The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-08-12
MARINE CORPS MAN !.
TELLS OF FIGHTING
Terrific Drive Marks Work Of Ameri-
cans Who Helped Hold Famed
Bots de Belleau.
RIFLE FIRE rs DEADLY
French Still Unable to Understand
How Men Can Deliberately Take
Aim. Adjust Sights and shoot to Hit
Every Time.

Washington, August ia letter
from France to Major General George
Barnett, commandant of the United
States marine corps. gives the follow
ing account OF the taking of Beiieau
wood and Bouresches and other
operations of the marines:
I'VE have all been under terrific
drive from the time we left our rest
area on May 30, and left our trucks,
and went into line the afternoon on
June !. The marine brigade not only
lived up to the best traditions of our
service but even surpassed them at
times, because we never faced such
odds and never were confronted by
such a crisis. Up from Meux, the
read went straight to the front with
giimpses of the Marine and it was a
living road of war. troops on foot and
/ In the numbering camions. French
dragons, trotting by, trains, guns,
| ambulances and staff cars whizzed by
1T was June i when we took up the
support line with French troops. hard
pressed by the boche, holding the line
| out in front. The next day the French,
| tired out and out numbered. began
! to drop back, and our line was to be-
come the front line.
We had installed ourselves in
house in La Vote chatel and when the
Germans attacked at p. NJ. we had
a box seat. They We're driving at hill
165 in two columns across wheat
field. Eife and machine gun fire
were incessant. Then the shrapnel
anne on the target at each shot. And
under that deadly fire and the barrage
of rifle and machine gun fire the
boches stopped. II was too much for
any man. They burrowed in or broke
to the cover of the woods. The fifth
/ bore the brunt OF 1t and on our left
the men raked the woods and ravines
10 stop the boehe. An aeroplane was
overhead checking up our artillery fire
and the French aviator signalled back
TO our line bravo
THE French, who were supporting
the fifth and at one time thrown into
the line could not and cannot today
grasp the rifle fire of our men. That
men should fire deliberately. use their
sights and adjust their range was he
yond their experience. The rifle fire
figured heavily in the toll we took and
1t must have had "a telling effect on
the boche's morale. for it was some
thing they had not counted on. After
pushin gback the weakened French
and then running UP against stone
wall of defense. they were literally
Cleaning Out Nests.
THE next day Wise's outfit pulled
q 7@Dcctacular stunt in broad daylight.
Il hey spotted machine gun out in
front, called for barrage. swept out
1 behind 1t. killed,s1or disabled every
msn~in the crfws and disabled the gun.
! They got back o X. and then the
! hoche launches a counter attack that
was smashed.A For the next few days
IwrfTNere busytpushinE out small posts
Ito locate the enemy and to reoccupy
such strong points as were beyond the
1 main line assigned us.
The real fireworks broke on June
/ s, when a general advance on the
brigade front to straighten lines and
recover territody was decided on. The
1 Twenty -third had been brought in and
put on our right. Holcomh's flank.
| our division sector had been short
ened to about the front that the Sixth
| had held and we had two hattalions
| OF the Fifth and TWO OF the Sixth in
line. AT s F.. NJ. we started out for
our new detectives. the eastern edge
of the Bots de Belleau and Bou-
resches, with Torcy and other parts
OF the Belleau the Fifth's. Sibley's
battalion had the advance. with Hol-
| combs in support, The colonel and
Captain Laspier, our French military
advisor. went out to Lucy. the central
point beyond the advance. Sihley
moved out in perfect order.
In the thick Bots de Belleau laison
was extremely difficult. The woods
were alive with machine guns. and at
times where our lines and. those of
the Fifth passed through they soon
found boches and machine guns in
their rear. Word came that Colonel
Catlin had been killed and / felt that
| the bottom had dropped out of the
war.
TT was Just s:45 when word came
that Bouresches had been taken by
| Robertson's platoon of the Ninety
| sixth, or. rather. the twenty-odd men
Of his p latoon, who had managed to
break through a heavy machine gun
barrage and enter. Just after Rob-
ertson gained the town and cleaned
out the hoches after street fighting,
others filtered through, and the Sew
enty-ninth company, under Zane Hol-
comb. was very enthusiastic about
Zane's handling OF the town.
/ Meanwhile. although Bouresches'
capture was the most spectacular of
the first fighting, Sibley was having
heavier work in the Bots de Belleau.
He reported early that there were
many machine guns in the woods.
Then came word that he had reached
his objectives at the edge Of the
woods. that he had surrounded the
machine gun nests and was awaiting
orders. Word came from the brigade
= to dig in and consolidate the positions
won. Two companies of engineers
were placed in Lucy. one for each
battalion. The truck went out with
Lieutenant w. B. Moore, captain of
the track team. football halfback and
president OF Princeton's senior class
last year. When IT got back we knew
we could hold Rouresches, and the
lcounter-attac at $3.50 A. NJ, although
they got within thirty feet of the
town, was smothered by our ARE.
Artillery Hammers Huns.
THE 7th was spent In getting ra-
lions, water and ammunition out to
both battalions. All that day and the
next Sibiey's men rushed machine gun
nests in hand-to-hand fighting. The
lguns were emplaced on crests In the
thick woods, on rocky ridges. with
SntA q