Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-05-09
S1nsls 0iulesr Relates Expsdsoos
Of Hun Attack On the
British


VttoWe t~uDefculOet0 colony, and pub
lished In the Chicago Tribune. relates
the thrilling story Of the great battle
In Picardy. The American officer wal
TN the thickest Of the fighting for nine
days, during the retreat Of the British
Fifth army from before St. Quentin,
Lieutenant Pettit's account Of the bat.
tie thrills with the stress Of the con.
dict. al It wal written Immediately
after he had passed through the ire.
lnendous experiences and before his
Impressions had been In any way dulled
BY time. : His letter follows:
Lieutenant Petttt's Letter.
March 30.
Dear Father: Now that the show Is
over for me for the time being, and l
have time to breathe and sleep and eat
and write, I'll try and tell you about
the battle. Before you receive this
you will have had the whole story from
the papers. but ! know you will be
Interested in knowing what I did In the
affair.
OF course, the things I saw were but
an infnitesimal part Of q gigantic
whole and II would be Impossible for
me to give a correct description Of the
battle. And as l write this, l do 1t
with no knowledge whatever Of what
has been going on even a few miles
from ME.
i have not seen a paper in eight days;
j have received no mail. and the only
Information we have received has been
by word Of mouth, aud most Of what
we hear must be wild rumors. For ex.
ample: The French have advanced
20 miles at Verdun, the Ameri-
cans have taken Ostend, and are on
their way to Zeebrugge, and a great
naval battle has been fought in the
North sea.
All l know IS that on this part Of the
front the Germans attacked US in over
whelmlng numbers, in places ten dlvi.
sions to II one; that they suffered
terrible losses. but finally broke
through our lines of defense, one after
another, and fighting for the most part,
q rear guard action, we have retired
about Is miles in a straight line.
, For q week before the battle started
we had been expecting It; we were
ready to move on 30 minutes no
stice. had been out with combatant
ID well as medical officers on tours OF
Reconnaissance, definite methods Of
evacuation Of the wounded had been
worked out, and our plans Of counter.
attack been made. After four or Ave
days Of waiting. the storm finally
broke.
The Boche opened up on us Mt 5 a. M,
March Fl, with the heaviest barrage !
have ever heard. "Stand to-" wa
sounded. we turned out dressed, and
had all our equipment packed in 30
minutes. Then we sat down and
waited for orders to move. The bar
rage kept up continuously. sometimes
heavier and then Of less intensity,
sometimes 1t seemed to be to the north
Of US ana then suddenly It switched to
the south.
Our balloons were up MS soon as. II
was light and the alrplanes were buz-
xing over our heads. The ground mist
gradually cleared and the Germans
put a hail Of shrapnel on our camp
and we ull took cover, but three men
were hit. Why 1t is a fellow always
feels suffer with a roof over his head.
even II he knows bullets and shrapne)
and pieces OF shell will 20 through
boards and corrugated iron Just like
paper.
Ordered to Move.
Our orders to move finally came md
We marched or to the brigade assem-.
b'y point several miles away. This as.
scnbly point was In a little bunch Of
trees about the size Of Allen park and
ochind and separated from, q larger
wood In front. In the larger wood
there was a battery Of heavy artillery
and shells were dropping In there two
or three to \ minute, and II was heavy
stun, too.
Sometimes they oyershot the biz
wood and shells were landing In The
open around the little wood where my
brigade had Its assembly point. Az
We approached Nj little copse we
could make all this ont from some dis.
lance away and II wasn't q pleasant
accusation to feel that we we're march.
log straight into II.
All the battalions arrived and IN that
little sopse there must have been n
least two Thousand men. what A
chance " the Germans only knew! But
the s''!Is continued to drop IN front ~
w and on either side. but none landed
among ~. and after waiting there for
thres houra szpeet'as to BE- blown 70
Tits any second. va finally moved for.
ward. J6st - No lsft the eopse. from
eeh'nd o. up ovss Z ridge, came !
stream Of yalloping Aessea.
ITS ne eavalPy.s someone shouted.
oHt noon made ct iimbsss and beid
guns.
They saiioped past =. eosng IKE
aaad. teak W . positioa 20 ous risht.
sxsas iaso positiou. unllnbsred, I'D