The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-05-23

Storm of Shell Fire Described by
Illinois Officer.
HUN SLAUGHTER WAS GREAT
First Lieutenant Petit of Ottawa, In
Letter to His Father Gives Details
of Battle In Which British
Fought at Great Odds.

Fought at Great Odds.
The thrilling story of the Hafg re-
treat in the terrific battle in Picardy is
most Interestingly detailed by First
Lieutenant Roswell T. Petit, NJ. o.
r. c., OF Ottawa, H., in a letter to his
father, DR.. ]. W. Petit of the Ottawa
tuberculosis colony, and published in
the Chicago Tribune. For nine days
the American officer was In the thick
est of the fighting, and during the re-
treat of the British Fifth army from
before st. quentin. His account of the
battle thrills with the stress of the
herculean conflict, as it was detailed
Immediately after he had passed
through the terrible experience and be-
fore his Impressions had been duIled
by time. His letter:
Lieutenant Pettit's Letter.
March 80.
Dear Father: Now that the show is
over for me for the time being, and I
have time to breathe and sleep and eat
and write, I'll try and tell you about
the battle. Before you receive this
you will have had the whole story from
the papers, but I know you will be
interested in knowing what did in the
affair
OF course, the things I saw were but
an fnfinitesimal part of a gigantic
whole and it would be impossible for
me to give a correct description of the
battle. And as I write this, I do it
with no knowledge whatever of what
has been going on even few miles
from me.
have not seen paper in eight days;
1 have received no mail, and the only
information we have received has been
by word of mouth, and most of what
we hear must be wild rumors. For ex-
ample: The French have advanced
20 miles at Verdun. the Ameri-
cans have taken Ostend, and are on
their way to Zeebrugge. and a great
naval battle has been fought in the
North sea.
All know is that on this part Of the
front the Germans attacked US In over
whelming numbers, in places ten divf-
siOns to our one; that they suffered
terrible losses, but finally broke
through our lines Of defense, one after
another, and fighting for the most part,
a rear guard action, we have retired
about Is miles in straight line.
For a week before the battle started
we had been expecting it; we were
ready to move on 80 minutes no
tice. had been out with combatant
as well as medical officers on tours of
reconnaissance, definite methods of
evacuation of the wounded had been
worked out, and our plans of counter
attack been made. After four or five
days of waiting, the storm finally
broke.
The BOche opened up on US at a. M,
March 81, with the heaviest barrage I
have ever heard. "Stand to-" was
sounded, we turned out dressed, and
had all our equipment packed in 80
minutes. Then we sat down and
waited for orders to move. The bar
rage kept up continuously, sometimes
heavier and then of less intensity,
sometimes it seemed to be to the north
of us and then suddenly 1t switched to
the south.
Our balloons were up as soon as 1t
was light and the airplanes were buzz
zing over our heads. The ground mist
gradually cleared and the Germans
put hail of shrapnel on our camp
and we all took cover, but three men
were hit. Why it is a fellow always
feels safer with a roof over his head,
even If he knows bullets and shrapnel
and pieces of shell will go through
boards and corrugated iron just like
paper.
Ordered to Move.
Our orders to move finally came and
we marched off to theabrigade assem-
bly, point several miles away. This as
Sembly point was in a little bunch of
trees about the size Of Allen park and
behind and separated from a larger
wood In front. In the larger wood
there was battery Of heavy artillery
and shells were dropping in there two
or three to a minute, and it was heavy
stuff, too.
Sometimes they overshot the big
wood and shells were landing in the
open around the little wood where my
brigade had its assembly point. AS
we approached our little copse we
could make all this out from some dis
lance away and it wasn't a pleasant
sensation to feel that we were march
ing straight into 1t.
All the battalions arrived and In that
little copse there must have been at
least two thousand men. What a
~--~~~~~~~-~~~-o~~-~-~~