Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-23
PENNSYLVANIANS
LIKE TIGERS ON
THE BATTLEFIELD
Gallantry of 10Th Division De-
scribed by Lieutenant
Colonel McKenna

AS brave under fire as any of the
regular commands the selected men
from Pennsylvania in the 10th. or
= Liberty Division. trained at Camp
Meade, issued from their first big bat
tie in France with glory and distinc-
tion. Word to this effect has been re-
ceived here in a letter from Lieuten-
ant Colonel John A. McKenna, of the
Medical Corps. The letter follows:
such preparations for a battle have
never been known in the worlds his
tory. The artillery that has been
placed miles away is stupendous and
appalling, and If the other side had
any resistance left after 1t has been
operating for a few hours, they must
be given credit for being worthy
foe.
where the French stayed the progress
of the Germans so heroically two years
ago, we are preparing to deal them
blow that should shatter them. Al
ready the guns on both sides are NUT
tering, and when the zero hour is
reached, that is the time for active
cannonading to begin. He'll VIII break
loose literally.
There are thousands of guns wait
ing to pour their steel into the oppos-
is rapidly growing closer. We are all
prepared to receive a lot of wounded.
In fact, lot of casualties from
chance shells UP the road have already
come in.
"This is a big hospital. where the
severely wounded cases come, with
fifty doctors and as many nurses. We
handle 1000 cases in little over TWO
days"
Iaffar af he first ptlqh of the bat
tie was past, as follows:
"The first two big days are now
over. The American advance has been
successful in every way. All the oo-
jectives were attained and an advance
of from four to six miles made in the
first twenty-four hours of hghting
against a strongly entrenched foe who
stubbornly contested every foot OF the
way. after the first two miles.
Nothing could exist in the artillery
fire l wrote you about and the troops
of the 10th Division had little trouble
in going forward after the barrage
stopped. But then the Fritzies came
out of their holes in the earth and
with machine guns and rifle fire made
1T hot for the division, which, although
1t had never been under fire before.
did admirably. going forward brayely
in the face of fire that dropped doz-
ems Of them before they reached the
German barbed wire.
"Snipers posted in the trees in the
forests in front of the town on the
mount, which was the objective of the
infantry. picked OF many of our men
and officers of the regiment that
stormed the hills at the foot of the
town.. without the gunners of our
troops being able to see where the
shots came from.
During a lull in the work in the
hospital, we had just stepped outside
for a moment and saw a thrilling sight
over the battle line. There were eight
big balloons on cables (sausage bal
loons) UP from 1000 to 5000 feet for
observation purposes. when suddenly
a Boche plane dropped from great
height Firing incendiary bullets into
the balloons. he set FIRE to four of
them and dashed OF before an Allied
plane or the antiTaircraft guns could
reach him.
car, and IS the balloons collapsed.
they jumped to the ground in para
chutes and all got down safely but
one poor young fellow. The burning
balloon he jumped from fell on his
parachute and caused 1t to collapse.
He fell like q pIummet to the ground.
They brought him into the hospital.
but he was beyond help.
"The wounded men who came
through were wonderfully brave to
man, and never whimpered, even when
we had to dress very severe wounds
and take out bits of shrapnel.
THE knights of Columbus have a
chaplain here who did good work
among the wounded boys and was a
source of much consolation to many
of them"