New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1918-12-07
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE.
November Sth, 1918.

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reason for the delay being tina
my troop has been on the moF
these past few days and as a con
sequence could not do any writ
ing. Our Corps has been dom.
some fierce fighting for over TIVE
months now and | can assure yoi
that the 'Boches' are feeling it
suppose YOU remember Of read
ing in the papers when the Is
Army attacked some few weeks
ago. Well, ever since then, onl
Divisions have been advancing
capturing town after town, tax
ing prisoners, cannons, munitions
supplies, etc. as they pushed
ahead. They simply could nj
hold back the "Yanks'' and az
cording to reports from the lines
we are still "going strong" The
territory which the Amexs are
now wrestling from the Boche had
been in their hands for four years.
SO there are evidences of their
having been here everywhere one
can look. This is the front the
French had been unable to recap
tnre, having tried it several times
and failed. But, the LIST Army
has turned the trick" alright.
And that ism all. They are on
their way to the Rhine and furth-
Ger than that too, unless there is
an armistice declared pretty soon.
The Germans are wise! They
know too well that our guns will
soon be banging on the Rhine"
and at the very gates of Berlin,
if it is necessary. Hence her
pleadings for peace. One priso-
ner told me recently that the
Kaiser's armies were on their way
to Paris via Berlin and 4 believe
it, too. suppose you've read
about the fight in the Argonne
Forest. Well. the cleaning out
Of this stretch of woods was part
of the 1st Corps job and it GER
tainly proved to be real one.
This is one Of the largest forests
in France and the Huns had dug
themselves in strongly throughout
these woods. They had mounted
thousands of machine guns and
as a result driving them out was
about as hard proposition as,
could be gotten hold Of. The,
rifle is gradually going out of use
and they seem to specialize on
artillery and machine guns. They
had even mounted some up in the
trees on platforms, each machine
gun being well camouffaged with
twigs, leaves, etc. Well, the
woods were swept clear of them,
but their deadly rat-tat-tat took
their tolls of human lives. But
the Amexs came On and one and
finally, after seeral days of
bloody fighting Mr.. Boche re-
tired. The town We are now in
was in the hands Of the Germans
only three days before we ar
rived here. They had been living
quite comfortably for these past
four years, as is evident by the
way they had the homes. etc.
fixed up. There were chickens,
pigeons, rabbits, etc. and accord
ing to that some of their head
quarters must have been stationed
here. Where we were some few
days ago, they had built comfort
able barracks, etc., one thing we
can htank them for, because we
made use Of them. But that isn't
a proof that the Boche are strong
on building up Whateveri
they did put up was for their own
personal convenience and GER
tainly for no other reason. AS
usual the owns they were forced
to evacuate are total ruins. All
OF these French buildings are
made Of brick and stone and what
remains standing now are but por-
tions Of walls. Churches, homes,
all have been demolished by the
artillery. It's just the same as
if fire had swept them, one
after the other. What you saw
in the papers about the taking Of
such and such a town. from day
to day, meant that we had cap
tured practically only the sites on
which these pretty French townsl
once stood. Those that they did
leave partly undemolished were
later blown up by time mines
which they had installed. In
pne instance. one small town was
hlown completely off the face of
the earth. 1t was situated on the
top Of pretty hill, but what re-