Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-05-10

| IneIn. These We're younh, IresiI-
raced Insn. We'll anu strongly butt.
| heir eyes Were lively anu alert anu
tncy JOneu quietly between lneIn-
selves. Fulally they had llteIeu INTO
,ne trencnes and the Americans began
lncir Wa! GOWN The open roau.
! The smelling had become terrific.
Not Il dozen times in this war have
heard such all upruar. The line
trenches the Americans had held was
marked Out by u SUCCESSFUL Of shell
bursts. and the flames that one side
or another sent up from time TO time
showed innumerable fountains Of dark
earth squirting into the blackness of
the night. Shells were dropping on
the road the Americans we're to
march down. Shells were dropping on
the battery positions in the valley be-
low. a shell passed through the walls
Of the regimental headquarters direct
ly above the dugout in which Colonel
Hough was waiting with the French
captain and Red" The French bat
teries began to send shell for shell.
Hidden in the hollows as they We're,
| the blasts of flame from their gun
muzzles could not be seen. But they
were reflected from the low lying
clouds like heat lightning upon a sum-
mcr's day. One no longer detected
single crashes in the steady roll Of
sound.
| Il had dickens Of time getting
my team down the hill last night"
said the driver Of one Of the combat
wagons next day, intentionally. That
road was SO full Of shell holes that
l had to weave my four mules in be-
tween 'em. A dozen times l had to
stop the team and make a right angle
turn. Sometimes l drove in the ditch,
because the road had been pulled up
and thrown in the gutter"
1t was big stuff" that the Ohio
troops came through last night. Here
| tofOre the Germans have been using
the medium caliEres-105's and 1855
in their destructive fire here. These
are equivalent to four anL six inch
pieces, respectively. and carry 4 large
| charge of high explosives. But last
night the Germans used pieces Of 210
and 2i0 calibre. There were holes in
the hard macadam Of the road in
which four mules and wagon could
be hidden from sight. After the last
American doughboy had marched out
safely, and the last American combat
wagon had wiggled out between those
holes with four mules and the truck"
that was to be taken away, two lieu
tenants Of the supply company tried
| to climb that hill in sidecar.
I'VE had to quit" they reported
-Four times we c..rried that sidecar
through holes that we could not go
around. That was before we got to
the top Of the hill. There the flares
showed us that the road ahead was
worse than the road behind, and so we
came back. No use getting all tired
out"
The last mule driver up the hill de-
serves a decoration. IL ever a man did.
He had made the trip once before
last night. Once a big shell sent
jagged fragments whizzing near him
lrsai.Sr- sf -wfshsmrHsn ne
sat on the drivers seat. He had
nursed his team orornd those fear
compelling holes in the darkness that
was only broken when an enemy shell
crashed near by, and at last he had
reached place Of comparative safety.
Then his lieutenant came to him:
I'm sorry" said the lieutenant. But
some one must make another trip up
the hill tonight-and 1 guess you're
elected"
The drivers answer is something
for Americans to be proud Of:
II hate like hell to so again." said
he, but what 1t takes to go-Tve got
It."
Marching Out.
There was a slight lull in the bonn
bardment Just as the Americans be-
gan to trickle out across the half
mile of blackboard on their way from
the. trenches to the road. This duck
board is unprotected, after the fash
ion that has persisted in this section
since the beginning Of the war. 1t
merely links two sections of strong
points and back of it Is another
point. But there is not an inch Of 1t
that Is not felt out every day by the
Germans indirect fire. One has an
oddly unclothed feeling on climbing on
1t after the comparative protection Of
the trench.
So the men plodded over that duck
board, slipping on its greasy stats,
swearing when they stepped In the
frequent holes where stats were miss
ing, sweating under their heavy packs
in the darkness. At this precise mo-
ment the Germans were bombarding
the battery emplacements we'll in the
rear. When the men reached the far
ther crest Of the hill, from which they
could catch glimpses Of the battered
village, in which the advance post was
located, and the other battered vii
lage, two miles farther in the val
ley, where the regimental command
was still in being, in the person OF
Colonel Hough, they could see the
route ahead of them marked out by
shell bursts.
They trudged in small groups, filthy
from two weeks in trench, where
not even the most rudimentary clean
ing up was possible. from the duck
board to the battered little village,
l1 khnr In