Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-17
AMERICANS DEEDS
READ LIKE FICTION
Three Spend Night Exploring
Enemy Trenches-Hun
Patrol Held Up.

BY JUNIUS b. WOOD.
Cablcgram to The Sunday Star and
Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1918.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE, March 15.--America ought to
be thrilled with the individual bravery
and GOODNESS shown by many of the
men holding the sector northwest of
Toul these days. One story of an Off
Ger and two men who actually spent
the greater part of one night in explor-
ing the German trenches reads like a
tale of fiction. Another story related
how seven men, each acting on his own
initiative. stampeded a German patrol.
Though this has already been men
toned in the press dispatches. the de-
, tails of the exploit have just become
known. AS all are named in an official
report recommending the first awards
of the new distinguished service cross,
it is possible to use the names.
Orders issued by the lieutenant colo
mel commanding the battalion to patrol
the enemy wires and trenches were in
terpreted by Lieut.. George S. Shepard,
from northeastern MaSSa chuSetts;
Corp. Arvez Forsberg and Private Will
liam Farmer to mean that they were to
investigate thoroughly the trenches in
front of them. Going over the top
about 10 o'clock at night, while the
moon was hidden by 4 cloud, they
made their way across no mans land.
crawled through the barbed wire and
Wriggied themselves into the German
first-line trenches. These were muddy
and evidently unused except for out
post work.
Reach Second-Line Trenches.
Climbing out and carefully era wiling
about twenty yards further in the di-
rectlon of the enemy, they finally drop
ped into the second-line trenches. These
were carefully paved with boards, hav-
ing two-foot drainage ditch beneath.
Silently they made their way over the
slippery boards along an apparently
much used trench. Lights were shin
ing through the cracks in the doors of
the dugoutS and the sound of voices
within could be heard. The men stop
ped and listened, the Germans little
dreaming that American ears were so
close.
Tiptoeing past the dugouts, they came
10 twenty-foot camoufage passage
way. the existence of which had not
been suspected. There were two armed
Germans on duty watching this pas
cided what to do. they heard the at ara nnoe Of
approaching feet. They fiattened them
selves Tito a niche and saw a relief
OF twenty men file past within touch
ing distance They then lodged down
q communication boyaus and reached
third line. where the dugouts were
TOO numerous for any accommodating.
They returned and continued their ,ex-
ploration of the second line The
clouds breaking and the moon becom-
ing brighter. they crawled but through
the wire. Later they returned and
again penetrated the trenches at sec
ond point. Dawn was showing in the
They emerged between a machine gun
station and an advanced listening post
IN which was Some one with an auto
matte rife. The occupants of these
places were engaged in sniping.
Hid in a Shell Crater.
Here the patrol party had to drop
into a shell crater where they were
overtaken by broad daylight. The
chances of being sighted and killed
were becoming hungry. When his
wrist Watcn showed 1890 am. the
lieut. nant decided TO take a chance
Cautiously the three crept out of their
respective hiding place.; and started
across no mans land. This. al that
point. was 300 yards wide and in plain
sight of any of the Germans awake in
the trenches n few yards away. The
unable to believe their eyes, as the
three had been given up for lost for
some hours before. It was feared that
the Germans were sending over some
desperate raiders dressed in American
uniforms. The lieutenant's only COM
plant was that an overZealous orderly
had packed up his belongings prepara-
tory 10 sending them home.
Another Good Story.
A three-man patrol was out when
Private Henry Lindstrom, a Pacific
coast National Army man. saw men
drop into the American trenches thirty
feet away at AIS in the morning. He
coolly waited until the appearance of
fourth man proved that it was not
the American patrol. Ducking into the
sentry post, he whispered to his COM
panion, Charlie Saviano. to keep a
lookout in front and then he turned
and began firing his rife at the in
vaders. who now numbered fifteen. At
the same time Private Christopher c,
Plummer. who wars in point to the
left and who could have run away had
he chosen to do so, turned his auto
matte rifle loose on other silent raid
coming through our wire.
Previous to this. Patrol Sergt Charles
Golden, Private George Laurent and
Private Frank Siovaceck had discoy-
cred a party Of forty or fifty men wait
ing outside the American wire and
talking among themselves in English
French and German.
We'll shoot them up said the ser
geant
NO. they are talking English and
must be our men," cautioned one Of
the privates.
Germans Scampered AWAY.
The shots in the trenches settled tho
argument and the trio emptied their
reyolvers as the invaders leaped ont
Somebody sent UP a flare light and
the entire party Of raiders scattered
like sheep at once. fleeing in the di
rection of the German lines with the
three men. armed with reviewers. pur
suing them.
one dead German sergeant was left
in the trenches together with six
rifles, indicating that that number of
men had been wounded. There we're
also two trench-$caling ladders two
poles strung with torpedoes for blow
ing up dugouts. four wire-cutters and
two stretchers. There was a tail of
Wooden-ha ndied "potato-masher" gren-
AIDES and blood across no mans land.
There was pathetic touch which
will be long remembered by the Ameri-
cans who heard German soldier crv-
ing boylike in the darkness of no mans
land and bewailing the day he was
forced to leave his mother and sisters
to fight. He was finally silenced nv
his comrades and carried away. All
the six men named in the reports have
been recommended for promotion for
having shown how alert and deter
mined individuals are able to stop
bal lining