The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1918-11-08
VIVID ACCOUNT
OF BIG DRIVE
By AMERICANS

/
The following letter is from Lieut.
George II Smith to his mother, q
Little Fails, n. y. They have FRIENDS
in Louisa to whom the letter was. sent
| II is enc of The most Interesting ",
have read anywhere:
Somewhere in France, SEPT. 81,
You have read all about our biz
| drive long before this, and guess
know more about it than we do. Al
| we know about is our own sector; we
know that from one end to the other.
September ~ at one O'Clock IN the
| morning. our artillery barrage opened
up and kept ii up until five o'clock
cutting wire and woods down so we
could get through Az five O'Clock il
lifted and we went over the top after
office wtatsererh
the BoChe The French and English
officers that were here watching said
il was beyond them how we could do
such Wonderful work, and they had
been in the war for four years, They
said it was the prettiest thing they
ever saw, You should have heard the
noise the artillery kept up for two
days All we ran into was machine
guns and artillery; II seemed MS if
there was a machine gun in every tres.
But we kept right on going; and when
they saw ii was the Amer:cans the
Boches ran as fast as they could, hut
could not run fast enough for US: be-
cause, you see we took over 10000
prisoners, and they sure were glad to
he taken. They all said their losses
were much greater than ours; ours
were very small. mostly wounded and
a lot gassed Capt Abel and one lieu
tenant are in the hospital badly gas
sed, | am the only officer in our
company who has not been in the hos
pital since the drive. some are back
now.
Without Food Two Days.
We went so fasl the food and am
mmition could not keep up with us.
ana most OF us did not nave anything
to eat for two days, only what we got
out of the German trenches and dug
outs lost my pack the first day out
on Sunday they stopped us with
their heavy artillery, as we were in
the woods on one side of the hill and
the Boches were on the other. with a
town the Germans had held for four
years. We had gone so fast our arr
tillery could not keep up with us at
all. But Sunday afternoon we got or
ders to go over the top again. so we
did. We went down the hill and in
the town and up the other hill, and in
the open anG took those woods the
Boches held How We did it 1 do not
know as they We're shelling us about
six every second, il seemed, and lot
of gas, The airplanes flew very low
right over us. and opened UP with ma
chine guns. AS | said, l don't know
how we ever got up this hill, but we
did. The infantry had quite a few
losses but we only had two men
wounded and a few gassed. / will
never forget it: We just had to crawl
from shell-hole to shell-hole, and it
seemed as if we never would get up
there. My orderly was just in back of
me when big six-inch shell fell with
in three feet of him II was a dead
one thank God. If 1t had ever gone
off it would have gotten lot of us.
But we got the woods and lot OF
Germans, and then dug in as we had
gone past the place we were to take,
and had to dig in. That means dig
trenches to live in. and wait for the
divisions on our right and left to take
their detectives and get even with our
line. There is so much to tell ! do
not know where to begin, or how to
tell 1t. If anyone asks you where |
was on September IL. 1918, you tell
them l was in the greatest American
| drive the world has ever seen, and !
can tell them all about it.
Luxury in Dugouts.
Now little about the German
trenches and dugouts. AS you read in
| the papers. the place where we are
the French lost 100000 men and the
Germans lot also. in this sector in
1914. and only 1000 yards OF land was
gained. So you see what we are UP
against; all woods and hills and the
Boche had things fixed for a life time
in this sector. and all the comforts of
home. Fine homes under ground any
where from 25 feet to rs feet under.
shell proof and enough wire to go
around the world six times. guess,
but our artillery cut all that for us.
The dugouts for the men were all
made of wood, with beds in them,
stoves to keep warm and to cook on;
electric lights in all of them; floors
tables chairs. and gas proof doors; a
different room for each section.
The officers quarters were from 80
to rs feet under ground, and made of
stone, white brick. and cement: stone
steps into them, bedrooms with real
beds and bed linens and fine silk COM
fortables in them; carpets on the floor
big living rooms with fire places;
Morris chairs. davenports tables. pia-
nos, wall paper on the walls; fancy
woodwork and pictures on the walls;
dining rooms with tables table linens
silver. china and glassware Kitchens
with tile floors and cook stoves as
large as they use in hotels. and all the
food you coulo think of. even pickles
and jam. All these things had been
taken out of the French homes during
the last four years.
In the hospitals we found lots of
drugs, medicines, absorbent cotton,
500 bottles of sterilized water The
hospitals were fine also In lot we
took we found meal on table half
eaten, beer and wine still in the mugs
pipes half smoked beside their plates,
all kinds OF clothes and pistols, and
everything you could think of. They
q. IL -.