The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-12-13
DESCRIBES ST. MIHIEL DRIVE
Continued from page one

high explosives. We said, God Dit
the poor men whom we are out I
get, and who had to stay on thei
posts thru it all. And so it COZ
tinued until daylight. In the du
gray of early dawn we went over,' @
as we say, were up and at them.
The barrage was changed to
rolling one, and we infantryme
were to follow it, not too close, yo
Know, but If we got too far benin,
we would lose it and its protection.
Now, a few words concernin,
the terrain. We were to advance
over the country which the German
had held almost undisputed sine,
the early days of the war, and where
the French had lost almost an en-
tire army without being able to dis
lodge the Hun. After that the Ger
mans felt secure, and so it was, a.
II seemed, foolish to try to drive
him out. About all he had to do wa,
to tend his barbed wire and make
himself comfortable. This he did tc
such an extent that he had miles OF
all sorts of wire and bomb-proot
dugouts fit for anyone. Some OF
those l went into were electric
lighted. One had piano in it, and
the walls were covered with wall
paper. Some, alas, what?
This was the terrain we were to
advance over, and we did. l could
tell the pioneers who were to cut
the wires, but found this unneces-
sary as our artillery had made gaps
everywhere. To start with, the pio-
neers began their appointed task,
but as the infantry wounldn't wait
for them, they asked for and were
given permission to put away their
wire-cutters, get their rifles and 90
over with us.
Hun Leads Marathon
so you see, everything started off
fine, and instead Of the resistance
we expected, we had marathon on
our hands with Fritz in the lead, but
at times he would become winded.
and as a rear guard, he would be
easy meat. OF these we made
prisoners of all we could and there
were 'bookoo' (meaning many) So
things went until we reached Than
court. Later I'll try and tell more
of this place.
The above has been sort of a gen.
eral description of that morning,
Now, If you are interested in where
| was and what was doing, I'll try
and throw some bouquets at myself
you know.
Il will begin at the trenches,
where we jumped Off We were a
Woebegone looking bunch; that is,
my battalion; l don't want to speak
OF anyone else. mentioned the
rain and wind. Well, the trenches
we were stationed in had some water
in them, but that didn't make much
difference, because we were wet any,
way. We were a support wave. It
wasn't daylight yet, and we didn't
have much else to do but reflect upon
our sins, which I suppose most of
US did until the word was passed thatI
the first wave had gone over about
ten minutes before. Then we in the
supports wondered what we were |
doing, If We were dummis or Just ont
for our mornings constitutional. But
that didn't last long. Almost i'm
mediately the word came back,
Everything going fine; move sup
port up and so we started I'D in
squad formation. About a kilo
meter of this and we formed a sKirm-
sh line again and lay in some more
renches. y Il
Here I'll have to drop nv bat
alton, because soon after that athe n
aptain called for a runner and as
was the nearest, | answered. ave, ii
lye, sir Runner, find Captain
<ufenburg and his company; teIlI]
l1m where We are and ask him tc
staDhsh liaison on our right, and
hen We'll move up together a few II
oints east of north, commanded the
aptain. Again l said Aye, aye, sir
nd then | didn't see my company
gain until afternoon. | found Cap
ain Kaufenburg o. K, but after
hat | couldn't find my own captain.
You see things had happened
fast that our major found it nee
ssary to move up before full liaison
ad been established on this new
ne, so when l went back the COM
any had gone. But knowing that
veryone was moving forward, iii
'ent forward too, and as runners
ave almost unlimited privileges on
Re field, all l had to say when any,
ne stopped me was, runner; do you
now where l can find the ninety
xth marines?' and then on l would
D.. =
well, I guess the devil takes care
his own, because I must have
assed to the left of the outfit while
ping thru wood for when | got
y bearings again, was up near the
ont wave. Also by this time I was
aveling light, as we had left our
anket rolls behind the night be-
re and the day having turned warm
had lost my raincoat and every
her loose article could spare. All
had left was my razor, iron ra-
On, ammunition and gun. After
linking 1t over a couple of minutes,
decided that the company would
coming along sooner or later, and
keep from getting lost, had bet