Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-09-29
7neless Yankees Overcome
Obstacles at MOrfhOnl17le
Artilleru and Ammunition Trains Hauled ON
Clogged Roads---Men Fire Guns, Then
Snatch q Moments Sleep.

mans no longer faced the Mort
homme, and their batteries beyond
were silent lines of soldiers. and oc-
casionally q horseman picking his
way across the hills was silhouetted
against the sky line Of the desert.
suggesting q painting.
The valley on our side, however, was
an inferno of booming guns. Passing
a battery In action REQUIRES Joesmen.'
and navigation over field OF them.
where they are scattered like potatoes
in q patch, demands strategy. A Dig
gun going of Unexpectedly nearby IS
liable to deafen one for hours. ana
possibly shatter the ear drum. The ef-
feet is heightened when the muzzie
of the gun Is directly over ones mead
A narrow path wound between the
batteries. and the valley, as far as the
shooting at two materials. As fast
as one gun on the side OF the path
was fired they hurried to the next.
paying no attention to those moro
than 100 feet on either side. The men
would fire, throw themselves on the
ground, snatch few minutes sfeep,
get up and fire again like ciockwork-
Long, slippery Climb.
It was long slippery climb up the
slope of Morthomme. Every night for
four years thousands of French SOL
diers had made that climb to reach the
trenches on the farther side. For them
it was a climb different from that on
this sunny Thursday morning. Some OF
them remained in the desolation, rest
ing under crosses marked Mort Pour
La Patrie" ("Died for His CountryD-
Some of the graves were marked SIM
ply 'Inconuu'' (''unknown"). Others
were adorned with more elaborate
monuments, placed there by sympa-
thetic comrades before they left the
fight in some other spot on the bat
tie front.
on the opposite side Of tho hin an
old road, which had not been used before
in four years. was already worn smooth
by the thousands Of hobnailed shoes that
had passed over it that morning. En-
gineera had strung q little bridge across
a creek draining swamp in NO mans
land. Streams Of soldiers, prisoners and
wounded proceeded in both directions.
Prisoners in Squads.
From behind the intcrlacing German
trenches on the opposite slope squads
Of prisoners seemed to be coming faster
tlian the detachments of fresh American
soldiers were advancing in the opposite
| direction Most of the prisoners ere
divided into groups of four men each.
shouldeFing Strctchers on which were
American wounded. Tho Germans plug
ged stolidly along, though carrying a
| husky man seven kilometers (more than
/! four miles) is a tiresome job even for a
udIu- WOTkcu SUBJECT Ol Inc ldIIltTlduu
"We ought to have 1000 men right
away building roads" said the colonel
| of the engineers as he stood at the lit
| tic bridge giving directions for connect
| ing the roads back of the former Ger
man lines, I had known the same man
| when he was a debonnair civilian spe-
cializing in water works machinery. but
it was difficult to recognize him in the
| rough-and-ready. besplattercd fighting
man Of Verdun.
There. where the slopes had been
washed by the blood of millions.
| France coined the phrase, On no
passe pas Zone does not pass) as
.nbolic of its stand. Verdun. how
ever. is only citadel. The forts
! scattered on either side on ridges like
| that of Morthomme were what en-
abled it to stand.
Pershing Takes Secretary Baker.
/ Gen. Pershing and Secretary Baker
| visited the scene on Thursday, in an
| automobile taking them within range
, c. the battle. They passed few
hours in the region where the phrase
! means SO much to France and which
was comm emorated by medals when
it was first coined. When the fate OF
! those forts was trembling in the bal
ance under the assaults of the Ger
mans two thin threads of men kept
the resistance alive those days.
| There were two routes. one broad
white highway known as the Via Sa-
| era which was built by the Romans.
and little narrow-gauge railroad.
/ The French have never permitted d
loose stone on the Via Sacra since that
| time. The narrow-gauge road was
turned into a standard-gauge military
| railroad for this offensive. The high
| way permitted the coming in of thou
| sands of trucks, while the railroad for
a year past has been operated by a
| regiment of American railroad engi-
1 QPArS and has haulad IL h