The sun., 1919-03-02
REST ON the WAY to the FRONT
@ ~ con1M/T7EE SVsL/c INFORMATION.

lHey neSltdttu, tuty udlleu, lTey
withdrew a space. Then they came
on again. They were brave men;
We must grant them that. Three
times they tried to reform and break
through that barrage; but they had
to stop at last. The United States
Marines had stopped them. Thus re-
pulsed with heavy LOSSES they retired,
but our fire was relentless; 1t followed
them to their death. They broke
and ran for cover, though their first
line hung on till dark, north Of Cham
pillon.
Then, mercilessly, methodically, we
shelled the woods where they had
taken refuge. A French aviator who
sailed overhead saw one entire bat
talon annihilated there, and signalled
back 'Bravo!" to our gunners.
Blood CurdlinG Slaughter.
1t was terrible slaughter; the mere
thought OF such wholesale killing Is
enough to curdle Christian blood. But
We had whipped the Hun. We had
turned that part Of his advance into a
rout. We had tasted his blood and We
had not forgotten the blood Of our own
who had been slain. We had won our
first fight there where fighting meant
so much. and II would not have been
human to refrain from cheering when
it was over. And the men who had
done It, that battalion of the Fifth
Marines, were the ones who had
walked all the way 10 Belleau Wood
two days before, when their camions
broke down.
Here is the story of that encounter
rs told by one of our marines in a let
ter home:
The Boches were coming with
seven league boots when Gen. Harbord
, threw line of Americans across the
front and ordered lis to hold.
Get the devils!' yelled Capt. Blanch-
field (now dead).
"A minute later the Boches tore out
of the woods, a machine gun to every
ten of them. A rain OF good American
lead from good American rifiemen met
, them. We saw them stop. Surprised?
Why, they never dreamed of anything
like it. We kept pounding and they
turned and raced back for the wood.
The German drive got its first shock.
I'VE lay in the open, digging in with
bayonets and firing while the Boche
was frantically passing back word that
a cog in the wheel had slipped. They
still never dreamed OF Americans, we
later learned from prisoners"
This is the way one of our machine
gunners, a Toledo boy. described his
part In the action:
II got your Dutchmen for you with a
machine gun, lots of EN-, not over 800
yards away, and one with a pistol for
good luck. He bayoneted my bunkie
and he won't do It again. He 8 a good
Fritz now. They couldn't kill me, but
II was almost as bad. I've still got
both my hands and legs. but my head
is all to the bad even yet.
up to this time we had been under
some pretty severe barrages, but this
| time we must have got under
Fritz's skin because 1t started to rain
| shells OF every calibre from one
Founders to the big sea bags or nine
inch howitzers.
ut lasted just an even hour and
then Fritz came at us with blood in
his eye. I estimated them at about
| 500 and they were in fairly compact
close. oh, very close. In fact we let
them think they wero going to have a
lead pipe cinch.
"Oh, 1t was too easy: just like q
bunch Of cattle Ss"'ing to slaughter.
II always thought 1t was rather a
/ fearful thing to take human life, but
| l felt a savage thrill OF joy and
could hardly wait for the Germans to
get close enough. And they came, ar
rogant, confident in their power, to
within 800 yards.
Cautiously the infantry, which had
been steady up to this time, paused as
though waiting for US OF the devil s
snare drums to take up the great
work. And we did, Rat-tat-tat-tat
| full into them, and low down, oh. But
It was good TO Jam down on the trig
GER to feel her kick 10 look out ahead
hand on the controlling wheel. and see
the Ieinies fall like wheat under the
mower. They were brave enough. but
they didn't stand a chance. The poor
devils didn't know they were facing tho
Neutrality-suspicious..
| Paid for Hours of Drill.
THAT hour paid In full all the weary
hours of drill and hike, all the nerve
racking minutes passed under Fritz'i
barrage, and avenged the staring eyes
and mangled bodies OF our dead bud.
dies. There weren't many OF them got
back to tell the tale OF the Americans
'cowardice.'
1T was on the afternoon of this
dav that got mine I had halDed