Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-10
Doylestown's Boys
Faced Machine Guns
in Wood; Held Gains

|
across an open field. Doylestown boys
in Company G, 111th Infantry, faced
| German machine gun batteries hidden
in wood. and drove the enemy back
with rifle and bayonet and held their
gains against a determined counter
artillery barrage by the Huns. For
| four days these boys were under con-
| tinuous fire from German snipers. ma
chine gunners and artillery. They
suffered heavily in casualties. but
they held their ground against a reg
iment of Huns until relief came.
Details of the fighting. with men
| ton of several wounded heroes whose
names have not appeared in the off,
cial lists. are reaching here in let
ters from the soldiers who went
through the hail of shell and shrap-
mel.
From letters to relatives of the SOL
diers here, it is known one member
of the company from this town was
killed in action and seventeen wound
ed or gassed.
The battalion to which Company
G belongs went into line in a wood,
facing the Germans, who were in the
same wood. Only an old railroad line
separated them.
For one night there was a heavy
Isduel of snipers and machine gunners.
In the morning the Doylestown boys
advanced to clear the wood
They crossed the old railroad line
in the face of splitting machine guns.
For two hours the Germans struggled
, to hold their line. Then they broke
and fled from the wood.
Immediately the Germans dropped
heavy barrage over the advancing
battalion. causing an order to the
Pennsylvanians to retire.
"One shell lit beside me-" writes
Corporal Frank McNealy. killing
three and wounding several others:
1 was knocked down, but only got a
small piece of shrapnel in the leg.
I must have been sort of stunned
because I didn't hear the order to
retire and found myself and Paul
Helsel alone in the open field.
I'VE were about 100 yards FROM the
woods and had to run back through
the barrage to get there. and we had
no sooner started than a German
sniper opened on us and the bullets
kicked dust all around us. The fast
er he fired the faster we ran. We
got to the woods in safety and then
took care of our wounded.
There was not much doing that
night except some sniping. The next
morning we went forward again over
thes same ground and pushed the
enemy back for nearly two miles.
THE climax of the whole thing
came when we came to the edge of
the wood, We being in the wood. A
whole nest of enemy machine guns
was in another wood about 800 yards
away, across an open field.
I'VE were ordered to charge across
the field into the wood. We couldn't
see the enemy at all. They were so
well hidden, it looked impossible to
chase them out
An Inspiring Sight
Well, we started, and 1t sure was
an inspiring sight to see us going
across the field, just like they do in
the movies. We were in skirmish
line and putting up our own barrage
to try and keep the enemy fire down
until we reached the woods.
I'VE went across in a perfect line,
bayonets fixed and firing. not rapid
fire, but double-rapid fire, all from the
hip. We never put our rifles to our
shoulders. Our automatic rifles were
pouring out bullets. and our pistols
barking-everythin at once.
"A little second lieutenant was
leading us, and he surely did fine.
Right in the middle of the field was a
mesh-wire fence higher than our
heads, which we had to stop and cut
with our bayonets and rife butts.
well, we plunged into the woods.
but it was useless. The hidden ma
chine guns could just NOW down our
men. l found myself beside Sergeant
Raymond Long. Slightly behind us
was an Italian fellow shooting close
to our heads.
81 turned around and told him to