Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-10
j. S. ENGINEERS
MOVED DOWN HUNS
IN P|CARDY BATTLE
Met Advancing Waves Of Foe
Seven Deep Until Rifles Be-
came Useless From Heat.
THEY FOUGHT LIKE DEMONS

MIN IIe AIntIlCtn AIuN III ItshtSf
April IO.-The American railway en-
rineers who helped to stem the tide OF the
onrtishinc Germans during the OPEN
ing DAYS of the battle now IN progress
In Picarly fought shoulder to shoulder
with Canadian engineers in carrying
out their task. They held their ground
stubbornly and only retired to pre-
viously prepared positions when forced
to do so and inflicted casualties by the
thousand upon the Germans rs they
advanced in close formation, IN one
place in rs many as seven waves, each
wave ten men deep and 100 yards apart
GUNS USELESS FROM HEAT.
The Americans. with the Canadians,
had all the ammunition they needed,
and although they were unsupported
bv the artillery and armed only with
rifles and with n few machine guns,
they poured scvthelike streams of bullets
into the enemy Mt several different tunes
until the weapons were so hot as TO be
useless.
This handful of American soldiers,
who were not hardened TO such terrlhe
slaughter, was sickened by the shamhles
ii created but fought furiously for several
days. helping to hold the enemy all the
way from st. Quentin to the vicinity OF
TONED at the time in the official COM
ynunio,cs. but these details Of their ex-
ploits il has only now been possible to
secure
When the German attack began the
Americans were working in the rear
lines with the Canadians under Canadian
command. They quickly threw down their
tools and seized the weapons with which
fhev had been armed for some months,
and formed themselves into fighting
unit. The Germans came on and finally
reached the position where the Americans
were waiting.
KILL ALL GERMANS POSSIBLE.
The exact number Of the engineers
cannot be given, but they were COM
paratively small. They had no intention
cf rptreating, however, and were bent
upon killing all the Germans possible
As the first gray enemy advanced,
The American forces let them come
until they were within certain range;
then opened fire, pouring IN storm Of
bullets Gaps appeared in the advancing
lines at many places, some of them large,
where the machine guns and chewed
through. Still the German waves came
on. without firing q single shot-Iust ad-
yancing
The Americans were unable TO under
stand these tactics, but, nevertheless,
were certain that it was question OF
slaughtering the enemy or being them
selves smothered under the advance.
Rv this time their weapons were so hot
that thev could not be used effectively
and the enemy was close, so that the
engineers retired. fighting, took up another
position, then turned and began opera
tions again 4 British officer who witness
ed the engagement Is reported to have
said:
They held on by their teeth until
the last moment, infiicting terrific casual
ties on the enemy Then they moved
back and waited for the Germans, and re-
peated the performance.
FOE TASTES AMERICAN SAMPLE.
BY the time the engineers had reached
a place somewhere near Noyon they were
nearly exhausted and almost without
equipment. There they were given 8
chance TO rest and re-eqmp. According TO
all reports they were entitled to 1t, ior
certainly they gave the Germans gener-
Gus sample of what the enemy Is TO expect
from the American army.
During q battle unusual stories al
wavs crop up. but the following is one
with the correspondent heard from al
unouestionables source and il Is said TO have
been verified:
in one of the peri DDS when the Ameri-
can engineers and their Canadian com,
rades in arms were holding a position
what appeared TO be British staff motor
drove up. The driver WAS in the uniform
Of q British soldier and man in the ton
nelu WAS in the uniform Of a British staf
officer.
The officer stepped out and asked
for the commanding officer. He wa;
taken TO a Canadian officer nearby.
The staff officer ordered the commands
to retire four kilometers. saying that th'
Germans were pressing on both flanks anC
he might be cut off.
KILL GERMAN SPY.
''For some reason the Canadian com
mander became suspicious. He haC
the staff officer searched when the lat
ter failed to produce his authority
and papers were found on him proving ht
was German officer. He and his chauffeur
were immediately shot"
American engineer officers are said x
have been present when this incident
occurred.