Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-29
ny EUWV
Special Gable to Erening Public Ledger

'Copy,foht, 1918, bp Nc,o York Times Co.
verdun, Oct. 80.
Big German guns are worrying the
weary stones of this torn city. rent and
tortured by four years and more OF war.
Here one screams into a moss-covered
stone pile marking what once was some
ones handsome home. and because the
ruin is already complete it does no more
harmI
Another bumps its way through the
| rusty skeleton of what was once a pretty
railroad station and for the thousandth
time wracks the battered wreck. An
other sticks its nose against the noble
rampant of the ancient wall and tumbles
Into the moat. as II recognizing the use
| lessncss OF spending its message OF hate
| against the stones the Germans have
| tried so hard to reach in times gone by
What could be more weird than tc
stand in this silent city. the historic
corpse of the worlds greatest slaughter
| the graveyard. too, OF the Germans
fondest hopes, and hear the oppressive
quiet broken by the ugly whining Of the
enemy's 2ios coming from over the hills
to the northeast?
over these hills. whose SCARED rims
are torn so that the skyline looks much
tearing their way into the vitals OF the
German army. II is the toughest jot
| that they ever undertook. II Is one OF
| the toughest that ever soldiers tried. The
| terrain Is just one hill after another, one
ledge rising above the next, with tattered
woods giving the enemy the best of shell.
| ter for his machine guns.
| Faith Of Americans Best Weapon
North of Douaumont. the grave o'
armies. and to the cast and west foi
three days we have been biting into the
enemy's line. which he holds so heavily
protecting the main artery of hi" armie.
on the western front. every tool of wal
the Kaiser has is pitted against thu
youths from across the sea against thi:
array our strongest weapon is the innate
belief of our fighters that they can nat
urally stand the gruclirg affair lonse
than Heinie can.
| It is hammer and tongs militar!
show up there where we have jus, com
from. We get the Bois Belleu, for in
stance. and then the enemy drives III
out We drive him out, and then HI
gasscs. We get out. and when the ga
Is gone start back to find new machine
guns brought ur,
| It is the same sort of thing in th
Bois wavrile. Bois Etraye, and numer
Gus other woods that crown the battered
| hills rising east of the Meuse valley
| seeming to frown disapproval of the ter
| rife fighting for the privilege Of resting
on their heights.
| No longer do Americans take an.
stock in the talk of low German morale
l believe an American information Off
Ger summed it up this morning in ;
report which said of our prisoners:
They talk much of lessened morale
of which state of mind they gave NJ
evidence on tho battlefield.
Gun Platforms in Trees
| Illustrating the fighting abilities Of th
| Germans. as well as the nature of thu
warfare our boys are mp against, taxi
the case of a trap into which our mel
ran in the Bos Beleu. After Perish
| ing's men had swept through the hills
the Germans came up from deep dug
outs, the mouths of which were cam
ouflaged. and climbed to platforms col
cealed between trees and fired machin
guns upon the Americans who ha,
passed. This. of course, meant death
| or at least capture. for the Germans
| but no fewer than twenty-four of the3
platforms were found in this wood.
The Germans have often used ma
chine guns from trees. but this is tn
| first time such an elaborate method ha
been used Some stout platforms ha
crews of seven men each manning thre
| large machine guns.
The Germans know every inch o
ground over which we are fighting. an
are enabled to make their artillery fir
very accurate. In addition 1t Is heav.
and the enemy is cxpending an enor
NOUS amount of ammunition against ou
men fighting northeast of Verdun.
give this instance to depict tn
violence of the shell fire: Behind the at
lacking troops run telephone lines. AM
the wireless has been set UP. Sunda
during one attack lasting two and
| half hours. the telephone line was Gu
twenty-three times by shells. and nine
| teenss signal corps men were killed in re
| pairing it, One wireless apparatus wa
downed seven times in two hours.
| shock Troops Driven Back
Alarmed by the pressure of ou
troops, the Germans put in 500 Prus
sian shock troops, who gained only
temporary success. being driven bacl
within an hour. On this front the Ger
man late Sunday put in a fresh division
against the Americans.
The fighting is NJ less severe west Q
| the Meuse where the Germans ar
contesting bitterly every foot of groun
we gain and hurting frequent attack
against us. For the last twenty-fou
hours there has been almost constan
fghting for possession of Belle Joyous
farm, which we have captured twice
| and as many times have lost.
We have had Grand Pre- free fror
| r.rrans three times Twice thew hay
come back, but now they are out an
i In rnrixa 1aril Z,