The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-12-17
Officers Division,
74th General Hospital,

74th General Hospital,
B. E. F., France, Oct. 27, 1918.
Dear Mr.. Perrin:
We have been most too busy with
ritz lately for much correspondence
nd we are still entertaining him but
made the acquaintance of one of
IS gas shells and have been paying
Sthe penalty for the past ten days.
m glad to say though, that once
nore I have been declared fit and
5ill leave here tomorrow for the
ront again. For fear the next shell
meet will not be so considerate OF
te I will write you another install
hent of that "history for future gen.
rations" giving just a few OF my
Experiences in the famous old Hin
snburg line.
For several days we were en-
renched in front of it and hope ]
ever see hotter place. Dead Ger
hans lay everywhere but it was out
{ the question to bury them. Ou,
WIN dead were removed at night. Be-
ind us we had the heaviest concen,
ration of artillery since the begin
ing of the war. I might say, in the
istory of the world. was told by
artillery officer afterwards that
hey were sending over $4,000 shells
day over our head. It is impossi'
he for you to imagine the terrific
discs. The earth shook continu.
usly like a big earthquake. The
light before the attack we had to
dvance 400 yards to straighten the
ne. My guns were to 60 forward
he advance began at 9:30 and il
las as dark as pitch. We didn't GO
fly yards before two of my men
ere shot down right beside me.
llled them in a shell hole and
tessed their wounds. One was Char.
e. Armour, (from J. R. Glenn's)
here we had to leave them. On we
ent jumping from one shell hole
another. Then I heard a cry OF
arning but too late-we all blum
cred into his barb wire and eight of
were caught. One of the boys in
ying to get loose tore his clothing
nd the white underwear gave us
way. It seemed like all the ma,
line guns in the world opened up
3 US. We came out but minus
othing and most of US left some
erfectly good skin as a warning to
hers.
We eventually reached our objec.
ve and mounted my guns. We kept
EN- up during the night until the
hgineers put down what is known
the jumping off tape-a white
md about two inches wide stretched
ross the whole front to insure the
vance getting the right direction
ur work finished we withdrew al
[ylight to our old position.
Next morning the big show start.
Its beyond description. Every
own weapon was used-The Tanks
our infantry next, then the cav.
ry waiting for chance to break
rough. The sky was simply filled
tn aeroplanes and during, the show
saw a good many luckless chaps
me down in flames. Our men were
bnderful. Two hours after zero
ey were through the Hindenburg
ne and still going.
Part of this line was an old tunnel
lit by Napoleon-a wonderful
gineering feat. The canal at
is point runs under the city of
rough this massive tunnel-two
les long and fifty feet in diameter
rye boats were moored in it and
Germans had used them as bill
S. Branching off from the main
hnel were many small ones used
dwellings. In one of these we
md one of his much talked of gly-
rine extracting plants. I know
u won't believe what I now tell
=. but I vouch for the truth of it.
one end of a large room we found
furnace very much like a bakers
- mace, built of brick. On it were
Zee. copper caldrons which would
abo,1t fbroe h,,sholc aanh 0ne