The Nenana daily news. (Nenana, Alaska) 1918-1921, 1918-06-19
YANKEE GUNNERS
MAKE RECORD IN
INITIAL COMBAT
Largest Guns Ever Used by U. S
Against Land Enemy Fittingly
Christened.

The American heavy artillery as
sisted" said sentence in a French
communique recently. There was
just that mere, simple statement but
the five words marked an epochal
event-the first participation of
American big guns in this war. The
details were not given.
1t is now permissible to tell, for
the first time, how these American
guns assisted in demoralizing the
German defenses at Butte du Mesnil,
enabling the French infantry to in
wade the enemy's lines to a depth
of 1900 yards on a 15OO-yard front,
and then helped in maintaining a
barrage, which prevented a Boche
counter attack until the new posi-
tions were consolidated
The first shots from the American
"heavies" were fired on February
ID, from French made 800 cent?
meter gun, the largest weapon used
by the United States against an enc
my on land. 1t was a sort of invi-
rational proposition. The French
notified the Americans that they
were preparing a surprise party for
Fritz and asked the artillery divi-
sion if it wanted to get in on it.
The artillery service did.
Much Stage Setting First
Firing salvo from a battery of
really big guns doesn't consist mere
ly of pulling the firing string and
sending the projectiles across No
Mans Land. 1t requires a deal of
preparation and stage setting and
nice engineering work and observa-
ton. For, before "heavy" begins
to pound away, it must be known
exactly what mark 1T is shooting at
and exactly where that mark is.
In this instance, the marks were a
few German strong points-a fort,
machine gun nest, a communicate
ing center-one of which had been
spotted by French aviators and were
located with exactitude on a map
which was turned over to the Ameri-
cans.
A week before the attack, group
of artillery officers selected the To-
cation of the battery. They took
tripods and transits and levels and
finally staked out lines for the run
ming of "epis." &c.,. .
"Epi" is brand new word in the
American soldiers vocabulary 1t is
the name for sidetrack which
leaves the main track on a curve
and bears off until it is pointing
directly toward the object to be
fired upon.
Somewhere back of the front is
an American heavy artillery base.
There are stored and groomed, as
sembled and repaired, some of the
big guns of the American army.
Most of them are mounted on spe-
cially made railroad trucks. After
the artillery officers had made their
reconnoiter and staked out the "epis"
a train pulled out from here one
night bearing several hundred husky
artillerymen going, enthusiastically to
their first COB.
Some time later, the train pulled
up to the chosen site and the crew
started to work. They unloaded rails
and ties, laid the sidetracks, and bal
lasted and braced them to support
the shock strain of the "heavies"
in action, which is infinitely greater
for instance than the weight of the
biggest locomotive.
First Barrel Off on Trip.
They did not do it all in one night.
1t was a fortnight job and, as the
German aviators have a habit of
bombing stray cars behind the lines
when they see them, the train and
men were pulled away each morning
before daybreak and stayed during
the day in cut several miles away.
On the morning of February Is
the work was completed and the
guns were brought up and spotted"
on the new tracks. They were
'shored up" during the morning and
at 2 p. M, as the French began