Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-10-25

| flung a thousand soldiers against a
point where one hundred Huns had
been victorious the day before. and the
wall Of steel did not yield. In his fury
one company after another Of Huns
was sacrificed. There came moment
when the American boys climbed over
the heaps of dead and wounded Huns.
and took the first step toward Berlin.
The audacity Of an offensive seemed
incredible. They went straight across
the field, not creeping forward on their
faces, but standing upright, pushing
back the Huns, searching out the ma
chine gun nests, back five miles. ten
miles, and day after day. night after
night, unhastening, unresting, and
when the first phase of the struggle
was over the Huns were fifty miles
away, and the beloved city" was safe.
The sulphurous stencil passed from
the air. The sun cleared itself Of
black clouds. Men who loved the
beautiful and the fine arts breathed
freely once more. France and Ameri-
ca went from the uttermost Of pain to
the uttermost of JOY. The American
boys made only one blunder in the en-
tire battle.
4 Mistake OF Courage.
First they increased their casualties
by rushing with their heads up and
standing into machine gun nests. when
they should have used caution and Oft
en- crept upon their faces. meeting
cunning with strategy. And. second,
on the morning at IL o'clock. when
their officers commanded them to re-
treat half mile that the Germans
might be lured forward into the de-
serted trenches, while at precisely IL
the engineers fling their gas bombs in
to those very trenches to destroy the
Germans some Of the soldiers did not
understand the strategy. Refusing 10
retreat, they were caught by the de-
structive agent that was planned for
their enemy. The Canadians made the
same mistake at their entrance into
the war, and the American boys learn
ed for the first time to use the word
retreat" but the blunder and insub-
ordination were in a sense noble and
praiseworthy. for without that spirit
YOU cannot win victories. We saw one
of these very boys with his leg blown
off, and the surgeon saving the bone
six inches from the hip joint When
he noticed that the bone seemed loose.
the doctor pulled the bone. and the
two inches came off. Are you suffer-
ing much pain?' I said to the young
soldier. Not very much" Then
looking up, his eyes flashed as he said,
"And-blank tit was worth it," That
spirit is unconquerable. 1t will end
within a few weeks by pushing the
Germans out Of France and Belgium,
and this American spirit will end this
war, with the Allied soldier encamped
around the kaiser's palace in Berlin.
Then the only settlement will be a
settlement based on justice, and peace
will be permanent.
The Recovery of the Briey Iron Field.
French and British leaders who un-
derstand that Germany has won her
victories through munitions forged out
of the iron fields Of Briey, tell us that
the American First army, under Gen
eral Pershing, without any assistance
from the Allied forces, drove the Hun
ont of the St. Mihiel salient and the
Argonne forest, and rendered 1t certain
that the German will speedily lose
control of Longwy and Briey, from
which he has had 80 per cent OF his
iron and steel. From one viewpoint
this achievement by Americans is far
and away the most far-reaching event
of the war The assassin cannot work
without a dagger. The burglar must
have his jimmy and his pistol. The
Hun brigands must have high grade
iron ore for their saw bayonets, their
rifles and cannon. General Pershlngs s
First Army is now within seven miles
of the railway that carries these treas
ures and munitions to the Hun front
on the west The result Is that the
Hun forces are now divided into two
isolated armies, each fighting for It
self. and making a retreat that Is rap
idly becoming a rout. Great has been
the victory Of Sir Douglas Haig. On
March 81 the British general had such
military stores piled up. ready for his
spring offensive, as has never before
been accumulated. Under cover OF fog'
the Germans succeeded in bringing up
half million fresh troops. In their
onsweep last March and April they ad-
yanced so rapidly that the British had
no time to destroy their stores. Ex-
perts say that the losses were not far
from s1,0O0,000,000. with copper
enough to last the Germans for the
next wear. Falling back westward. Sir
Douglas retreated with such skill that
he stopped the Germans in front OF
Amiens, reversed his movement. took
the offensive and turned an over
whelming defeat into an overwhelming
victory. But 1t may be doubted wheth-
er even that splendid achievement Will
have results rs far reaching as PERISH
ing's pushing the Hun out Of the iron
fields of Longwy and Briey, which has
been made possible by the series OF
uninterrupted victories won by the hrst
American army. Better days are COM
ing. This morning the whole western
horizon Is ablaze with light and the
signs of victory.
Unanticipatcd Cruelties by the Huns.
Another reason why our soldiers at
the front deserve our support Is, that
they are called upon to endure such
cruelties as the world has never before
known. The rage Of the Hun at being
compelled to give up north France and
Belgium amounts to insanity. The
Hun knows that his one hope Is the