Evening star., 1918-04-17

dark twisting, muddy, bruised commun-
ication trench. with bullets singing
| overhead with precisely the note OF
some eerie bird of night. we found the
officer who had been in supreme COM
mand Of the days fighting. am deeply
| sorry that l cannot indicate his lden-
| tity but every newspaperman who
| knows Washington has met him. He Is
a slender. dark-haired. gallant enthus-
| last Once before he 'hopped over.
| this time with the French. and took
German officer with only a riding whip
| in his hands.
what has been the net result of the
days work." l asked.
THE Germans will never again use
stroyed-kaput!'
Says "They Can't Be Whipped"
| He warmed into the professional SOL
! dier's admiration for the work Of the
| foe. The concrete pill boxes were fif-
and were able to resist anything but
| direct hit by big gun. The trenches
| were well laid. 80 they could be filled
i or emptied in the slightest possible
work he had ever seen captured. But
| they had been SO smashed by the CO.
| ordinated work of the American and
| French artillery that there had been
who held on had been stunned and deaf
ing. There was no fight left in them.
You can't say too much Of the work
of our men," said he. Just to give you
sample-one gun crew was In an en-
tirely exposed position all afternoon.
Two of its crew were the only two men
who had survived an accident in train
ing. They were being closely shelled
all afternoon. Yet they sat right there
| and fed that gun like veterans. The
blood that will do that can't be
whipped" ~
This oficer-I regret that I cannot
indicate his position and rank-went
into the fire trench with the men. He
lay there under IRE with them for four
hours. At 2 o'clock. he said. the Ger
mans tumbled to the fact that some-
their counter preparation work. The
lines of exploding shells from the six
inch guns crept back and forward.
searching every inch of the ground
over which the Americans must ad-
vance. It seemed to him that the shells
| exploded at an average distance Of hf-
| teen feet from each other. But the
boys did not weaken.
sHop Over, Boys" Said Casey.
when the fire began" he said,
there was the usual thing In our lines
l-chatting, laughing, kidding each
other. AS the time went on the men
grew cold and still. I passed along
the trench to see how they were doing
and to encourage them II they needed
1t. I found them pale, and haEgard
and wan. but their hearts were right.
One corporal. not more than twenty
years odd, was shaking from head to
foot.
"'cold. son" I asked him.
ct think I've got cold feet, SIR he
replied. His lips turned back in q
smile.
".Nonsense. son. I said to him.
That's Just the sand in your craw you
hear rattling.'
At ten minutes Of o'clock the Ger
man IRE began to slacken q bit At S
o'clock the French were to go over.
They were to start hrst. because they
were on the tanks and had farther
distance to 60. At o'clock Casey
turned to me:
"'Are the French going overr he
asked.
II don't see them.' replied. Al
nve minutes past o'clock Casey
turned to me again:
lis our barrage liftingr he asked.
told him could not see that It was.
'Whatl1 I dor asked Casey.
your orders are to go over 1t the
minute I said.
Hop over. boys said Casey"
But the timing was perfect. Just as
casey's head appeared above the
trench parapet the barrage line lifted
ahead. The men made their way
straight through no mans land and
what had been the German wire and
into the German trench. They were
eighteen minutes getting to the Ger
man line. and they spent twenty-five
minutes inside. bombing dugcuts and
mopping up. Then they came back
in nine minutes The actual operation
had covered just fifty-two minutes.
my foot never stepped on bit OF
earth thatlhad not been churroed." said
the ofi1cer 1 have quoted above. The
artillery preparation was perfect.
When we got into the open there were
eight batteries cross firing on the mar
row sector ahead of Us. Not q boche
dared show his head"
| No Swearing in the Charge.
On the way through no mans land
which the boys say is now American
country-this officer heard soldier be-
hind him swearing angrily. He turned
to reprimand him. 1t was time Tor
| But the sergeant saw HIS oficer's head
turn and raised his hand in depreca-
ton:
IT know what you're going to say.
SIR" said he I'm not a swearing man
generally. Only now I've got to say
damn our artillery!
'What's the natter" asked the ON
Ger. The sergeant pointed toward q
hole in the ground. forty feet long by
"See what our artillery has done.
said the sergeant. cursing again That
was to have been MY pill box"
Two brothers from Iowa. q sergeant
and q corporal. were engaged in repair
ing the telephone wire during this
night. Tho wire was constantly being
cut and the corporal brother reproved
the sergeant brother for being slow.
His comments were vivid.
Consider yourself under arrest" said
the sergeant brother:
''whatT shrieksd the corporal broth
or. Under arrest while fights 60
ing on Tn damned II do"
We were too late for the fight in the
other sector. It was all over when we
got there. in spite Of . night ride At
the top speed Of our powerful motor
over roads that had been torn and
| ground By shells and run carriages. Al