The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-10-21
RY DAMON EtfNY.AN.

cd no s,ch EXPLOITS no such fighting |
as has been done Ivy Pershings hrst I
army on the Afsonne front during /
the past three weeks,
Beside It, Chateau Thterry and the |
ST Mihiel salient we're mere incidents !
1t is a modern battle Of the wilder |
ness enormously enlarged. spread out !
over more time and territory and dot |
ted here and there with an Antietam |
or a Gettysburg.
II has been three weeks OF unre~ |
hitting hell In fact. the COM ari- |
son is hardly fair to hell. Nobody |
really knows what hell is IKE, except |
that It. is probably warm. Many thou |
sand Americans now know the Ar |
gonne only too well. They know II
is never warm there
The rain is as finely woven and I
clammy els a funeral garment. II has T
way OF soaking through the skin |
on iAto the body OF a man until his |
very heart seems 10 be pumping the /
rainwater along the veins instead OF I
blood. II vets all the world. Falling |
from the trees into the grass. rain |
DROPS CLEAN damply under a dripping |
sky. Overhead hangs a gray. cob |
webby vapo It is most oppressive. !
II Sc ms to clog the lungs and make /
breathing difficult. Ii rs a smother |
ing. chilling, depressing fog. 4 man |
gets 10 hankering for just one blast /
of clean, fresh warming sunshine. /
Dawn comes about ) O'Clock these !
mornings. AS soon as the first sreaks |
OF light begin splitting the thick mist. |
John Soldier lifts himself out of his |
fox hole" which he hastily dug and |
into which he hastily plastered him |
self when he scooped out in the wet
ground with shovel or hayonet. or
even a tin mess plate,
Not Much Protection
II affords some protection from the
shells and machine~gun bullets Not
much, but some. The soldier comes
: out of his hole matted with mud. The
rain does not stop when the battle
pauses II goes Gu through the long,
dreary night, trlckling into the fox
hole turning it into wallows.
The man pulls himself out with a
noise like yanking a rubber boot out
of the mud. lie has had sleep;
no man can sleep in cold puddle
with sunfre for a lullaby. He has
little 10 eat except his field rations,
which he carries when he goes into
battle, After the first day few men
have much of that left. 1t is a tough
enough job Juggling extra ammu-
milton and other equipment without
hothering with extra rauons. What
he has is sure to be wet,
Sometimes they are able TO get
grub up TO the men on the first line
during battle, but not often With
dawn the artillery and machine guns
resume. Their fire has been only in
termittent during the night Now
the shells fall splashing into the
watery fields raising geisers of mud.
Machine bullets swish In layers
through the fog.
The line goes forward. His clothes
clipging to him like a cold filnly
epidermic, his feet slipping in the
mud a, every step. the American
ace" is the American infantry. Foot
by foot. yard by yard, ii moves. The
men take cover as best they can.
They, advance and dig III, Then they
H. A6ra nee Some more and dig in 1t IS
slow work. II Is deadly work. They
are moving on against the FIRE from
the German guns which thickens the
air like the very mist.
Kitchen Work of War.
This campaign in the ArEonne is
the kitchen work of the war. 1t Is
sheer drudgery, There is nothing
spectacular about it. II compares to
the average great battle in point OF
slamor as ditch digging compares to
portrait painting In the Argonne all
Glamor is pretty well dulled by mud.
Yet it is very great battle. 1t is
one OF the most important OF the war.
The German view of ii is indicated
by the terrific resistance they are
making. They pour in their crack
divisions daily in an effort to stop
the American infantry They used
their. veteran soldiers against the lads
who little over year ago knew prac-
ticslly nothing of soldering.
The veterans have orders to hang
at all costs. Day by day, however.
the boys from the American cities and
farms keep gaining The ground lost
in this war by the Americans can be
figured by inches Bunches of seasoned
soldiers coming down the roads from
the front almost every hour of the
day, minus their guns. with American
soldiers herding them along the road
10 their cages You can see them
lying in clusters, In three weeks the
Americans have gained about ten miles
on a front OF twenty miles. Every
mile was mile OF bitter resistance.
IL is rolling hiiy country over which
they night There are freauen
SKETCHES of woods go thick il would be
impossible TO ride a bicycle through
them without a road The Argonne
forest where WhltllesXlS- lnst legion
made its immortal battle, part Of
the country covered in the operation.
New Works seventy seventh division
took much of that forest They had
TO dig out there by the very roots.
Little. towns occur at frequent inter-
vsis over most of the region. They
are mere wide places in the road
rule, but about them Americans and
Germans build battles. There are
spots which are scenes of terrihe
strugEles-scenes which Will be hard
TO locate after the war. This fighting
is not a matter of every day or so
II is daily affair. II has developed
almost into routine business,
Flights MethoaicaIIy.
The soldier gets out OF fox holes"
In the morning. picks up his rife and
goes TO fighting methodicaily a
working man back home picks up his
dinner pail and starts for his daily job,
Both knock off at nightfan Instead
Of "A warm dinner, however. the SOL
der cra~is into another reeking fox
hole"
That is. unless he is dead and buried
some damp hillside Of France or
wounded and the way back TO the
hospital in jogging truck
A man may put in several days at
the very front line Then he goes back
for short rest. Fresh divisions are
always moving in while worn divisions