Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1918-11-09
A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
 OF CLICKING" THE HUN

Ohe ot the most interesting letters received from France was that of l.
 V. CarotherS, who is with the 27tl
 Engineers and took active part in one
 ot the biggest battles of the war. Nlr Carothers was formerly connected | With the Miners Union at Chloride.
 "l will start with the time we left the. training camp in the States. Ot
 course we had an idea we would be
 gwen word soon to pack up as they
 had carefully inspected and checked up on all our equipment and we were
 all ready when it did come. The ride
 to the port of authorization was un-
 eventful and made in the night very
 quietly. No time was lost in going
 aboard and the next day at noon with
 several other heavily ladened troop
 ships, we dropped down to the outer harbor and waited there until all were
 ready to start. We put to sea in the daytime with an escort consisting of several very fast little destroyers, a
 large business like cruiser, dirigabe alrsship, and some sea planes, to guard us. We were packed in like sardines and l noted that the others were the same and 1 afterwards learned that one of the larger vessels was a for mer German ship. All the transports were we'll armed and manned by naval seamen.
 Before reaching this side we were joined by several other destroyers and picked up a number of troop ships on reaching the French port we came in single file through the mine fields our ship leading the way and right here l want to say that there is no more imposing sight in the world than line of great ships as far as the eye can reach and flanked by the "watch dogs" of the navy darting here and there all the time. Any object afloat is careful ly investigated as it may be a "sub" and is approached with great caution. It seems that the American Navy has made great "rep" in these waters and is considered the "very last word" agoing among the navies of the world. Well we were landed in quick time and were billeted in an old French prison camp built and used by Napoleon dur ing his wars. The old place, where the firing squads did it's work, is still intact as are many other objects of interest. We were here only two days, entraining direct for the front, and in an even twenty days from the training camp we were under fire of the Ger man guns and in the start of the Worlds famous battles. We had marched all night in the pouring rain and the scream of the heavy shells did not raise our spirits very much. Here at one side were the Marines flanked by a division of our Eastern troops, who proved themselves the best fighters the Huns had ever fac ed. The Germans had started another drive, which was to reach Paris, and the French were on the point of break ing and so advised the leader of the Marines. Hell no?" said he. "We were sent here to hold this ground and to take more."
 And they did and these same woods have been renamed in honor of our boys, many of whom are still there do- ing their long sleep. The initial suc- cess was followed up so fast and fur ious that no time was left for eating, sleeping or rest and only stopped when the salient the Huns had fore ed into the French lines, was gone and the Germans were for the time secure back of the natural barrier of couple of rivers. Of course in their retreat all bridges, rail tracks, etc., were des- troyed and they also left vast quan- titles of ammunition in addition to great dumps they had blown up. Heavy artillery could not be moved quickly enough and was captured ev- cry where. I saw great Howitzers, made by the Krupp's, that stoop more than 9 feet high and hurled shells weighing several hundred pounds. We had scores of machine guns, trepcn mortars, etc., in our camp and great trenches filled with the German dead. Today this section is in a large part cleaned up and the people are again in their homes. But it makes one feel blue when he is going along the road as here and there he passes a lit tie plot with our boys or sees lone grave surmounted by a rude cross. A Springfield rifle sticking, bayonet down, in the ground and dun colored helmet hanging on top of the cross. An identification tag tied to the sticks tells who he is and bears his official number. One noticed had two sig nal flags stuck upright and another had belt with telephone tools stuck in it, showing what his duties were.
 It seemed difficult to me to realize that all along here one of the most brilliant pages of history was writ ten. It was all so sordid and lacked all semblance of the "glorious charge" we have often read about. "No pris- oners" and later Hell, Heaven, or Hoboken before Xmas" were the cries. | The Huns fought desperately and the rear guard is always machine guns, hundreds of them everywhere.
 The Tanks fought in Indian style, scattered out and taking advantage of every bit of cover, always ahead, un- til it got the Dutchman's goat. Here is one little incident. Three boys, two of them recently from a New England |