Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-05-07
THRILLING STORY
OF HAIG RETREAT
Illinois Officer Relates Experience
of Hun Attack on the
British.
TEN DIVISIONS AGAINST ONE
Despite Overwhelming Number of en-
envy, His Losses Were Great
Miraculous Escape From 6ap-
tism OF She'll Fire.

Miraculous Escape From 6ap-
tisT OF She'll fire.
Ffrst Lieutenant Roswell T. Petit,
NJ. OR. c., of Ottawa, H., in letter
to his father. Dr. ]. w. Petit Of the
Ottawa tuberculosis colony, and pub
iished in the Chicago Tribune, relates
the thrilling story of the great battle
ia Picardy. The American officer was
IN the thickest of the fighting for nine
days, during the retreat of the British
Fifth army from before St Quentin.
Lieutenant Pettit's account of the bat
tie thrills with the stress of the con-
tlict. as it was written immediately
after he had passed through the ire
mendOus experiences and before his
Impressions had been in any way dnlled
Thy time. His letter follows:
, Lieutenant pettt's Letter.
March 80.
Dear Father Now that the show is
over for me for the time being, and
have time to breathe and sleep and eat
and write, III try and tell you about
the battle. Before you receive this
you will have had the whole story from
The papers. but | know you will be
interested in knowing what did in the
affair.
OF course. the things l saw were but
an inhnitesimal part of gigantic
whole and it would he impossible for
me TO give a correct description of the
battle. And as | write This. I do 1t
. with no knowledge whatever Of what
has been going on even 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
ny word of mouth, and most of what
we hear must be wild rumorS. For ex-
ample: The French have advanced
~ miles az Verdun the Ameri-
cams have taken Ostend. and are on
their way to Zeebrugge. and great
naval battle has been fought in the
North sea
All know is that on this part of the
front the Germans attacked us in over
wheIming numbers in places fen divi-'
SiOns to our one; that they suffered
terrible losses, but finally broke
through our lines Of defense. one after
another. and fighting for the most part,
Il rear guard action, we have retired
about IS miles in straight line.
For a week before the battle started
we had been expecting it; we were
ready to move on 30 minutes no
rice. I had been out with combatant
rs 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 BOche opened up on us at a. m,
March q, with the heaviest barrage |
nave ever heard. Stand to-" was
sounded, we turned out dressed, and
had all our equipment packed in so
minutes Then we sat down and
waited Cor orders TO move. The bar
rage kept up continuously, sometimes
hc1vier and then of less intensity,
sometimes it seemed TO be to the north
0t us and then suddenly it switched TO
the south.
Our balloons were up as soon as it
was light and the airplanes buz-
ling over our heads. The ground mist
gradually cleared and the Germans
nat a hail OF shrapuel on our camp
and we all took cover, but three men
we're hit. Why it is fellow always
feels safer with roof over his head,
even If he knows bullets and shrapnel
and pieces of she'll will go through
boards and corrugated iron just like
paper.
Ordered to Move.
Our orders to move finally came and
we marched off to the brigade assem-
bly, point several miles away. This as
etmbly point was i'll little bunch of
trees about the size of Allen park and
behind and separated from a larger
wood in front III the larger wood
there was q battery of heavy artillery
aud shells were dropping in there two
ar three to minute, and it was heavy
stat. too.
Sometimes they overShot the big
wood and shells We're landing in the
0pen 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 il wasn't Il pleasant
sensation to feel that we were march
ing straight into IT,
All the battaltons arrived and in that
littie copse there must have been at
least two thousand men. What a
chance IL the Germans only knew! But
the shells continued to drop in front of
It's and on either side, but none landed
among US, and after waiting there for
three hours, expecting to be blown to
hits any second, we finally moved for.
ward, Just as we left the copse. from
behind us. up over ridge, came 8
stream of galloping horses.
ITS the cavalry" someone shouted
bur soon | made out HmberS and field
guns.
They galloped past us, going Ike
mad took up position TO our right
swung into position. Gulimhered, and
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