Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-03

Of canned pork After clearing th1
de Cierges We took the smaller Bc1<
Crimpettes, near Cierges.-
This completed, the next job wo6 NJ
storm the Meuniere woods. To s111&171 b.
long story short. on July 81 we char
six times against the German po11tt1
at the southern end Of the woods And
times were beaten back. The Ger111
communique laid great stress on u ~
temporary check to the Americaho 3Izs
The bravery of our men WA NV
matched as they went against the u "a
chine guns. in trees in holes and beA|
sand bags, one nest to every sixty ~
against our men. charging up an ~ l|
slope The units making the attack Wet6 M
lumberjacks farmer boys and IndIan4
! They fought galantly. but nightfa1t u
| found them about where they started. a
|, But the Germans were greatly mis- "A
taken II they thought we had enough
| Shortly after midnight Thursday morn
| ing we trained scores of guns on the
! southern end of the woods and sent over 81
| thousands of hgh-explosive shells. 64I<
! 80 o'clock the charge started frofn MI
west and from the south Of the woods = 20
| The Americans moved steathily Wit4s3
/ fixed bayonets until they got into t94frt
edge of the woods and atop the machinyS.
gunners Then the Indians yelled. TIM
| lumberiacks shouted and the farmertx
4 boys cheered They were where they X
| could mix il at close range with {n3f4
Germans, and that was what they
wanted.
Their wells could be heard miIe
/ away. They were up against two OF Mfs,f
! kaiser's redoubtabe divisions, the zOUtu
! Iaegers and the 2l6th reserve divfsioh z
| They fought with vim and JOY. es'y Z Z
| The bayonet is a good weapon againesz1
gun nests on the ground ana lnIantExrtsd
men. but the German machine gurnereFs
in trees gave lots Of trouble. Lads VINO &
back home had learned to shoot squirrslyG5l22
put their training to good advanfaf9.sa
hiding behind trees and shooting down q
the monkey fighters.
On the ground things went pettera
The Germans were fresh and the Amen-ns
cans in good trim our boys fought iik9 a.
madmen They had lost their comraoes
at the hands of these Germans anu NOV. -.
were to aNenge them. tsstt
No quarter was asked or expecteQ.A6
The Germans had orders to fight until q
death. and the Americans needed no suchl<
order Wounded men slightly hurt WIZ
We're brought back TO the dressing sta~5
lions sneaked away TO get back into t1es%
fight. one boy from Michigan wA& i
found half way back to the battle. wnere :
he tainted from loss of blood.
saw many of our wounded and Htti 2
were full of vim and smiling with 1oInS
at what had been done. we gave Siirlss5;; H.;
hell all right" was the message tnSy4s
had for every one along their way.
Without much artillery on either sfne98
and without gas the Americans fou9RE,&
the Germans through these woods, Ioqftl3
,Kiloreters long. for six hours. Al S:syaz
O'Clock we took mp position across ~ To- =
, northern edge of the woods. The 81
French on the right had fought their wex+
IN calamity, and it now looks as II enesJ
German hold on this stronghold were
broken.
Only Three Prisoners Taken
Perhaps the most sensational inciden& 4
of the fight was when about zoo Ger
+, mans got behind our men. They w41ets
, chased into a clearing, where the AmeEtS X
= cans went at them from all sides wlSns
= the bayonet and I am told that tnreeHH
. prisoners were all that were left OF tn4 4
? Germans These prisoners said they had e
been rushed from Flanders, taken AZ
train to I.aon and marched into tn
=. woods, where they arrived tnree cHy
$ apo They were told that they muf
fight to the death because the Amer'cAE
8 The capture of Hill 200 brought s.
S light p fagrant German violation OF tp4,ft
e Red Cross regulations, on top OF ~ 81,
a hin stands a heliograph tower. one Qke<
/ those built by Napoleon. The AmerifA
J., cans saw big Red Cross flag wavmx
= from it and kept both artillery and n4eSS
: chine-gun averted from IT, ,.5.s
When our men were close up many
!: or then, were cut down by fire from
;, two machine guns in the tower. Amer
z lean snipers gained good locations ana (
! killed the crews Of the machine gun4<sr
= Cantain Bowie. with detail mounted z.
= the stairs of the tower and found tho <
!, German gunners dead beside theif5,
f weapons. tss
,The Captain Boyle mentioned above
Is evidently the Captain Boyle named IN
Raymond Carrolrs dispatch in the Pub
lt. trr, lAA lie nv, IN.
capture of 100 Germans. Captain Jof3
Edgar Boyle 6 Pittsburgh. is comma I.
-, der of the machine gun company Of thN n
. 10th Infantry. formerly the fapnol
3 "Fightine Tenth" of the PennsylvanN
$ National Guard. He lives at Beav..
= Falls with his wife and child Ar
d served through the Spanish-AmericS #
War with the Tenth.) liss
TO the left of the Bois-de- -Meuni0ffe
s we made another attack later in the a. IS
9 north of Cierges After several hou
G Of fighting drove the Germans frc &,
this vantage point. tT~~
y Further west our luck was mot rs 50
: =, good our repeated attacks were mfst'
!, by strong German resistance from 20 ,
4" sitions better than ours. The Germany
- were intrenched in the southern end q{4
Nese Woods against our men chargtpgs
through an open field up the slope. S,s
However, on the front from Seringe6'
J east. two and a half kilometers. we ad-
vanced from 800 to 400 yards Abotits
noon the Americans made rush They.
(. captured lone captain Of the Imperial ;
q Prussian guards.
l. EXpIodes BOche Munition Dump ,{a1s
one of our big guns today exploded
German munitiOn dump in the woodas )
e of Nesles. Prisoners said that Thursday
p the Germans had the woods bulging with
II soldiers, determined to keep the Ameri-ss
p cans and French out of the woods st
e There is no denying that the Forest de
2 Nesles appears to be tough nut 30ss
e crack. but so did the Bois de Meuniere.
German heavy artillery fire has shown
II a marked decrease in the last fortysss
e eight hours. This is taken to mean ay-i4
e other moving back of the big guns ptstst
D. into position against the Allied foroes
four days ago. The German aerial ac-N
IL tivity continues to be big factor in his,g
g efforts 5qae
II Despite the bombastic German oflcialf
d statement about whipping the Americana
II north Of the Ourcq, the fact remains that.
le we get bit further north of the river
each day One of the things about this
e rather costly fighting is that 1t Is teachs@
y ing the Americans to be equal to any
n task the Germans may create for then3
le for there is no tougher fighting thanss
u that which the German shock troops /