Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-06-13
Americans Never Fought Better
Than In First Real Go at Huns
Capture of High Ground Near Elbow" of Famous German
Wedge One of Finest Feats In Annals of U. S. Arms
TOP Dog In Their Sector Now.

tanned supreme control of the air
throughout the fight.
The weather was ideal for an attack.
After a night spent i'll a dugout, l
, started to walk further toward the
front. AT daybreak a. mist hung over
the valley. concealing everything.
! Slanting rays of sunlight gradually
broke through the mist soon revealed
the American batteries already in &C
tion. New guns appeared suddenly in
the most unexpected places. having
been brought up during the night. The
fire of heavy artillery was so violent
that parate explosions behind the
enemy's line could scarcely be dis
tinguished. The roar was more like
that of "A gigantic blast furnace. Oc-
caSionally during the Smelling Il thick
column of black smoke could be dis
tinguished behind the boche front line.
signalling the destruction of some Ger
man ammunition dump. When J.
reached the beet pile observation post.
the battle was at it's height. Return
ing across the fields German prisoners
slipped along between ines of .Ameri-
cans covered with the dust and Crime
of battle but grinning broadly.
Clean Up With Bombs.
When the American infantrymen en-
tered Cantigny they opend d grenade
attack on the enemy and quickly
cleared the village. Within Can,igny
is a natural cave capable of holding
400 persons. Forty Americans carry
ing flame We're detailed to
take care of that spot and places like
IL. American machine gunners fol-
lowed the infantry closely and the
newly won lines We're quickly CONSOLE
dated.
Afte- the capture of the village. car
rler pigeons carried by men in the first
company which went over the top were
released n carried back to head
quarters the reports of the battles
progress. Men of the signal corps
rapidly strung wires TO all points of
the occupied territory and soon all of
III was i'm ouch with The commander.
when L returned to the rear l passed
the batteries still standing i'm the open
and pumping shells into the Germans.
Smiling French artilIerymen cried
out: Bon Americans: Battu Les
Boches."
Ball Game Under Fire.
Passing into a village behind tho
American lines, which for DAYS had
been under shell fire. l found a full
blown ball game progressing while the
artillery not far away was still firing.
Drawn up in a rather battered field.
with a shell Aole as first base. two
teams of doughboys who had not been
involved in the Cantigny battle were
staging a baseball fight of their own,
! paving no heed to the German shells
whistling overhead.
In the headquarters dugout tele-
phones were iingling and officers were
receiving detailed reports of every
movement at the front. There | learned
that the enemy was making n relief
when the American attack was
launched. Two German regiments wcre
thus caught %unprepared.
BY 8 o'clock all the tanks had re
turned and all the objective positions
had been consolidated. The extension
of the American lines takes an obser-
walton post from the boches and puts
the Americans on the slope OF a hill
with the enemy beneath them. Ii also
= cuts off the observation the Germans
had of the entire American sector.