The Nevada County picayune., 1918-05-09
HAIG'S RETREAT E
 v|vIDLY PICTURED
Storm of Shell Fire Described by
 Illinois Officer.
HUN SLAUGHTER WAS GREAT
First Lieutenant Petit of Ottawa, In Letter to His Father Gives Details of Battle in Which British
 Fought at Great Odds.

The thrilling story of the Haig re- treat in the terrific battle in Picardv Is most Interestingly detailed by First Lieutenant Roswell T. Petit. NJ. O. K =, of Ottawa. H., in a letter to his father. Dr. !. ". Petit of the Ottawa tuberculosis colony, and published in the Chicago Tribune. For nine days the American officer was in the thick est of the fighting. and during the re- treat of the British Fifth army from before St. Quentin. His account of the battle thrills with the stress of the hercuIean conflict, ns 1t was detailed immediately after he had passed through the terrible experience and be- fore his impressions had been dulled by time. His letter:
 lieutenant Pettit's Letter.
 March 30.
 Dear Father: Now that the show Is over for me for the time being. and nave time to breathe and sleep and eat and write, I'll try and tell you about the battle. Before you receive this you will have had the whole story from the papers but I know you will be interested in knowing what did in the affair.
 0f course, the things I saw were but an infnitesimal part of a gigantic whole and 1t would be impossible for me to give correct description of the battle And as I write this, I do 1t with no knowledge whatever of what has been going on even q few miles .from me.
 have not seen paper in eight days; I have received no mail. and the only Information we have received has been by word of mouth, and most of what ave hear must be wild rumors. For ex- ample: The French have advanced 20 miles at Verdun the Ameri- cans have taken Ostend and are on their way to Zeebrugge, and great naval battle has been fought in the North sea.
 Al, know Is that on this part of the front the Germans attacked us in over wheiming numbers, in places ten divi- sions to our one; that they suffered
 
 through our lines of defense. one after another, and fighting for the most part, rear guard action. we have retired about I5 miles In straight line.
 For n week before the battle started We had been expecting 1t; we were ready 10 move on 30 minutes no- tice. had been out with comhatant 7as well as medical officers on tours of reconnaissance. definite methods of evacuation of the wounded had been worked out. and our plans of counter attack been made. After four or five days of waiting, the storm finally broke.
 The Roche opened up on LIS at 2 a. n., March 21 with the heaviest barrage aaave ever heard, stand to," was es0unded, We turned out dressed. and had all our equipment packed in go minutes. Then we sat down and rsvaited for orders 10 move. The har- zrsge kept up continuously, sometimes heavier and then of less intensity. ~.apetiIneS it'seemed tQ be to the north eg ms and then suddenly il switched To the south.
 Our balloons Were up aS soon as it was light and the airplanes were hug x5nC over our heads The ground mist gradually cleared and the GerIpans Tya1 hail of shrapnel on our camp aAd we all took cover. but three men were hit- Why 1t is a fellow always fs-els safer with roof over his head. even Ig he knows bullets and shrapnel nud pieces of shell will go through tloards and corrugated iron just like uapeE-
 Ordered to Move.
 Oar orders to move finally came and eSe marched off to the brigade assem- hAy point several miles away. This as semblY point was in a little, bunch of tl-ees about the-size of Allen park and bshind and separated from q larger VVood in front. In the tatger wodd ehere was a battery of heavy artillery and shells were dropping in there two or three 70 a minute. and If was heavy stuff too.
 Sometimes they overshot the big wood and shells were landing in the apen around the little wood where my brigade had its assembly point AS we approached our little copse We could make all this out from some dis tance away and 1t wasn't a pleasant sensation to feel that we were march ing straight into fl.