Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-07-08
BOCHE PUSHED
BACK FARTHER
FROM HAMEL

Az rance U
July '-(by the Associated Press,
No further attempt by the Germ...
to retake the ground wrested ,,.
them Thursday by the combi,,,
Australian American attack !.
been reported today. Not satiss., 1
with the positions acquired from ~
enemy in the initial attack. the AM.
tralians on Friday night av.i.
drove forward just south of ~
Wood and damned the Boche no.,
some four hundred yards ma.
along front of 2ooo yards n.
operation was entirely SUGGEST
and has made the new line mn
stronger. Last night the CORR.
pendent on the ground among n.
troops of one star company of AN
orleans who played promins,.
part in Thursdays great show From
men and officers he heard details :.
this first great fight of the Yanks,.
on the British front. Some fao..
have been told before. but the stor
related by one of the officers "a, 1
tanned many new features conccr-
ing the activity of our BOYS.
He told il in simple MANN.
without frilis and without boast;r,
and here is what he said ~
Americans Went into the line 2f,,
u hard march. TIE Fritzles ,ndanA,
edly had no inkli,g that the att,c,
was 10 We made. At midnight 4.
"Wednesday W" were sent forward
re out. ready for al ad"ance at 81
O'Clock THURSDAY morning.
Many Of cur boys were tired whe,
they reached the positions and a.
spite the fact that hey Were ius
embarking TN the biggest cdrentrr,
of their i:Ves--.n leap into the u-.
knoN5-thcy' threw themselves o,
the ground and sept soundiy =.
was an encouraging sign 70 lis, fr
It meant that the men were NJ.
jumpy. They never did show any
sign of nerves. as = matte. Ct fact
"A few minutes before he ha,.
rage was due the allied nrt,l!e-y
opened with n HARVESTING fire, ari
we Anne rican officers were out anon.
our men hot foot To keep ,her
steady. fearing they night mistake
this for The barragp.
Then came tie barra@e, ana We
never dreamed thcie could u. such
guntirc. 1t was tremendous. Tds
gunncrs certainly did a wonderful
job.
20 1fy~x- ,-t., i, 4
My men Wcr" headed for Hama
Village AND our first trouble was u.
countered III a broad belt Of barbel
wire in front Of the Boche forward
lire Of defenses The tanks had
opened the way through most Of
this, tut in spots some If our men
were held up for little.
Il saw = funny thing here. One q
my corpora!s, who had been a guard
officer in a penitentiary, and who has
a reputation for being hard Gus
toner in a fight. got hung mp in tn
wire. He had no cutters and SO sa
Gown on the ground and started pull
ing the stuff out of his legs.
"A BoChe got machine gun or
him and was making things hot. wi
the corporal kept on pulling the wire
meantime roaring curses at the Hun.
= Frame IA trick like this on a
white man will you? Let me out Of
here and I'll show YOU.
These were some things hea-i
him yell. with lot less compliment.
airy. He finally got out, but his am.
form looked as though he had been
run through threshinG machine
What he did TO the Boch after tina,
was plenty.
About this time German shell
exploded nearby and two of my men
went hurting through the air
thought sure the poor fellows were
Of them call over to his pal: Hey
John. are you dead"
From down among the churned.
up ground nearby came the response:
No. Are you" -
We got through the harbed wire
very well and reached the Boche front
line trenches. They were thinly held
and we cleared that out with bombs and
rifle on the jump. We hardly stopped
at all, but passed over toward the vii
lage
''You understand that when ] sneak
of we l am talking and the Austria.
lans are only helping IN the show
The support trenches. which hal
dugouts. were more strongly held but
we cut out way through without much
difficulty. A lot of Huns were being
killed or captured by this time From
the direction Of Hamel the German ma
chine guns and rifles were working hard
and there was plenty OF stuff coming
our way.
When we reached Hamel we found
lot OF dugouts filed with Boches and
their snipers up trees with machine
guns. We cleaned them all out sys.
tema tically.'