Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-30
Continued from Page One

Continued from Page One
oners and gain information about the
strength Of the units opposite he
renches Every one volunteered, as was
to be expected. but only forty were
chosen.
when the night of the raid came
the boys could hardly be restrained. so
eager We're they to get at the enemy.
The zero hour Ohe time at which they
were to start was set for 7:4O o'clock
1T came at 1881. Two hundred light
and heavy pieces of artillery and 200
machine guns opened up on a space Of
100 yards. We went over the TOP at
7;40, and Immediately star shells began
to shoot from 'Fritzs side 200 yards
away ] don't know how long it took
us to get over to 'Fritz's' bailiwick.
We certainly did hop it.
Foes Trenches Damaged
"The damage to the German trench
es was something awful. They were
all torn TO pieces. Sixteen-foot holes
were followed out The holes were
eight feet wide. There was groaning
and cursing all around us. | should
nave said before that we didn't have
much trouble in getting through the
wire. scouting party had been out
| the night before and cut into It pretty
We'll and our barrage did the rest.
The Germans put a barraee right
on their own front line trenches as soon
as we got there. We found out later
thdt about 400 men had occupied the
terrain we invaded. About 800 Of these
men were killed by our barrage. Most
OF them were half buried I'm the ground
Bits OF torn flesh and blood covered
everything.
The Germans kept sending star shell
atter star shell, and II was as light as
day' We kept emptying our automatics
| INTO the struggling mass of men that
trled to organize themselves into some
sort Of defensive fighting units.
Fight Prussian Guard
About fifty of the Germans had run
| away and there was about an equal
number left to oppose us These were
reinforced by Prussian Guardsmen. big
husky fellows, who will never give i'm
| and die fighting. The rescuing marty
must have come up right through their
own barrage, and right here I want tc
say that 1t is typical Of the Germans
| 10 do Just what those men did that
night. Their gunners never slackened
| up on their front-line trenches though
tney knew that their own men were
clicking II (dylng) with every round
fired.
I'VE had intended to stay in NJ
Mans land and in the German trenche.
only long enough to get prisoners hui
the barrage that the enemy nut dowr
was so hot and kept up so long that 4
was five hour and a half after the tim,
we went over the top before we got bacl
in our own dugouts During this tim,
we crept from she'll hole to shell hol,
and gained what little protection W,
could from the craters.
Il suppose that our entire stay II
the trenches wasn't more than tel
minutes Four of our men wer
killed and two were wounded in tn
encounter, We were all pretty ma
during those hours we waited out i
the shell-crater waiting for tho barra g
TO lift, because we hadn't brought an
Germans back with u.s.
Go Back for Wounded
"It was after l a. m. when we &c
back. and when the Lieutenant foun
that men were missing. there were call
for volunteers TO go out back and sc
the wounded.
Sergeant NcNiff and volunteered ,
and we made three trips at 3, an
> O'ClOCk. lnree OF tne men we mar
aged to bring back died later In brinE
, ing them back we had to carry thei
from shell-hole 10 shell-hole and walt fc
/ the Germans mu-derous fire 10 slacken
Another thrilling story OF indomltab
courage in the face of overwhelmir
! dificulties Is the experience of SergeaI
: Hugh Marsh. He said:
! "Orders came to capture two Germs
. prisoners from a certain sector near Il
. User Canal and the Chemln-des-Dam
on March IS and thirty-hve OF us Yank
= with llO Frenchmen, volunteered. Twel'
s American engineers from the 1Olst we
a out across No Mans Land ahead of
r IN the darkness, with pontoon bridges
. throw across the canal. The Germs
e trenches were on the other side Of 1t.
? Get In Own BarraEe
y our zero hour was 5:l5 a. m. o.
: barrage started at that time, but
I A4veloped that our French guides hI
: led us too far by a couple OF hundr'
I j Yards. and we found ourselves right
!. the midst OF our own artillery nre.
. TOf the twelve engineers Ave we
KILLED At once ana tho other seven We