine guns set close. and back of
which were three-inch guns whose
muzzles were nowhere more than
one foot apart.
German Loss Severe.
Back OF these were the big guns.
The first row was cut down TO
man; and when the second came
they were struck down on the bod
les Of their comrades. The Ger
mans were drugged so that they
came on in the face OF that kind Of
fire, dancing like fools many OF
them. Seventeen waves were sent
against that line, and OF course. all
were moved down till that pile Of
German dead was 10 feet deep.
stretching some miles.
They had evidently planned that
at last the British would retire for
rest. as the custom has been. But
those Yankees could not be pulled
away from the guns and the line
was more solid than ever after the
battle. This is the kind Of price
the enemy is paying for his advance.
and he Is gaining only the material
to make a good story for his people
at home. When you think that our
men lost on that line only about
one man every 20 feet you can see
that something must turn soon for
our advantage.
IT was interrupted and unable 10
finish this letter until now, and this
is Saturday night. Already the
things was speaking OF in the pre-
ceding part OF the letter seem TO be
coming true and we have reason to
think that a satisfactory ending will
be reached. but OF course. we must
expect TO pay a big price in the
ways of war before that end is
reached. Whatever we pay it will
he small beside what these other
countries have paid.
Army Well Equipped
I'VE are very comfortable here
now. The work that has been done
equipped as your city We have
our electric lights and water system
and the camp Is cared for in sani-
tary matters as no city l have ever
seen: you do not see even a piece
of paper lying around. Que own
building is now very comfortable
and at this. moment it is filled Us
the doors with men who are watch
ing a picture show. We have the
very latest machine that is made
in New York. and the picture to-
night is clearer than any I have
ever seen in any ordinary show at
home.
I'VE are not without our fun for
ourselves. For a good many weeks
We have not taken day off for
anything, so today we left things
in the hands of the helpers AMI
with two officers went into the viii
Iage nearby and played tennis
think of that as one of the horrors
OF war, TO be actually playing tennis,
and on a beautiful cement court, one
of the finest l ever played on. The
people are very nice there and have
almost given US their beautiful home |
and have asked US TO play whenever
we have time. IL does US lots of /
good just TO get away from every
thing in camp and have a little rec