Richmond planet., 1918-08-17
1 C0L0RED AMERICAN
REGIMENT MAKES
GALLANT FIGHT
One Entire Regiment ttcd for the
War Cross ior bravery and
CoolnC>S Under Fire

With the American Armies III
Franco. June &o.-Onc regiment ot
NC"rOu& in the American Army tNo.
dclrtcd by cunSor) has had its bar-
tiSm Of fire on the fighting fields OF
Franco and acquitted itself so we'll
that the French commander OF the
sector has c0tcd the whole regiment
as worthy OF receiving the War
Cross. This regiments rcpulsc OF
Of the enemy attack on the early
morning of June - lpos$ibly) 1T
Bcllcau Wood or Bourcschcs) WAS
briefly referred to in the official com
muniqur.
\ later and Official report Of the
cn~agcmpu; brings out interesting
dctail. ard "iNrS credit To the officers
and mem "or tine fine fighting quail
ties displayed in their iuitiH! cApcr-
icncr under shell and mnchInC gun
fire. The French commander OF ;ha;
scc,1t has Aiyrn The rc::McHt the
highest possible commcndation for
the results accomplished and the
Splrndid fighting spirit shown by the
American Negroes.
For several days preceding the nj
tack there were evidences that th'
enemy was preparing to strike Il
blow. Two days before one Of the
main f>atut$ ncld by tho regiment
had been subjected TO y strong bonn
hurdmc~t Of nearly 100 shells, &a%
ana %nrapncl. prior to the heavy
cucmy artillery barra%C occurring on
ssalle morning OF tho l2tn, oNr @u
vance groups nC,Td movements ap-
narcutiY Of narrow GN&Cc trains IL
the wood back Of The enemy lines.
indicating they Wrlr #"ti"3f ready
for an attack.
Every preparation had been made
for meeting the move il il came.
Besides the usual cCmhat groups ut
tie main points OF the line. special
machinr s'1u section occupied Spc-
cially chosen position on small
salient projecting into the enemy
lirr. II was accompanied by com
bat group detailed from Il reserve
company and carrying rifles and
hand Grcnadcs.
II was 2:l3 no tho morning Of
the 12th that the order to stand
to" WAS given and all combat groups
and the machine gun section took
their fghting position. The enemy
artillery now opened a violent bonn
hArdmcnt, engaging in "boN bar
rage five Of our main groups and
the special machine gun position.
The lines OF this box DarraTc are
we'll defined on the ground, showing
it's outer circuit, with conS!dcrahlc
scattering Of hits inside. The shells
were mostly IT'S. with some laos.
gas. shrapncl and high explosives.
One Of our points received particu-
lar attention. probably mincnwerfer,
the cratcrS Of which were two yards
in depth and five yards in diameter.
The artillery bomhardmcnt was en-
trcmcly violent at the start and tap
cred off gradually until il stopped
after thirty minutes.
WENT OVER THE TOP IN SMALL
GROUPS
Meantime under cover Of the ar
tillcry, the enemy infantry began its
operations. adopting the iniiltcring
process by which detached groups
are thrust, forward at a number Of
points instead Of moving in mass for
nation. One group came on with
two light machine guns, firing
rather intense fire into one Of our
positions. Another group was cSti-
mated to be about 25 or 80. At an
other point on our front Il stationery
cllclnN DtllIbi look DoSltloIi, IIlnS
with two small machine guns. Now
and then squads would dart forward
from their gun positions. Eight
Germans got up to the wire In front
Of one Of our positions, and four
others approached at another point.
Besides these assaults groups which
reached our line. there were un-
doubtdcly additional enemy forces
in aSSaulting columns and support
ing columns which were unable to
enter the field.
The special machinc-gun group
under command Of Lieutenant l.. +.
Shaw was In one OF the most OK
posed centres Of tho fighting, being
under terrific artillery fire and the
fire OF two German machine guns.
Lieutenant Shaw handled this very
difficult situation with cool bravery.
The enemy barragc was SO close that
it was impossible to stand up and
Lieutenant Shaw controlled his guns
by rolling from one to the other
His two guns fired five thousand
rounds.
THE MEN STUCK no THEIR
WORK WE'LL
Under this violent onslaught the
men stuck to their posts, carried out