Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-06-04
THE TAKING OF CANTIGNY
Detailed Account OF Fine American
Offensive.
WHERE GERMANS LEARNED SOMETHING
Pershins's Men Fall Upon AssaiIants
With Knives and Bayonets, Driving
Them Back in Fierce Hand to Hand
Work-Gas Attack Costs Foe Heavy

A
Them Back in Fierce Hand to Hand
Work-Gas Attack Costs Foe Heavy
Loss.
With American Forces on the French
Front. May :a-CRl the Associated
| ~. -. - rhrc, counter ATTACKS made
| 10y Tia, Germans 10 rctakc the terrain
which they had lost in Picardy on
Monday completely broke down in the
face OF American artillery hrr and
] the hcroism OF our intantrymen. All
| the ground won by the Americans on
Monday remains in their possession.
and they ate holding the lines strong
| ly.
y heavy German gas attack in the
Lunr,illr sector early this morning
was rrpuls,.. with comparatively
heavy losses.
Caught by Our Fire.
The Germans delivered their first
counter thrust al tantigny late Yes
irr,Eay IN IN effort Ia regain the de-
rrnSr' which had been wrcStcd from
them in the morning along u two kiln-
meter front The drive was preceded
10y heavy homharimcnt which be-
gan At ) o'clock in the afternoon. AZ
ter thirty minutes of artillery pr"ra-
ration. the Germans advanced. hut
were caught in an intense fire from
IN" American guns ana were appaI-
entity forced 10 retire without having
come into close contact with thu
American infantry.
Sine" then the enemy has made al
iitional attempts Ia drive the \m"ri-
cans from TN" village. hut without
avail.
The old German lines formed an
angle which has now been straightrn-
"d out. The Americans have OBJ
tancG high ground commanding n
section oi plat"au-likc country. This
line now runs $50 TO 200 yards east oi
rantiany. The nearest German trench
is several hundred yards east OF
where the Americans have dug in.
Penetrated Nearly a Mile.
The Americans. penetrated the Ger
man positions To Il depth of nearly n
milr. Their artillery completely
smothcrcd the Germans. Several fires
hunir" behind the German lines.
Twelve French tanks supported In"
American infantry. American aerial
observers assisted the French in di-
rrcting the artillery fire
The artillery preparation began at
SIS o'clock. one hour before the in
fantry went over the top. The lines
OF Americans moved forward In per-
feet order. the tanks I'm the lead. The
American artillery did magnificent
work.
The blow wns struck In O mist. The
.~JAent|S did not
have much to do. as the American
artillery already had prepared the
| way. \ bright sun came out and
| shol' on the Americans as they dug
in Their new positions.
F'irrc" hand hand fighting oc-
CURED nsid" Cantigny. which con-
tanned many machine gun rmplacc-
m"nts. Il large tnnacl and number
of caves Th" tunnel sheltered n
hundred Germans. The Americans
hurled hand gr"nadrs like hascballs
into thcS, shelters.
\ strong unit Of fame throwcrs
and engineers aided the Americans
All the tanks returned safely. At
S.25 o'clock the Germans began n
bornhardm"nt. dropping two shells n
minute most OF them falling IN n ra-
vine south OF Cantigny. Compared
with this the American guns fired
six. four or two shots Il minute The
American baI1a%c moved forward
on" hundred yards in two minutes
and then on" hundreds yards in four
minutes. The infantry followed with
clcck-likc precision.
An officer told the correspondent
that the Americans went forward
smilirgly. hut that at IN" same time
their faces reflected tho traditional
American grit ani determination.
.\S th" Americans started Oui across
No Mans Land there were many
jokes about eating I,ochc for break
fast" The Americans fought like old
timers and they were of the second
Tn" officers sprang forward and shout
ed: Come on boys"
Their Confidence Impressive.
Several officers. describing the scene
agreed that the outstanding feature
In their minds was the wonderful
morale OF the men and their absolute
comiih"nc" in th' h'msclvrs. The Ger
mans poured machine gun bullets all
around the Americans az they were
diGGIL: in. but no attention was paid
to them, as jokes and quibs were
handed back and forth.
Th" dcIn"anor Of the man wounded
in the action was found similarly
cheerful whcE the correspondent vis-
For the most part they were only
wounded. and they acted like
scEOolboys returned from great day
Of sport. smoking cigarettes. eagerly
relating their personal experiences and
loudly at u" humorous Incl
dents.
Lieut.. George VI. Butler. formerly
an attorney In Indianap polls. who was
wounded in the leg. said that
going over the top was like
in the training camp back
home. The men were eager for IL,
no said. and some OF them remained
up in the trenches all night talking
about the approaching adventure
with cheerful anticipation.
when we reached Cantigny," he
added. ''it was only pile of brick and
stone. Our artillery had leveled the
own. The German machine gun bull
cts were buzzing about like humble
,ces. but our fellows didn't pay any
more attention to them than II they
,ad been confetti. II was the finest ex
lmple Of team work ever saw. There
vas not n hitch anywhere. The men
tracked Jokes and sang hut tney wero