The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-05-09
THRILLING STORY
OF HAIG RETREAT
Illinois Officer Re'ates Experience
of Hun Attack on the
British.
TEN DIVISIONS AGAINST ONE
Despite Overwhelming Number Of En-
envy, His Losses Were Great
Miraculous Escape From Zap.
tism of Shell Fire.

r
First Lieutenant Roswell T. Petit.
M. OR. c., of Ottawa, H., IN E letter
to his father,~Dr. J.. w. Petit of the
Ottawa tuberculosis colony, and pub
ished in the Chicago Tribune, relates
the thrilling story Of the great battle
In Picardy. Tho American officer was
In the thickest OF the fighting for nine
days, during the retreat Of the British
Fifth army from before st. Quentin.
Lieutenant Pettit's account of the bat
tie thrills with the stress of the con-
fiict. as II was written Immediately
after he had passed through the ire
mendous experiences and before his
impressions had been in any way dulIed
by time. His letter follows:
Lieutenant Pettit's Letter.
March 80.
Dear Father: Now that the show is
" for me for the time being, and !
have time TO breathe and sleep and eat
and write, I'll try and tell you about
the battle. Before you receive this
you will have had the whole story from
the papers, but | know you will be
Interested in knowing what / did In the
affair.
OF course, the things ] saw were but
an infnitesimal part OF a gigantic
whole and it would be impossible for
me to give n correct description of the
battle. And rs | write this, I do 1t
with no knowledge whatever Of what
has been going on even a few miles
from me.
have not seen a paper in eight days;
/ have received no mail. and the only
information we have received has been
by word of mouth, aud most Of what
we hear must be wild rumors. For ex-
ample: The French have advanced
20 miles at Verdun, the Ameri-
cans have taken Ostend, and are on
their way to Zeebrugge, and a great
naval battle has been fought in the
North sea.
All | know is that on this part of the
front the Germans attacked us in over
whelming numbers, in places ten divi-
sions TO our one; that they suffered
terrible losses, but finally broke
through our lines of defense, one after
another, and fighting for the most part,
a rear guard action, we have retired
about Is miles In a straight line.
For a week before the battle started
we had been expecting 1t; we were
ready to move on 80 minutes no
tice. l had been out with combatant
as well as medical officers or tours of
evacuation Of the wounded had been
worked out, and our plans OF counter
attack been made. After four or five
DAYS of waiting, the storm finally
broke.
h e.Boche opened up on us at 5 a. NJ,
~Marcfi 81, with the heaviest barTage I
have ever heard. "Stand to-" was
sounded, we turned cut dressed, and
had al! cur equipment hacked III 80
minutes. Then we sat down and
waited for orders TO move. The bar
| rage. kept up continuously, sometimes
heavier and then Of less intensity,
sometimes tseemed to be to the north
Of us and then suddenly II switched to
the south.
Our balloons were up as Don rs II
was light and the airplanes were buzz
zing over our heads. The ground mist
| gradually cleared and the Germans
put a hail of shrapnel on our camp
and w all took cover, but three men
were hit. Why 1t Is a fellow always
feels safer with a roof over his head,
even Ii he knows bullets and shrapnel
and pieces Of shell will go through
boards and corrugated iron just like
paper.
Ordered to Move,
Our orders TO move finally came and
we marched off to the brigade assem-
bly, point several miles away. This as
sernbly point was In a little bunch of
trees about the size of Allen park and
behind and separated from a larger
wood in front. In the larger wood
there was q battery Of heavy artillery
and shells were dropping in there two
or three TO a minute. and 1t was heavy
stun, TOO.
sometimes tney overSnOt the Dig
wood and shells were landing In the
open around the little wood where my
brigade had its assembly point. AS
we approached our little copse we
could maze oil this out from some dis
lance away and It wasn't a pleasant
sensation to feel that We were march
Ing straight into II.
All the battalions arrived and In that
little copse there must haye been at
least two thousand men, What d
chance III the Germans only knewi But
the shells Continued to drop In front OF
us and on either side, but none landed
among us. and after waiting There for
three hours, expecting to be blown to
bits any second. we anally moved for
ward. Just as we left the topse. from
behind US, up over d ridge. came i
stream of galloplng horses.
It's the cnvalry,s sessaone shouted.
but b I mndc out lImbers and fcId
They koijVpod past uS. KNtnE Iike
mid. took up A rosIfion Il air rleo<.