Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-30
Special Cable 10 Ercning Public Ledger
Copyright. rms. by N,r York Times 90.
With the American Army in France

'P'ih 'suOff ~ EEfHtHG U Hbttt LfuE'f
Copyright. rms. by Nor rort Times 90.
With the American Army in France,
Sept. 80.
After a three days struggle through
mile after mile of seemingly insuper-
able barriers, constituting the Ger.
mans formidable defense of masonary,
steel. wire and pitfalls, the first
American army is fighting IN in the
rain to the fourth and last line OF
those defenscs. known as K~ricmhildc.
SIZZLING.
They cut barbed wire and then
stumbled on to concealed wire en-.
tanglements covered with brush. They
climb these. All the time from the
dark German snipors and machine gun
men. always with time enough to fan
back. are taking their toll. Now our
line ome upon a broad trench with
more wire. In the dark our boys leap
across IL; some fall into il. Others
got over At the first attempt and pun
out their pliers to cut more wires.
All this time II is raining and cold.
very cold. The iukv blackncss there
i'm the forest is broken by streams of
fire from machine guns and the in.
termittent flash of some German
shipper. seeming to tauut the youth.
full Americans struggling against suCh
devilish odds as men seldom have
fought against.
viii BE More Even
This means that this line is under
easy fire If all our artillery. This de.
fence runs through the ArGonrc forest.
along the Airc valley through Grand
pre- and crosses the NcuSc below Dun.
Since tho Americans hit the Linden
burg line ON Thursday morning the
Germans have been ~feverIShly at work
on his Kriemhilde line. TO cross the
Kriemhilde.StcllinG line does not nee.
csSarily mean that the Americans will
go ahead faster. but It does mean that
they will have nearer an even match
with the Germans. and their advance
will depend on the Germans rcsis-
lance.
In the last three days our obstacles
have been more tn" old German de-.
Tense than boChe fighters.
Much has been written about the
Hindcnburg defcnscs, but one must
see them TO realize what the Amcri.
cans had to 20 through.
| spent a day exploring Il part of
what beyond doubt is the greatest
piece of military defense work the
world ever saw. There Is nothing to
compare with il, because there never
was anything like ii. For instance, in
Argonne forest the Americans had to
cut their way through a one of barbed
wire two and a half miles wide
through wire nailed to trees through
the forest and reaching sometimes ten
feet high. This wire ran in every di.
rection and often was hidden in the
underbruseh. Other underbrush held
hidden entarpments and ordinary
trench wire. In this two-and-a-half mile
zone there were innumcrablc trenches.
forming three distinct systems. and
between them and Over them and
everywhere there was barbpd wire.
h communication trenches ran
beneath this wire.
Turn your attention to the all-nighi
fighting in the Argonne forest and
realize what our men are going through
II is raining and there is inky dark.
ness. The boche IS shening heavily and
pouring gas into all the valleys. Oui
men must travel on the hills Those
hills are being raked by thousands OF
German rs.
Machine Guns Open In
The Americans in the advance hit tho
barbed wire. Rifles are slung acros.
shoulders and pliers are pulled out
Busily our men cut wire after wire. Til,
noise they make brings the nasty rata
tat If a Hun machine gun from a tire,
on the other side OF the wire. Then an
other and another and twenty machin,
guns are going
Their aim is poor. and their nashe