The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-08-10
MODERN WARFARE FINDS YANKEES
COVERING THEMSELVES With GLORY
Dash and Courage in Second Battle of the Marine Add New Luster
to Old Gory-Remakabe Description of the Arts, Devices
and Camoufage Employed in P~resent-Day War
Spectacular Features Are Missing.

democracy and humanity and they were
glad of the chance, impatient for bat.
tie.
Their cheers aud their laughter and
their snatches of songs had a wonder
full effect on the sorrowful refugees,
who forgot their discomforts, losses
and dangers and cheered and threw
kisses to their defenders from over
seas-from beloved America. Said a
French officer at my side:
1.-The spirit and exuberance of your
men are oyerpOwering. Our people
have been fighting four years. Our
men on the Marine have had no time
to sleep or eat. In loaning us these
American troops at this time your com.
manders and your country show they
are heart and soul in this fight. You
have given new life and courage to
the refugees. You have given new life
! to our fighting forces. You are coming
fresh and strong with what do you
call it? Oui, the punch. 1t is wonder
Il 1t is superb. 1t has welded our
people more closely than ever"
SHoW IHelf 1faLiLuQe.
And the French populace showed
their gratitude in divers ways, by the
eloquent ovation to our wounded on
their way to Paris in ambulances, in
speeches and public prints and in
streets and highways wherever an
American uniform showed itself.
With all due respect to the tradition
al ties that bind France and the Unit.
ed States, there had been periods when
the populace wondered and doubted,
-Four months ago when l reached the
theater of war it was not uncommon
as French troops passed Americans,
to hear shouts in French which con-
yeyed the sally that American troops
were all right for training camps, but
had not felt the gait of the front line.
+, Then came the fights in Apermont
Woods and Seicheprey and the carry
ing and holding of the village of Cam
tigny against a series of savage but
futile German counter-attacks, and, the
biggest and most brilliant American
performance of all in stopping the
drive on Paris, which nodded a new
public sentiment and a fervor of en-
thuslasm everywhere apparent. The
Yanks had come and made good. Apre-
mont Woods, S%eicheprey, Cantigny and
the Marine were indexes of greater
American achievements.
The concentration of sufficient Amer
lean forces at this critical pivot was
a big feather in the cap of the Ameri-
can commanders. Thousands of men.
ample supplies and ammunition and
the impedimenta that goes with a mod
ern army We're thrown into the gap and
the German tide was stem1ned.
AS we rode over the dusty hill at
daybreak we saw hundreds of colored
Aoroccans in their red turbans lying
exhausted along the road and under
the trees. We saw French artillery
and infantry leave positions that had
been filled by our men during the
night. And, oh the spectacle of our
fellows going in with their firm chins,
their broad backs and their fearless
eyes-going into hell.
Had to Leave Quickly.
American officers bivouacked in a
schoolhouse and converted the rooms
into offices where maps were unfurled
n strung. The ink was still in the
little wells in the pupils desks and
there We're chalk examples and SEN
fences on the blackboards. We brewed
coffee and breakfasted on war bread
and confiture in a little white cement
house where everything was in place.
/ The owners had to leave quickly, saw
ing only a few family effects. The
quaint family clock was ticking on the
mantel.
Poultry cackled in the yard and two
cows munched under a shelter. Cour-
iers on motorcycles as white as if they
emerged from -four barrels, dashed
back and forth. More artillery ratified
into place and more trucks filled with
American Drawn rumbled over the hill.
There was a brief period of deliber-
alton, and, without sleep or food, our
men attacked, with what success the
world already knows. 1t was worse
than going over the top. 1t was a
case of advancing through wheat fields
and woods in the face Of nests of en-
envy machine guns.
There We're no trenches or dugouts,
German prisoners said that our rifle
| fire was 81 heavy and true they mis-
took it for machine guns.
Massing of machine guns and light
artillery, pending the arrival of the
guns of larger caliber, destroyed any
mass play. Our men took their OBJ
j~ectives in little crouching groups
which extended into skirmish lines
when foliage enabled. But, open as
1t was, the fighting lacked the battle
field spectacle of wars of old n sees
in pictures. Even those engaged saw
little of the encounter.
Sets Example to Five Sons.
AS an example to his five sons, who