Evening star., 1918-01-07
METTLE OF YANKEES STOOD
TEST IN FIRST GERMAN RAID
Details of How Teutons Surprised Small
Detachment Of Americans, Who
Held Ground Admirably.
BY THOMAS NJ. JOHNSON.

BY THOMAS n. JOHNSON.
Copyright, 1914 All rights reserved.)
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE, December IA little more
than a month ago Washingtonians read
in tho Newspaper that tho German war
office announced the capture Of North
American prisoners" as tho result Of a
trench raid.
Tho next day they read that Gen.
Pershing had reported to Washington
that the enemy actually had raided our
trenches on the western front. killed
twelve, which turned out later to be
eleven.
One more day and they read the first
detailed account Of what had happened
how the Americans smothered by ar.
tillery fire and greatly outnumbered
had made a gallant fight and despite
their losses had proved themselves real
soldiers, as cabled by the correspond.
ents with the army the moment per
mission was given. For some days
thereafter they read good deal about
that raid. Perhaps they would be will
ming up of the whole affair from all
the reports collected by our staff. Fol
military reasons sohae things must be
left out even now. but it is possible tc
present a fairly complete account OF
what actually took place, particularly
Of how the Germans did it-and really
they did 1t very well-and of just what
effect 1t had upon the boys over here
individually and upon the Army In gen
eral.
As q matter of fact that raid. viewed
in relation to the vastness Of the war
q q q yxrh Suya a
worthy. perhaps, Of ten words in a
daily communique. It Was all over In
a few minutes and its effect upon the
military situation was Just nothing.
But 1t was the very first occasion when
American troops actually fought Ger
man troops or, for the matter Of that
ever fought at all on the soil OF Eu-
rope
Valuable War Experience.
Those three graves right behind the
trenches hold the first soldiers OF the
American Army killed in man-to-man
fighting in this war. And. aside from
that, the Germans gave us. In TINS
raid, one of the most valuable expert
ences we could have had. But for
those graves, and for the eleven men
who are in Germany. we wouldn't have
missed it for the world. 1t meant
good deal to US, that raid.
Marne canal which is a narrow slit
of dirty. brown water flowing between
stone-walled banks and crossing the
front north of Luneville. Beyond tnat
1t is inadvisable to go. The time, too:
they knew, 2:5O on the morning OF
November 3. which is to say somewhere
around theater time in New York.
At 10 o'clock the preceding night.
the night of November 2, the platoon
that was raided had relieved another
n
the sector. It was raining. the dense.
rain Of France. and 1t was
very dark. The men. coming into the
trenches after three days spent in the
rock piles of ruined villages short
distance behind the trenches had little
home and familiarize themselves with
their new surroundings; they had never
been in any but practice trenches be-
fore in their lives. Perhaps it would
the trenches before and during the raid.
just as the officer commanding the
platoon told 1t in his report.
Report Of Lieutenant.
'The relief was completed at 10 Pm.
as I reported from my dugout by run
ner," he said in his report on the raid,
written, by the way. in hospital, where
he lay in bed suffering from shell
H..
ton to see that no mistake had been
made in posting the men.
"Then I went on slow tour OF the
sector, looking into all the dark cor
ners to familiarize myself with them.
I had shots fired from an automatic
rife post to enable the men to locate
the gun. I then stopped in CORFU
gated iron hut near post x (the
designation Of this post is purposely
changed It was then tn.t nearly sa hsa ,ond am
the rockets. but did not know what
kind they were, and was on his way to
another trench"
The lieutenant was then almost at
the apex of the salient that the Ger
mans raided. It forms practically a
right angle in the front line trench,
with a barbed wire belt on each side.
back from the front line are
a number of communicating trenches
which. like the front line trench, are
zigzagged.
'I went north to get the men into the
dugouts. / warned. post X. and then
near post Y 1 was knocked down by
the explosion of a shell. but I got up.
Near the entrance of trench 1 (this
also is not the real designation of the
trench. which is a Communicating
trench) I was blown by the entrance
by another shell. turned back. but
the revetment ftrench walD had been
pushed in. I started for my dugout.
Dut SucllS WclC AlIllA6 GIL louhu anu
it got so hot that I stopped in a bomb
proof Two men were with me, and 1
stopped five more and made them take
cover.
'Then a shell either hit the bomb
proof or hit so close to it that 1t
knocked me sense1ess was out some
time. When regained my senses hand
grenades were flying about very free
ly in the air. and sometimes a shell. One
man was killed while we were in the
I took the others out and
led them toward the front line. At the
corner Of the front trench and Trench
2 we threw balls of wire into the trench
TO trip up any Germans who might ap-
pear. I then placed an automatic rifle
in the trench, with grenade men on the
tanks. sent a man back to awaken
the men sleeping in the dugouts and
bring them forward. The raid was over
am writing this in hospital"
Stood First Test Well.
There Is the lieutenant's report from
which 1t Is pretty clear that some men
In the platoon were asleep underground