The Sentinel=record. (Hot Springs, Ark.) 1900-current, 1918-04-10
FOUGHT UNTIL THEIR
GUNS BECAME TOO HOT
With the Canadians the Americans
Were Only Armed with Rifles anG
Machine Guns, But they Made Great
Gaps in the Advancing German Line.
(By a staff correspondent Of the
Associated Press)

Nby btaU correspondent Oh Jhe
Associated Press)
With the American Army in France,
Monday, April S--The American rail-
way oreineers who helped stem the
! tide of the on-rushing Germans during
The opening DAYS of the battle now in
progress, fought shoulder to shoulder
with Canadian engineers in carrying
cut their task. They held their ground
5tubbOrnly and only retired TO pre-
yiousIy prepared positions when forced
to do SO and inflicted casualties by the
thousands upon the Germans as they
advanced in close formation, in one
place In AS many as seven waves, each
wave ten men deep and 100 yards
apart. The Americans with the Cana
dians had all the ammunition they
needed and although they were unsup-
ported by the artillery and armed on
ly with rifles and with few machine
Guns, they poured scythc-iko streams
Of bullets into the enemy at several
diccrent times until the weapons were
30 hot AS TO be useless
This handful of American soldiers
Who were not hardened to such terrific
slaughter, were sicAoned by the sham
blcs It created bat fought furiously
fol several days helping to hold the
enemy all the way from st Quentino
to the vicinity of Noyjn. These were
the Americans mentioned at the time
in the official communiques but these
details Of their exploits it has only
now ocen possible to secure
When the German attack began the
Americans were working in the rear
ines with the Canadians under Cana
dian command. They quickly threw
down their toos and seized the wea
lpons with which they had been armed
for some months and formed them
seves into a fighting unit
The Germans came on and finally
reag bed the positions where the Amer
leans were waiting
The exact number Of the engineers
cannot be given but they were com
paratively small They had no inten-
ton of retreating however. and were
bent upon killing all of the Germans
possible
AS the first gray enemy advanced
the American forces let them come
until they were within certain range,
then opened Gre, pouring in a storm
of bullets. Gaps appeared in the adj
vancing lines at many places, some of
them large, where the machine guns
had chewed through
Still the German waves came on
without firing a single shot-just ad
vancing.
The Americans were unable to un
derstand these tatics but neverthe-
less were certain that it was question
Of slaushtering the enemy or of peing
themselves smothered under the ad
vance BY this time their weapons
were so hot that they could not be used
effectively and the enemy was close
SO that the engineers retired fighting,
took up another position then turned
and began operations again.
A British officer who witnessed the
engagement is reported to have said
They held on by their teeth until
the last moment, inficting terrific cas-
ualties on the enemy Then they
moved back and waited for the Ger
mans and repeated the performance.
BY the time the engineers had
reached a place somewhere near Noy-
ON they were nearly exhausted and al
most without equipment Thede they
were given a chance to rest and re-
equip. According to all reports they
we're entitled to it. for certainly they
gave the Germans a generous sample