Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1919-03-14

Irwin, who now had under his orders
not only the four regiments of his own
9th Artillery Brigade but also the
artillery Of the LIST Moroccan Division,
in the morning opened terrific artill-
cry preparation of four hours duration
covering all the ground from this road
eastward for about three kilometers
along the plateau to the village of
Terny-Sorny.
At Up. m, the artillery fire, whose
intensity may be judged from the fact
that II involved 81 batteries Of 75mm.
and nine batteries of 155mm. howitzers,
or about one gun to each IL meters of
the 2,0O0-meter front, dropped back
and formed triple barrage in front of
the Infantry, which at that moment ad-
vanced, supported on the front line by
French tanks and, as previously near
Dravegny, by two sniping batteries of
the 147th Field Artillery.
Resistance to such an attack was sim
ply impossible. Dazed and shaken, the
enemy generally fled or surrendered,
for, as one of the prisoners said, mo
matter where you turned, you were
met with the fire of the artillery. The
Americans were shooting all over the
terrain. Their fire was certainly
crazy"
II was sort of insanity, then, which
was better than reason, for, although in
spots, as at Beaumont Farm and in the
Bots de Alsace, some spirited opposi-
ton had to be overcome, the advance
was rapid, and before s p. m. the
troops were in Terny-Sorny, 555 UNI
wounded prisoners had been started
back to the cages, and observers re-
ported that everywhere to the east
ward German artillery and transport
fleeing toward Marginal and other re-
mote hamlets.
MACHINE GUNNERS TAKE so
BY brilliant maneuvering, one unit,
the machine gun company of the 125th
Infantry, on the left of the advance,
succeeded in capturing 80 prisoners
and two 105mm. field guns, with am
munition. Immediately afterward the
enemy began firing incendiary shells
in an attempt to blow up this lost ordi-
nance. but Pvt. E. c. Dressed, of the
machine gun company, going in among
the bursting shells, put out the fires
and saved the ammunition and his com.
rades' lives.
In the ravines and network of trench
es and wire beyond the limits of the
barrage the enemy at length made
stand, chiefly to protect his arrange
ments for further retreat. September
1 was spent by the 32nd Division in
cleaning out remaining machine gun
nests and in improving the positions
won, the front line occupying approx
mately the north-and-south road just
west of Terny-Sorny, with patrols cover
ing the ground In front of it.
That night the 32nd was relieved by
the LIST Moroccan Division behind which
it remained in support position until
the following night, when it was finally
withdrawn and transported to the area
near Toul, where the First American
Army was now beginning to assemble.
In the five days of its active work
around Juvigny the division had lost 10
officers and 265 enlisted men killed
and 65 officers and 1887 enlisted men
wounded or missing. It had advanced
about five kilometers and had captured
937 prisoners, including nine officers,
these men coming chiefly from the
With, CCXXIIrd, CCXXVIIth and
CCXXXVIIIth German Divisions.
II had also taken four field pieces,
l28 machine guns, minenwerfers and
trench mortars, 700 rifles, $4,000 rounds
of artillery ammunition and 10000
rounds of machine gun ammunition.
But, more than all, 1t had broken one
of the strongest props of the German
defenses between the Aisne and the
Ailette, and when it departed those de-
lenses were tottering to their fall.
A thought for youth we know who