The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1918-02-07
Two j. s. Soldiers
Dead; -Four Wounded

With the American Army in France
Wednesday, Jan. 30.-An American
position on certain section of the
French front was raided during a
heavy fog shortly after daylight this
morning. The attack was preceded
by violent artillery barrage.
Two Americans were killed and
four wounded. One soldier is miss
ing and is believed to have been cap
? tured by the enemy.
Casualties have been occurring al
most daily for several days on this
sector. It is now permitted to dis
close that all the recent casualties
given out from Washington occurred
in this sector. The deaths were caus-
ed by shell fire, mostly shrapnel.
One of the men wounded was hit
by a sniper's bullet. He fell in
trench filled with water and almost
drowned before he was rescued by his
captain. Several of the wounded had
been listed as accidental woundings.
These were mostly wounds on the
hands.
1t is certain that the enemy cas-
ualties from the American cannon and
machine gunfire have been as great
or greaer than ours.
The casualties given out in WASH
ington recently occurred over a GER
tain recent period. The dead were
buried within the sound and range
of the guns. One man was blown to
pieces by a shell in regimental
headquarters town as he was follow
ing his colonel into a dugout.
Three men were killed by one shell
which fell in a trench and another
died of wounds in a hospital. Quite
a few Of the men sent to hospitals
, were wounded in the upper part of
the body or on the head from shrap-
nell
For military reasons it has been
inadvisable to send earlier or other
details.
Night Began Fairly Quiet
Last night was fairly quiet
throughout the American sector. The
usual number Of shells came over,
doing no damage and here were the
customary sporadic outbursts of ma
chine gunfre from both sides at
points where the opposing lines are
nearest.
At daybreak this morning the
heavy fog which has been envelop-
ing the whole position and the coun-
try for miles around for several days
became still thicker, blotting out all
except he nearest enemy positions.
At Z o'clock three muffled reports
sounded through the fog. There
were three whistles, followed quick
ly by three shell bursts. The pro-
! jectiles exploded on three sides of
an American listening post just out
side the wire, within as feet of an
enemy listening post.
''Hell Broke Loose"
"Then hell broke loose" said one
of the men there For fifteen minutes
the enemy broke hundreds of high
explosive IT'S around the post and
the surrounding ground, cutting off
the men there. Two of them were
killed in the first few minutes.
| Another man who was at the post
told the correspondent later, as he
was lying on cot in a field hospital,
that he saw four Germans approach
ing out of the fog as the barrage
lifted. He brought his automotic
rifle into play and saw two of the
Germans fall He kept on firing un-
til shell splinters his him in the head
and arm.
The last I remember in the time
before / reached the hospital," said
another wounded man, "is seeing
something moving trough the fog.
l determined to get some Germans
and put my rifle to my shoulder, but
/ never pulled the trigger There was
deafening explosion behind me.
Frozen earth ice, stones and shell
splinters came my way"
Inspection f the scene of the raid
showed that the ground was plowed
up by the explosion of shells.