The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-05-08
This day was designated for

This day was OeSlSnateu lor
storming attack and we were Obliged
to be in our positions at seven O'CLOCK
In the morning. Promptly at 8 30 reSl-
ment No. 81 was ordered to attack.
Pioneers led the way. They were sup
piled with hand grenades. These week
~ attacks We're opened half an hour
before the infantry went over by
storm of artillery fire. The artillery
action required very careful calcula-
ton because the distance which Sepa-
rated our position from the enemy's
was very slight. 1t varied from three
to one hundred meters; never any
more. At the point where we attacked
the distance was 20 meters.
Promptly ut eight o'clock the artll-
lery started The first three shells
struck ditch, but the following ones
hit fairly, that Is, right in the trench
trenches. Once the artillery had the
proper range whole salvOs of batteries
descended upon them with admirable
cNnctuess. The cries of the wounded
were heard once more, sign that
many had been hit.
An artillery officer acted as observer
in the foremost sense and directed the
fire by phone. Promptly at s 80 O'Clock
the artillery fires stopped and we at
tackled. The eleventh company OF the
Sixty-seventh regiment, of which
spoke before came under the hre OF
the enemy's machine guns and Is OF It's
men were killed after they had only
proceeded a few steps outside the
trench.
Dead and wounded men lay among
the branches and the trees everywhere
on the ground. Every man who was
able to run sped forward to reach the
enemy trench as quickly as possible.
part of the enemy defended itself des-
perately in a trench filled with water
and mud. A terrible hand-tO-hand tight
resulted. We stood in water up to our
knees.
Men, severely wounded, lay in the
mud, holding their mouths and noses
above the water. During the fighting
they were trampled more deeply into
| the dirt under our feet for we could
not see where we were going; we could
only "rOll up" the entire trench.
The section won was fortified with
all possible haste. Once more we had
acquired ut a heavy cost in human life
few meters Of the Argonne forest.
This trench, which we took, had
changed hands many times and even
now we were preparing for the usual
counter-attacks.
Presently the "jackasses" went into
action. The "jackasses" are the guns
Of the French mountain artillery. They
were so named because they were
drawn by mules. They are guns Of fiat
trajectory. kept from so to 100 meters
behind the enemy lines. The shells
from these cannon few directly over
our heads and cut their way through
the branches at a high rate Of speed.
Because Of the high velocity Of the
shell and the short distance It travels
! the defamation when the shot Is fired
and the noise Of the explosion. sound
| almost at the same instant. These
"jackasses'' are greatly feared by the
| German soldiers because they are kept
working day and night.
1t was winter and very cold. The
| trenches had been filled with water
and were now nothing except deep
bitches of mud. Under these condi-
/ tons, through the ice-cold nights, our
routine consisted of 4S hours duty
! and l. hours rest. Every week storm
| ing attack was made. the success of
| which was entirely out of proportion
! to the enormous losses. In all OF the
! four months l was in the Arsonne for
! estS we gained 400 meters. The fol-
/ lowing data will indicate how heavy Il
! price was paid in lives for this little
/ piece of France.
Each regiment had its own ceme-
| terv. There was the One Hundred and
Forthwith infantry regulars, the Sixty
seventh, and One Hundred and Seven
ty-third Infantry regulars and the
One Hundred and Fifth Hirsch-
berg battalion. On the day we were re.
lieved from duty in the ArgOnne for
ests there were more dead In these
cemeteries than there were survivors
Of the several regiments. The Sixty
seventh regiment had more than 2OW
dead. All the victims were members
of that unit except a few pioneers
who had been assigned to duty will
It. There was never a day without
some loss Of life, and on the days wher
the storming attacks were made, deatf
had an extremely large harvest.