Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1919-04-04
FRIDAY, APRIL 4. 1919.
SANGU|NARy FIGHTING
Described BY PRATT
Continued from first page)


and on the morning of the 31st the
entire Second Division of which he
was a member, was placed on motor
trucks and taken to the Chateau
Thierry sector, where the Germans
were making their big drive in the
direction of Paris. The morale of the
French had been broken, and they
were retiring practically without re-
sistance before the German hordes,
who in full dress uniform, with brass
mountings, were marching along the
road in the direction Of the French
capitol. The French said there was
no use trying to stop the Germans,
and that the war was practically ov-
err. There were only about $4,000 in
the Second division, at that time, as
a number Of units, such as the artil-
lery, were lacking to complete it; but
when their commander received the
orders to retreat, he delivered him
self of the now famous expostulation,
Retreat, hell! we have only come"
Charley Pratt, as he sat facing our
reporter, had number Of decorations
including a symbol of the French war
cross, a sharp shooters badge and
one or two others. When asked what
they did, he said, "Well, some Of US
fellows were pretty good shots with
our rifles, and could pick off our man
nearly every shot five or six hundred
yards away. We took our positions
and never gave n foot. When the
French saw that we were holding our
position, and thinning the German
ranks, they joined u.s."
Asked his opinion Of the French as
fighters, he said, "Well, the French
are as good fighters as you can find
as long as they are winning, but they
give up easy in defeat"
From then on until the Goth of Ju-
ly, the fighting was almost continu-
Gus. There were no trenches, and it
was mostly open warfare, (which is
the way we liked it," remarked Mr..
Pratt Our readers are all familiar
with the progress of the war at this
time. and how the offensive started
by the comparatively small division Of
Americans grew and developed until
the big German drive resulted in
disastrous defeat, but not without the
sacrifice of many thousands Of Amer
lean and allied nations lives. The
campaign covered the sanguinary bat
ties fought at Bellueau Wood, where
the advance Of the boys was punctu-
ated at almost every step with the,
dead bodies of their comrades.
On the night of the 18th the re-
mainder Of the division was moved to
the scissors front, trucks being used
again to transport the men. And on
the morning of the 18th they went
"over the top" in another big drive.
A steady march pace was maintained,
the soldiers going forward in waves,
lOIIltu VI lihcS VI iiSn iNC PAGES
apart in the line and the waves 80
PAGES apart. For two days they went
steadily forward, taking thousands of
prisoners and an imemnse amount of
war material. Then the resistance
stiffened. The country became lousy
with machine gun nests, and the fight
ing was most sanguinary. 1t was
here that in advancing a distance of
so yards Mr.. Pratt's company of 225
men was reduced to 40. Still they
went through and captured the posi-
ton they had set out for. Night founC
this handful of men in advance of the
main line, practically cut off from the
main army, and without water oil
food. Water was the first consider
alton for the furnishing men who hat
fought so desperately for their posi-
ton and the only way to reach it was
through the "gap" they had cut wher
coming in. Pratt volunteered for the
hazardous undertaking. He had gon,
only a short distance when two ma
chine gun bullets passing through hi
hip cut him down. This was abou
eight o'clock in the evening and in
short time a Red Cross worker foun,
him and administered first aid assist
ance, pouring iodine into his wound.