Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-16
Continued from Page One
leaving the field carpeted with grey
todies.
Waves Break and ReCede

leaving the field carpeted with grey
todies.
Waves Break and Recede
Time and again the boches returned
to the attack in Champagne. doSgedly
trying to sweep over the American
front lines and carry the rise which
formed our support position And time
and again their waves broke and re-
ceded on the defense of the Amer
leans. for all the world like the waves
of the sea battoring a I a rock-bound
coast.
The Americans even brought trench
mortars into play. The range at times
was so short that the heavy protecti1es
of one cut through n score of men
before exploding. One Of our mortar
outfits. operating In gas masks Tor
six hours. wiped out five German bat
talions probably 25Oo men)
Fight Hand to Hand
Some of the rushes carried into the
American lines. and bayonets. dubbed
rifles and fists were substituted for
bullets. But these temporary sue
cesses only resulted in the Americans
taking a few prisoners. The prisoners
were comparatively few, too. as a
boche, in the heat of the melee, had
to shout "kamerad" mighty quick to
beat a bayonet thrust.
| The boches sent over an escadrille
I Of thirty-siX airplanes to attack the
Americans with machinc-gun fire
| while flying low. our doughboys
! turned their automatic rifles skyward
and actually shot down one of the
enemy machines. 'rhe others were So
| badly Str1fe1 that theV fled.
The fighting was almost continuous
| throughout the day but toward evening
the Germans-thoroughl whipped
| for the time being-Called off their in
fanry and settled down to an artillery
| duel that was n battle of some mag
ntude in itself.
The German attack on the Marine be-
gan yesterday at 3 a. m. Initial at
tempts of the enemy to bridge the rivel
were frustrated by American artillery
and maChine-gun fire.
Fail Back In Perfect Order
As the boche fire was concentrated
on the American positions in the benz
of the river from three sides, our mel
gradually fell back in perfect order ant
the Germans succeeded in throwing 81,
pontoons across.
Following the cleverest dictates o
strategy. the American retirement con
tinued until. our men reached the bas
.. of the salient created by the bend il
the river. There they halted at I
o'clock and resisted all efforts of tn
boches to dislodge them.
Coolly, despite the harassing fire. tn
officers began preparing for counter
attack. Shortly after noon il began.
L. s. Advance Irresistible
Slowly and methodically, as thoug
executing some training maneuvering
the Americans pressed forward. Thei
advance was irresistible. They drove tn
Germans back more than two kilometer
Ga mile and a quarter) before there wa
any slackening of the attack. When
did halt 1t was voluntary.
The counter-attack was resumed afte
a hrlef pause. This time the America
assault was conducted with an almos
unbelievable ferocity. The boches wer
caught up in the cyclonic rush and grea
5 numbers Of them were hurled bodily int
/ the river
: Cooperation of the American arti
lerymen and machine gunners was pei
) feet. The gunners firing from far
the rear, dropped shells on the enemy
pontoons with the greatest accurac!
When the boches reached the river ban
they were compelled to plunge in an
; many of them were drowned
Others were caught In the rain {
shells and machine-gun bullets, and II
L stream was soon thickly dotted wit
n shattered bodies.
In some places the Germans clur
Q doggedly to the south bank. America