New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-05-10
THRILLING STORY
Of HA|G Retreat
. mnois Officer Relates Experience
of Hun Attack on the
British.
zen DIVISIONS AGAINST ONE
Despite Overwhelming Number Of En-.
envy, His Losses Were Great
Miraculous Escape From Bap.
tism Of Shell Fire,

First Lieutenant Roswell r. Petit
n. OR. c.. of Ottawa, Ill.,, in a letter
to his father, DR.. ]. w. Petit of the
Ottawa tuberculosis colony, and pub.
ished in the Chicago Tribune, relates
the thrilling story Of the great battle
10 Picardy. The American officer was
IN the thickest Of the fighting for nine
lays, 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
nict, as It was written Immediately
after he had passed through the ire
mendOus experiences and before his
Impressions had been in any way dulled
BY time. His letter follows:
Lieutenant PetNt's Letter.
March 80.
Dear Father: Now that the show is
over for me for the time being, and I
have time to breathe and sleep and eat
and write, I'll try and tell you about
the battle. Before you receive this
you will have had the whole story from
the papers, but I know you will be
interested in knowing what I did in the
affair.
OF course. the things I saw were but
an infnitesimal part of a gigantic
whole and 1t would be impossible for
me to give a correct description of the
battle. And as I write this, I do it
with nj knowledge whatever Of what
has been going on ever a few miles
from me.
have not seen a paper in eight days;
I have received no mail. and the only
information we have received has been
BY word of mouth, and most of what
we hear must be wild rumors. For ex.
ample: The French have advanced
20 miles at Verdun, the Ameri-
cans have taken Ostend, and r OF
their way to Zeebrugge, and a 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
whelming numbers, in places ten 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,
a real guard action, we have retired
about IS miles in a straight line.
For a week before the battle started
we had been expecting 1t; we were
ready to move on 80 minutes no.
tice. I had been out with cOmbatant
as 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. t@H
The Boche opened up on US at 5 a. M,
March 21, with the heaviest barrage I
have ever. heard. "Stand to-" was
sounded, we turned out dressed. and
had all our equipment packed in 30
minutes. Then we sat down and
waited for orders to move. The bar
rage kept up continuously. sometimes
heavier and then Of less intensity,
sometimes 1t seemed to be to the north
of us and then suddenly 1t switched to
the south.
Our balloons were up as soon as It
was light and the airplanes were buzz
xing over u heads. The ground mist
gradually cleared and the Germans
put a hail of shrapnel on our camp
and we all took cover, but three men
were hit. Why 1t is a fellow always
feels safer with a roof over his head,
ven II he knows bullets and shrapnel
and pieces Of shell 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
sembly point was in a little eunch of
trees about the size Of Allen park and
behind and separated from a larger
wood in front. In the larger wood
there was . battery of heavy artillery
and shells were dropping in there two
three to a minute, and 1t was heavy
stun, too.
Sometimes they overshot the big
wood and shells were landing in the
open around the little wood where my
brigade had its assembly point. AS
we approached u little copse we
could make all this out from some dis |
tance away and 1t wasn't a pleasant |
sensation to feel that we were march, |
Ing straight into it.
All the battalions arrived and in that
little cOpse there must have been at |
least two thousand men. What a
II the Germans only knew! But
the shells continued to drop in front of
- and on either side, but none landed
among us. and after waiting there for
three hours, expecting to be blown to |
bits any second. we finally moved for
ward. Just as we left the copse. from
behind us, up owe a ridge. came a
Of g%alloping horses.
TITS the cavalry" someone shouted, |
but soon l made out limbers and field
runs.
They galloped past us, going like
mad. took up a position to our right,
Iwung into position. numbered, and