The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1918-11-22

American boys. who jOurneyed 1t those
July days when they started forward
In the face of murderous machine gun
fire to smoke the BOches out Of the
stronghold that assured their footing
In Chateau-Thierry.
l climbed over graves and shell
holes, through underbrush and past
Isolated bits Of barbed wire entan-
clements into the heart Of the woods,
where the Boches had their dugouts.
And ut every step of the way, diff
cult to traverse even now when II has
been trampled over and cleared out
since the battle, wondered at the
courage Of the boys who had faced
hidden machine guns and unknown
horrors lurking In the shadows. A
human jawbone lay at the doorway Of
= hunting lodge which had been des-
perately contested for and from the
underbrush near by protruded the boots
Of an unburied Hun.
A group Of dugouts off to the right
was well concealed by rocks and UNI
derbrush and peered down into sew
ernl Of them. The openings were
just big enough to permit man to
wrtggle through on his stomach and
inside was little straw and perhaps
a battered helmet or rOtting gus
mask. A good hole for dog. If the
dog wasn't partlcular-but the con-
Quoting officer with me assured me
that dugout Of that size was used
to accommodate Ave men during a
bombardment or barrage. When the
barrage was lifted the men would
come out and 80 to work again with
their machine guns.
We saw lots of dugouts, however,
from which the Germans never
emerged. The opening had been filled
,, up with earth from exploding shells
and the sanitary troops that came
through after the battle were spared
the trouble Of burying those men,
Many of the shell holes had sIckly
| greenlsh hue. the mark of gas which
poisons even the earth. and around
others were mounds of empty car.
tridges showing they had been used as
semiprotectien for machine gunners.
Wrote Themselves Into Fame.
When the Germans entered Chateau,
Thterry In June. they reached the apeS
of triangle, the other ends of which
were ut Scissors and Reims. The,
held the city for % days and were Sc
strongly intrenched that the French
and American troops who retook the
city did 1t by outtlanking movements
instead of a direct drive which would
have cost many times as many lives.
The marines of the American divi
sions which turned the scale of RI,
fighting, wrote themselves into fam,
by taking Belleau woods. The othe,
troops OF the divisions. eager for ,
similar chance of distinguished serv
lee, We're allowed To take Vnnx. di
rectly To the west of Chateau-Thierry
which became the pivot point for tn,
scissors that squeezed the Huns from
the city. American artillery battere,
the village to bits and then the infan
trymen. armed with maps which hat
been drawn by I'm old stone mason q
the village, marched In aud corralle,
the Germans who had taken refuge |,
the cellars.
The mason knew just where the col
lars of the village were located he
cause he had built them. so thar IN
cleanup after the artillery prepa
ration was quickly done. And the m
tie town Is now rebuilding with coma
rapidlty II Hes on the main roa,
from La Fere To Chateau. Thierry 3
the people are drifting back. and n
we passed through l saw carn.nt.r
and plasterers at work maklnrthnnse
habitable. A group of red-fezy,,, NJ,
roccan soldiers were clearing ,,t
courtyard. and further down the r,.,
were Italians repairing shell holes
Another turn and we vera j., =.
city itself, crossing the substitute .,
the famous stone bridge over IN
Marine that the French were ten v.ar
In the building. but which the Ansr
cans blew up In ten minutes :, NJ,
. der the German advance last I,n.
We climbed on up TO hilton fro,