The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1918-10-24
FIGHTING THREE DAYS
IN MUD AND RAIN
Captured 300 Prisoners

The following letter was recently
received by Carleton p Merrill from
his son We all remember Warren
and are anxious to get him back with
the rest of the boys who were his
comrades in the campaign which the
letter describes. The epistle itself is
a wonderful narrative of war adven-
ture. 1t makes us understand, in
part, the hardships, as well as the
dangers, of life at the front
Feldpost. Is Sept 191S
Dear Dad:
am sitting here in what was once
Boche land writing on Boche paper
with a 3oche pencil and using a
Boche book. Die Goldene Rette' tThe
Golden Rescued as desk.
We started our drive at s a. m.
Sept. 70. The barrage, however.
opened up at midnight and it was a
corker
We have been ON our way up here
ever since the 2Sth of August. Prac-
tically all the journey was made on
foot and at night so as to insure IA
much secrecy as possible. We would
hike for two nights and rest the third
night Then hike the next two
nights and so on. All of our stops
but one were made in woods away
from villages.
Up till the second of Sept. we had
good weather. but since we have had
rotten weather and have been wet
and cold all the time The nights
of Sept Q. 10 and II were especially
bad and when we hiked up to the
front line the night of the 1lth it
rained in torrents. the roads were
vertable rivers and every trench was
rushing stream.
We pulled into the front line with
out making any disturbance and were
placed in dugouts where we would be
safe from counter-barrage If the
Boche should try one. We were too
wet and crowded to attempt any sleep.
so we just sat around smoking and
talking and waiting for the fun to
start
At 1890 the mortars began to speak,
then the 75's picked it up and soon We
could hear the 6-inch batteries work
ing and over all we could hear the
rumble of the l.. IA and 16-inch bat
teries away back. For few mo
mcnts there was silence in the dug
out. Then someone laughed ner-
vously and remarked that Hell has
broken loose over in Germany. After
the first few moments we became ae-
customed to the roar and scream OF
the shells and everything became nor
NAL AT a IN. grub detail brought
us some Karo syrup and bread and we
ate all there was and could easily
handled more if we had had it.
At 7.30 the lieutenant came around
and told us to get out and get set
which we did and at sharp Captain
HeaIy gave US the word and We
scrambled up over the parapet and
stood there looking around at the
havoc that had been created. Our
wire had all been cut by detail be
fore the harrage started and lay
tangled and snarled on the ground
and and was passed with little din
Guilty
A few Roche guns were WORKING,
but their range WAS poor and nearly
all the smells we're buIStlHE NN'l ~
the left and doing no damage TO Us.
A few burst directly behind us, Away
out front was our barraEe creeping
forward slowly and tearing great
holes in the earth and smashing trees
into toothpick material soon We
came to what WAS once Boche wire,
but nothing was left but few strands
and when we had passed those we
were in the Boche first line trenches.
They we're practically levelled and 1t
was some distance from there that
the first prisoners, seventeen in mum
her we're picked up, and a most terri
fled lot they we're. Their trenches
and dugouts had been blown to bits
and the Americans would surely Kill
them they thought.
1t was "A short distance from there
that we met our first resistance-a
machine gun concealed in the trees.
A sniper, however soon overcame the
difficulty and We pushed on and came
to a couple of men wounded in their
arms and another man killed, Just
beyond there our right was held up
for quite a while by a machine gun
nest, and after some delay small
party OF four men. led by Brooks