Baxter Springs news., 1919-02-14

SOLDIERS, LErTERs


Stephenson. written by his brother.
Earl z. Stetenson at DuAn! Germany.
Il follows:
received your most welcome letter
yesterday and sure was glad to hear
you were all feeling good and have
not had the Flu, for that is very dan
gerous.
You got one on me for not writ
ing, but I can explain the reason to
you. We are In tile army Of occupa-
ton and we had % move into terri
tory evacuated by the Germans SO We
started marching November 22nd and
marched from Stsiht. France hiked to
Weizen and stayed over Thanks
giving leaving there the 81st. march,
ing IA days TO GerUlsteih; Germany.
In the trip, we passed over q good
part of France through the province
of Luxembourg and q long way into
Germany. We are not far from the
Rhine River. While we were at
Weizen, France, i was only one-half
mile from Belgium, so on Thanksgiv-
ing Day / walked over just to say 1
had been there. We passed through
several real good sized cities. We are
billited at Gerolstein. But are at this
town, doing R. r. Guard duty. We
have good places to sleep and pretty
good eats. But ut all that, every one
is anxious to return 10 the u. S. A.,
for there Is only one.
Well, I can tell you some expert
ences / have had since I've been in
Europe. The first month was spent
in training at q village in Southern
France. That month few by and 1
enjoyed it very much; but on August
18th, we started for the front and
hiked three days; entrzined only one
day; rode one day on trucks and on
the night Of August 22nd, we hiked to
the front line trenches, arriving there
at AIS q. m, August 2Srd. We took
over the sector which at that time
was very quiet and stayed there ten
days. In that time the Germans put
over q few high explosive shells; we
call them G. /. cGns. When they were
shelling, we would 60 into dug outs,
where we were safe for the time. We
had one false gas slaIm. That hitch
we were in bed in dug outs when the
alarm was given and II was our first
experience. You ought to have seen
US getting into our gas masks; believe
me, I sure thought I was blOwed up
human, but no one was harmed. Az
ter our 10 days holding the lines, we
moved back in support Of our division.
But we were not out of shell fire;
stayed there until September 10th and
moved to woods, where we remained
one day and on the 11th, at night,
moved back to the front lines ready
to 70 over the top. The artillery
opened one Of the heaviest barrages
any one ever heard They began fir
ing at / a. m. the 11th and shot out
the barbed wire ENGAGEMENTS. AT
five o'clock the boys went over the
top, my company was the assaulting
one and what those Yank did to the
Dutch, was something. They captured
about $50 Dutchmen, that is the bat
tallion did. They reached their OBJ
jective about 10 O. m, September 18th.
There we dug in and held for IA days.
Of course they advanced several miles
in that time and had several raids.
Machine guns are what the Huns re-
lied upon. They were hard to take. We
captured lots Of guns and ammuni-
ton; also on September 29th, we NOV
ed back several miles and had baths
and clean clothes; stayed until octob-
er S, and took up another sector. Just
as we got orders 10 90 to the front
that evening the band was playing.
They thought they would cheer US up,
so they played "Just Before the Battle
Mother" Some of the boys wanted
to shoot them. We held this new sec
tor until the 10th Of October and were
relieved by another division. This was !
on the st. Mihiel Front. We were
then sent to the ArgOnne- -Meuse
Front, where we held the line until
November 1st and went over the top
again, making the big drive. This
was a real fight and was hard work
on account of the heavy timber and
we finally wound up by taking Steina,
then started our march. The Arnis-
tice being signed sure made every one
feel good and on account Of the war
being over, every one was very thank
full on Thanksgiving.
Well, l win tell you more when !
get home, which ! hope, will not be
very long, for l am tired of this place.
IN. Ho-,aouo kvaok ,,o S1av.Hy n,onH haV.a