The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1919-04-25

remain there until there until the aft
ernoon of the Sth when we left for
| Troyon Ee
| BY this time the strenuous work and
constant exposure to bad weather OF
the previous months, had 80 cut down
our already equipment of horses
that we did not have sufficient num-
Der to move the wheel material.
However, trucks were procured and
three of the guns with their calssons
ton. The remainder of the battery
with the equipment left behind pro-
ceeded to Vadlincourt, where we camp
ed for the night proceeding the fol-
lowing day to Woimbey. From there
we went to our new position in the ra-
vine Desquaenottes, about 600 me-
tiers east of the village of Les Espar-
ges. We relieved Battery F, 1O2 Ar
tillery in this position on the night OF
October 10th. The next day the re-
mainder of the battery moved into the
wood about "A kilimeters west of st.
Remy, on the ST. Remy-Vaux road,
and established the Echelon.
At the time we took this position
/ this was a very quiet sector, but later
1t developed into very live one; and
at the time of the signing of the arm
istice was scheduled to be the scene
of what would have been, no doubt,
one of the worst battles of the entire
war.
Our quarters at this time were in
dng-outs in what had been, before the
advance, the French front line system
of trenches. Here we had our first
and only experience of living for any
length Of time in the same manner as
did practically the entire armies of
both sides. During the greater part
Of the war. This was what might be
called position warfare, our mission
being purely of a defensive nature. VI
During our occupation of this posi-
ton we supported two very impor-
tant raids, made by the infantry on i'm
| portant points OF the enemy lines,
both OF which proved to be successful.
The last one of these was on the town
/
| OF Marcheville, which was at that
time held by three battalions of the
enemy. The work of the artillery and
infantry combined was so effective
that the entire three battalions were
either killed or captured, and the town
taken possession of. The information
as to the strength of the garrison and
the effectiveness of the attack, was
given by German officer, who was
one of the SO prisoners captured.
One particular incident which goes
to show the superior quality this bat
terry was always striving to do; was
when, on one occasion, the signal for
our normal offensive barrage was Civ.
en- and the barrage fired, when all the
other batteries and regimental and
battalion lookouts failed to catch the
signal. This was at first thought to
be an error on the part of our rocket
lookout, but on investigation the com.
handing officer of the infantry, who
sent up the signal, stated that the bar
rage had been called for and that it |
was one OF the best pieces of work |
that he had ever seen. The first shell
was fired within ten seconds after the |
signal was sent up.
On the night of Nov. 18th, the battery
was subjected to its first real bonn.
bardment. The battery period and vi.
cinity were. heavily shelled at irregu-
lar intervals during practically the en-.
tire night. Although considerable
damage was done to the material and
some OF the men had very narrow es.
capes from being hit, no one was hurt
The manner in which the men coduct-
ed themselves durig this bombardment
at their posts of duty ready
at all times to fire in support of the in
fantry, will always be course of