Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1918-12-21
Il. GERHARDT IN
Continued from page one)

/ into the lines near Chateau-Thierry
/ just before the big battle began The
| Germans began the night of the 18th
of July with big artillery preparations
and in the midst of it our counter-of-
! fensive began The Division caught
! hi say the least. and the 10th
Regiment caught it's share Of it, When
arrived the regiment was in rest
area. recuperating and drilling and
drilling
! On September 4th we left for the
| front We went into the St Mihiel sa-
| lient and our first position was just
north OF Mandres. We followed the
attack taking up positions at Essey
and at Pannes. From Pannes we, were
taken out of the lines and moved by
a series of night marches to the Yer
dun section. Our first position here
was at Esnes, then to Montfaucon. then
to Cierges then into the Bots de Lunel,
then into the Bots de Foret across the
Mouse on ponton bridges at Brieulles
to Liny thence to Fontaines and from
Fontaines into the forest north of.
Brandyyille where we were on the
morning of the 18th of November.
You have read numerous accounts
of the fighting in this Meuse- Argonne
sector, and all can say is that MOTH
ING HAS BEEN EXAGGERATED.
One of the infantry regiments in our
division went into the lines with al
most full strength and when ordered
to attack few days later | think they
had only $50 men left; but over the
top they went and captured their OBJ
jective. Engineers were put into the
was relieved by the 5th but there was
no let UP for u.s. Our artillery was
transferred to the Fifth Division and
we kept on fighting up to the minute
the armistice was signed
Still no rest for the artillery We
pulled out of the Argonne and rejoin-
ed our division and are now on our
way to the Rhine. Our route has been
Dum-sur-Meuse, Bonseyoye, yerdun,
Handainville, Chaillon, Pannes, Cham
bley, Mars-le-Tourss Joeuf, Ebingen,
Diederhofer, Thionville to Kattenhof-
en- where we aresat present halted.
We will go from here as q part of the
Third Army the Army Of Occupation,
an honor which all the divisions in
our Army have been hoping for and
for which our army politicians have
been pulling all the strings they know
how to pull. But the ruling that the
Third Army is to be made up of the
units that have seeli7the most fighting
in France has excluded most of the
National Army Divisions and left the
First Division Second, Third, Fourth
and Fifth .of the Regular Army. the
And and 32nd of the National Guard
and the Ssth and. 9oths ofathe National
Army -
You can see why | have not written
you regularly since have been in
France. Since September 4th we have
either been in action or on the march
every minute of our time. My home
has been in most any kind of shelter
| could find-a hole in the ground
most the time. 1t is not until just
within the last few days that | have
been so fortunate as to live in house
and sleep in a bed -billeted, of course.
From this end this will be a Thanks
giving letter, but from your end of the
line ! hope it reaches you in time to
wish you a Merry Christmas and Hap
by New Year. Your two sons won't
be with you for Xmas but it is good
Xmas gift to know that they will be
there little later.
did not say what wanted in my
Xmas box because it would have spoil
ed all the JOY of expectation to have
known beforehand. and my JOY will
be all the greater to open a box from
home without knowing what are the
lcontents.
= Love to all,
Censored by VIM. r. Gerhardt,
LIST Lit 10th f. A