The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-08-28
Sid Bonney, France.

Grove, on Monday received the fol
lowing letter from their son, Lieut..
H. s. Bonney, in France. Extracts
from the German paper alluded to IN
it. will be given next week. b
4t ,sast France, July %, 1918. 4
Dear Folks :;,.s 81 ,.,i.
Well, i guessI have some horseshoe
ar rabbits foot stuck onto me and
no mistake, as I am still in the ring
after what one might call five days OF
excitement, and believe me, it was
some excitement.
AZ YOU have seen in the papers, we
started over the top at daylight Tor
merry feast of getting huns, and II
was merry and no mistake. we
caught them by surprise, and before
1890 a. m. the prisoners were. coming
hack in punches, and there were all
kinds of them, from common soldiers
In high rank officers, and they we're
ali dirty and hungry, as we spoiled
their breakfast went over the
ground where we hit them first and
in many a hole you could see hun
sitting with a spoon in one hand and
his mess kit in the other, and nice,
clean, round hole through his tin hat.
Others were, still wrapped In their
blankets where they. had been asleep
and still others were i'll dugouts Where
they will stay for some time, as II IS
easier to blow in the entrance to q
dugout than to take out hundred
huns and bury them.
I stood on hill about 800 yards be.
hind, the front line, the second day OF
the battle, and watched our men go
out after the hun. First, there was
only the scream of going and coming
shells, and now and then burst near
ar than the rest. Suddenly flare
went up from where our men lay, and
the whole earth shook with the shock
Of the explosion as the batteries put
down the barrage. Then a thin line
raised out of the ground and advanced
toward where the. barrage was hit
ing, In a minute or so another rock
ct went up and the barrage jumped
ahead fifty or 50 yards, and the next
line raised up and followed the first,
then the smoke and dust shut out the
view, and all that could be seen was
a black cloud of smoke cut and torn
nv red flashes of the bursting she'll
Of the, barrage. In few minutes
another rocket went up, telling us
they had reached their objective. and,
the batteries stopped as suddenly as
they. had begun. The silence was as
hard on the ears as the previous
crash and roar had been, and, then
the major spoke:
"Twenty minutes and 400 meters
1332 feet) gained. Damn neat work
Then to the right a rocket calling
for the barrage went up and the thing
was replaced again. All day and night
the guns kept up their fire and only
ceased to move forward and take it
M again. Batteries of 75s would
come down the road at a gallop,
swing out to the side, take off the
horses, and in five minutes they were
firing again. Not a sign OF cover or
emplacement but gun battery after
gun battery firing from the open, and
the huns going toward Germany as
fast as they could get there,
After life in the trenches that battle
was really relief. OF course the air
was filled with bullets from every
class Of weapon. shells fell at times
so thick that one burst could not be
told from another, but there was the
great and glorious feeling of going
forward, and the tune our men pick
ed out was Goodbye Broadway, Hell.
10 France" Can you beat that for a
song to 60 into battle with?
have heard and read many times
of the huns using dumdum bullets,
but never had any proof of 1t until
now. I have sent two that messed up.
the plaster on the side of a wall where
/ stood, and you may tell the world
for me that when anyone says the
hun has not used the dumdum bullet,
and does not use them, that the man
who says so is liar from the word
20, and that the hun DOES use them.a
Perhaps not often, but nevertheless
he uses them. Oh, yes, it makes our
men like them all the more-NIT.
The boche complains that we are
not fair fighters as we put too much
ferocity into our attacks. Too bad,
isn't it, that the Americans won't
walk up, slap his wrist and say
Stag? a. A.
We captured everything from live
huns to 210 cannon, and I had the
plodSuIc VI III lu5 oCNStuA huAuASu
shots from one Of the captured ma,
chine guns at one of his planes. They
make a good machine gun but ! did
not hit the plane, or at least did not
bring it down, and was firing only
about 500 minute at it,. Gee but !
did want that plane. believe |
would have sent most of 1t home had
I got it, didn't, SO the son of a
(deleted) came over that night and
dropped lot of bombs at us. Never
touched a man, but sure made some
holes in the fields. Say. A dugout
feels good when those things come
down. One always feels that he is
the sole target, and that nothing can
stop that bomb falling right on his
noodle. Then is when I make a noise
like real rabbit, find a hole and get
into it, and would pull the hole in
with me if it were possible.
AS l am writing this the papers say
the Heinie is still going and l have
had bath, shave, beaucoup to eat
and a night chock full Of sleep and |
feel almost human again. ~
l sent whole lot Of relics from
the field today and hope they get
there all o. K. Here Is the list so
.,o,, oar oboo1> than, hophn IN