Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-11-10
DEATH DIDN'T HALT
NEW YORK DIVISION
Hot German Bombardment Pre-
cedes Attack by Amer
lean Soldiers.
SHELLS LIKE SUBWAY TRAIN
Germans Successfully Employ
Torpedoes to Destroy Brit
ish Tanks.
ny ROBERT wELLEs RIrcu,E.

PARIS. November 9.-His name nm
fortunately [ cannot reveal because to
we'll as insure future trouble for the
fine chap :! wish to write about. He
Is New Yorker born and bred: one
OF those men like AL Smith, who once
rustied papers and ran errands down
IN the old Irish quarters beneath the
shadow of BROOKLYN Bridge pushed
nnaiIy went to the Legislature for
, nnt y, nov W., known ,' as Abe Gruber's. Yet
OF mine do so big thing as that when
am going to tell you about.
l met him the other day in front of
ing XII on his back, with the tin hat"
dangling from strap behind it and
a AZ look Of great WEAKNESS in his eyes.
and he talked simply, easilyNlike q
man who had SO heavy a burden of
facts on his mind that he welcomed an
plete notes L tooksduring the conyer
sation Will assist, will set down the
he told it: 80
II hoped I'd see q newspaper man,
because l once worked in the news
paper siness-distribut.ng, you Know
and L know good story when 1 see
one. 1 have a good story | lust blew
IN TINS morning from LIE Catelet up
yonaer. where tne boys OF the In Dr.
vision, all New FORK volunteers, have
peen waning through hot hell tor nve
days and are still LONG strong. wns
aetached from Headquarters Company
school or else I'd still be in it.
n, vi our course iTs.y you can't give the name
Known ul ali div oyea t Or q! I'm Gsersl
the hghtingest wildcat ever at the
mead OF the National Guaru. But you
I,i, say were made up OF regiments
that We know all about Spartansburg;
say that much and trust to the folks
PACK home to do a little correct guess
ing. a weary ghost of smile int
tered over the drawn features OF the
Man from LIE Catelet and INSTANTLY
sped as If driven away by the over
purdentng weight OF recollcctions
crowded behind his tired eyes. He
continued:
, Il want you 70 get this story homo
because Ii Is the hrst time our pG.'-
got into action right-went in AS SHOCK
troops over the pick of the Australians
ana and, the scots. who are credited with
Went over the top. The folks back
home have every reason to be proud
OF the way the New Workers got away
With 1t AT lie Catelet.
Being just IL private soldier I'm
not supposed to know all about the
tactics and strategy of the battle nc
ner tor Headquarters Company. carry
ing dispatches and orders when the
ned teiepnone wires were put ou, OF
business. and so saw good deal
more Of the show than the 10Y wigi
the rifle. He doesn't know where he's
s 5,' or why poor sucker; and some.
him.
, We had been fighting with the Eng
lish up In FLANDERS and knew Il little
aoout the business Of going up against
the ave-yesroid Kid whose he were mam iks
takes him to school the first day when
II came to the real close work such as
Our division was moved up from, the
rear over night to take front line
position opposite the canal which tho
lore LIE Catelet. and we We're told We
were to, lead the attack in the morn
Ing, with the Australians backing us
through us after we had delivered the
first wallop.
HOT GERMAN COMMANDMENTS;
ATTACK FOLLOWS
The boys were pretty keen for it,
in darkness as black as the inside of
brooklyn Bridge vault. they joked
and passed cracks back and forth. Then
thing happened: The Heinirs had neen
tipped OF or did some mighty correct
guess guessing, From 8 o'clock until $40,
over everything they had in the line
OF heavy hardware. 1t went mighty
rough with some of the regiments.
AT o'clock the British army benind
l.
ment which was bear. The noise OF
taose sn.tis going over rs WAS iEsf
IKE subway EXPRESS going around
an hour later they laid off their bonn
bardment Of position and laid down a
0arrage loo yards ahead Of us. That
and brush where we'd been trying 10
hold on under the German fire ana
went beng up against what heard an
Australian staff officer later say was
Of III
guns he'd seen In three years OF fight
ing. The barragt overshot most of the
machine ma, hn guns; which were concealed in
the brush and along the banks of tho
canal. and that's one of the reasons we
got it so hard.
MACHINE GUNS
LIKE FREELY CONVENTION
Listen: Dark Just turning into gray.
signboards around vacant lot, and
over yonder where we were going
steady al, line Of little ashes, Like fire.
getting together in = convention. These
were the machine guns. and the bull
lets making kissing Sound when they
cut through the grass at the feet OF
the boys--for the Germans always fire
low and count on the ricochet togland.
a bullet that's fattenad makes u,
Well. sir, you tell the folks back
right up against those machine guns
most every instance-at least until the
light came and they could pick their
way to flank the nests.
Another thing happened we weren't
counting on. whole flock OF British
tanks went with the Scots and our
bows. but the Heinies tried new trick
which worked All through the lines
OF their wire they'd planted heavy
torpedoes which would go off when a
heavy weight hit them or struck q
projecting trigger. One after another
those tanks just blew UP and bursted.
was told only very few got
through.
when tho Australians began to
telescope through our shock lines the
between the front lines and the re-
serve so the command in the rear
couldn't see what was happening In
front. Also the field telephone wires
were Put out of business There's
Where the headquarters runners came
In. CARRYING messages between thu