Bisbee daily review., 1919-08-17

One of the most terrific struggles of the whole war occurred in the region between the Argonne For est and the Mouse River during the last few weeks of the conflict. This gigantic battle ragged practically without interruption from July 18th to Nov. 11th, 1918. The story of this battle was told from day to day in part by the newspapers, but now for the first time it is possible to present a unified and connected na<rative of it from official sources. The follow ing story shows the Americans smash ing through line after line of the enemy's defenses and driving Ger many's proudest troops into positions of such peril that the petition for an armistice was the only logical solu- tion.
 First Phase-Sept. 26th to Oct 4th.
 At 5:30 o'clock on the morning of the 26th of Sept 1918, began the greatest battle in the history of American arms. Hundreds of our guns, pouring shell into the enemy's positions, had made of the night be- fore a rocking, ear shattering, fam ing he'll They tore and smashed the German lines of defense to such an extent that, when our troops went over the top, they advanced to an average depth of seven miles.
 On the left the heights of Vauquois and Varennes fell almost without a fight Le Four de Paris is in this sec ton and is the heart of the Argonne Forest in which there were many bit ter struggles between the French and Germans in 1915 and 1916. The for est here is heavily wooded, is cut through by many steep ravines so that an offensive on a large scale was then impossible. The Germans be- Heved the forests impregnable and on the reverse slopes of the many hills we found elaborate dugouts, rest houses, etc. In this section the trenches were protected by masses of barbed wire strung from tree to tree and hidden in the thick underbrush.
 When we got'to the top of the ridge of the Four de Paris we found two large mine craters over 150 feet deep and 250 feet across where the Ger, mans had attempted to stop the ad' vance.
 The road from Le Four de Paris to Vauuuois passes along a ridge from which we had an excellent view of the rear of the German first line positions. A short distance from the road on the crest of the ridge there are several very elaborate German dugouts. one particularly well forti' fed and equipped. which was occu- pied by the 77th division as its head quarters during the greater part of the fighting in the Argonne. It was through this difficult terrain that the 77th division advanced to north of La Harazee The 91st overcoming light machine gun and heavy artillery re- sistance. reached the Very -Montfacon ridge by nightfall; some of it's patrols fought their way into Epionville. The 37th and 18th passed through the woods in front of them and, by even ing the latter held the slopes leading to Montfaucon. This mountain itself was assailed at dark by the 313th in fantry, with the aid of tanks, but a delrge of fire and lack of artillery support caused the postponement of the attack, after heavy casualties.
 Smoke Barrage Wins Hill.
 Vauquois, taken by the 35th divi- sion, is a little town on an isolated hill by the same name and, with hill 263 on the west, served as the outpost defenses of the Aire vally. It was impossible to take the hill by iron tai assault so a smoke barrage was placed on the hill and the 35th divi- sion simply went around it and cap tured it from the rear. Hill 263 was captured by the 2Sth division. Vau- duois was the scene of very severe fighting between French and Ger mans in the early days of the war. h. 1915. when subterranean mines were employed at various points along the front lines, both French and Germans set off mines on hill 263 so that it is entirely cut in two by an artificial ravine. Tunnels were run through the hill to the lips of these mine craters. listening posts were established at the heads of the tunnels so that the opposing lines were in many places not more than 50 yards apart. When we reached the village of Vauquois we found that every stone had been pulverized to dust by the many months of artillery fire.
 Varrenes was the next village we entered. being on the top of high ridge and was not damaged as much as one would expect after seeing