The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-04-25
AMERICANS WITH
COUNTER ATTACK
ALL POINTS VACATED SATURDAY
ARE REoccuPlED.
DETAILS OF THE ENGAGEMENT
Germans Use Barrase Behind Their
Troops to Compel Advance. Yam
KEGS Refuse to Evacuate Posi-.
tion and Down GermanPlanes.

ton ana OoWn 1CTndNFIdnGS.
With the American Army in Lor.
raine, April 22--American troops at
tacking the Germans northwest OF
Toul this morning following heavy
barrage retook all positions lost in
Saturdays .stragetical retreat
The ground is covered with enemy
dead following the heavy cost of their
assault against the American troops.
Latest reports show the Americans
although outnumbered valiently with
stood the onslaught of three waves OF
storm troops.
A German barrage behind their own
troops forced their advancins infantry
across No Mans Land in the attack.
Huns Like Beasts.
The Americans say the German
troops were dope crazed and acted
more like wild beasts than human
beings, as they came singing and
yelling in their advance.
In the heavy wrecked villages the
Red Cross, Salvation Army and can
teen workers behind the lines have
stuck" to their posts and are help
ing the wounded and serving coffee
% the exhausted soldiers.
During Saturdays attack many
American troops fought in gas for
eight hours. One officer ordered the
Americans to load up with grenades
and stick. Then he himself took his
rifle and emptied it at the advancing
enemy. Afterwards he Joined his
troops and hurled grenades.
Tore Away Mask.
A dispatch bearer sent from the
front could not see his way through
his gas mask. He ripped it off and
ran through three barrages and de
livered the message. Returning he
fell unconscious. His fisst words
upon recovering We're:
81 am not yellow am ! Doc? | de
Iivered the message. l will so back
now"
Mixed Up.
Saturday in No Mans Land the Ger
mans and Americans were mixed VI
everywhere and the Yankees were try
ing to force the Boches into the oper
declaring I'VE can lick them wher
we get them out of their sewers"
Machine gunners did not know wher
to give up. Setting their guns in the
streets they moved them down the
Germans in great masses.
One officer told in broken voice
finding some machine sunners with
semi-circles of dead Huns around
them.
Flyers Downed.
When German aviators participated
in the fight with their guns against
the American Infantry, machine gun
ners refused to obey the evacuation
orders and stuck to the fight unit
they had downed the German planes.
Sheer bravery enabled the rectifica
ton ofsthe American lines.
When the Germans entered Sci
cheprey it was evidently in the be
but some of them remained scatter
ed through the village and they at
tackled the Germans with hand gren
AIDES, killing many of them. Furious
hand to hand fighting ensued in thu
village streets. the Americans falling
back only when they were greatly
outnumbered
Wires Cause Explosions.
Later the Germans were driven ou
Of the village. hut they had concealed
boxes containing high explosives, tC
which they had attached wires stretch
ed across the streets. Some of the
advance guard stepped on the wires
causing explosions.
German forces which attacked the
American positions Saturday came
across No Mans Land in three waves
They had been especially trained for
this operation
The Americans, although greatly
outnumbered, fought for every inch
of the way, giving ground slowly and
pouring a deadly machine gun, rifle
and automatic fire into the advancing
enemy
Begins Before Sunrise.
The German barrage began just be.
fore sunrise, after a heavy lombard.
ment on the American positions in
the course of'the night. The Germans
used an unusually large number of
gas shells.
A counter barrage by the Ameri,
cans caught the advancing Germans
and killed a number before they
reached the American trenches. The
Germans entered Seicheprey in the
fore noon. but were driven out again
by brilliant counter attack OF the
American infantry.
PIowinu Riqht AIonu,