The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-12-31

also necessitated increased efforts IN
getting the guns forward through
mud and congested roads, putting
them in position, and laying, most
difficult in the dark, and last, but not
least, the ammunition had to be car
ried up, and that in itself is quite
lob when you consider each shell
weighs so pounds, without its powder
charge. Never will l forget that
night, although later there were
many similar to come. We started
out and everything went along
smoothly, simply having to dodge a
stray shell here and there. until we
started to climb the road leading to
the crest on MontfaucOn. The chang
ing sound of plane overhead told
us that it was Bosche, and all move
ment stopped. Around US the big
guns were flashing in the blackness,
and the night seemed vivid and real.
There is a certain feeling that one
gets during those night movements
hard to describe, and during that
brief stop it was difficult matter TO
keep it away. Our searchlights cut
/ ting across the skies in all directions
soon drove the intruder away, and
we moved on. Across the hlli we
passed through the narrow streets or
y ruined little village. with its bro
ken and tumbling buildings, and the
ever present odor of gas. Camions
and trucks lined the roads it seemed
| for miles. and just ahead the loud
| exhaust of a tractor warned us there
was to be a delay. Situated Wlth'a
calling distance of the cross read; as
we were. it was the least deslra1le
of all places, and this one was no eX-
ception to the rule. With the coi"
inG of the shells, every thirty Sec
onds or SO, the engineers anead re
doubled their efforts to repair the
road: there was work to dc ana
those guns must move on. You have
seen. of course, the household cat,
prey. tns n5Hse, ana Di1rrs rs e-ss.e
With the hitting in those ruins OF
each shell, and with tthe passing of
each shower of rock and dirt, my
feelings must have become more and
more like those of the mouse, and it
was with no mean sigh of satisfac-
tion to see the column ahead slowly
start to move, and we passed or
down the road. Two hours later
found us in position, ready for the
zero hour. and just itching for the
squaring of accounts we all felt was
our due AS it happened, there was
a big advance scheduled for that
morning, and in anticipation of that
our guns had been placed just few
hundred yards behind the front
line, enabling us to give support to
our sroops advancing, as they soon
would be a long distance ahead.
With the coming of the first streak
of dawn, the Bosche were getting
nervous for some reason or other,
perhaps they smelled the mouse,
and in a very few minutes we were
in the center of their barage. AS it
grew light our Infantry. in long, thin
lines, moved up through the hollow
and at the given signal moved on
over the hill, passing my Battery and
one line of enemy barrage on the
way. Following in their wake, SIX
or seven tanks rumbled by, and skirt
! ing the hill, took the lead. 1t was
right then that l began to really ap-
preciate the grit of our fighting men,
| because it was simply spirit ana
nerve that drove one foot in front
of the other and carried them for
ward. With rifles carried in the
| hollow of the arm, they looked very
much like starting out through some
woods back home, bent on nothing
more than rabbit hunt. With the
advance of each few yards their num-
bers decreased, but not man turn
ed his head to look back, intent only
on the man they came over for, the
Hun. Wave after wave passed for
ward. and that day Cunel fell
Lots of love to all at home.
Your son, LAWRENCE.
Lawrence F. Simmons,