The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-06
Part NEGROES TOOK
IN MAKING HISTORY

yery Intls has been said or written
- the negros part in bringing about
ENno end Of the war. but real THRU
Unnt through the, War Savings con-
EXQattou 1T Carnegie hall on February
E11nt when Colonel William Hayward
EnG the S6eth u. s. Infantry. the regl-
#lnoak, of fighters from the negro
#nopulation, known as the Fifteenth
E511w York, told Of the scrap put up
~ NJ boys.
Tho u,&jority of tho enlisted men
E01o from Harlem. and Colonel HAY
ENnrdl eaid that the way those boys
eoonducted themselves in the last days
TT the war forms "a part OF great his
Efory which will be written some cay.
I'm talking to Justice Hughes a
E4ow days ago l was estonished to Tina
Enut that the people in this country
lid not know what happened In that
last big German offensive on the
18th OF July" he said. You see. the
f5ermAns had been reinforced by re-
1eased prisoners from Russia so that
I they had their maximum forces, They
had broken through tho British ana
" IL was pretty near disaster. This was
4 east or Rheims The Germans had
\ also torn through the French at Mont
aidier, gone through thirty or forty
4 k1los."
Colonel Hayward then explained
The old Fifteenth had been turned
\ over to General Gouraud. COMMANDER
u " tn Fourth field army and that his
men captured some Germans on the
night OF the 1ath Of July thus learn :
4rr that the expected attack would be
N 1auuched upon their fronts. During
the ISL. days that the regiment was
Ii the trenches. ne said. there were
many weeks which there was nothin
1 Aetwesn. the German army and Paris
but his regiment
s.Dut that yrs fair enough" he
eatds because there was nothing be
tween us and Berlin except the Ger
uaan army"
.swhen the French knew this bat
t1e was coming" he continued. their
/ forcea ala not remain thin blue line
/ II seemed that all the soldiers and all
10 aAsnon in the world crawled over
\ anA took positions back OF us.
49, erai 9IUar99d ssasss6 tbs World
\ ~ nfxtatEsu aa, but he took a chance
L - Greatest chance any soldier ever
n 3aOH .an-yG< world He took his troops
4 outin - Atlse' front line trenches over a
4 froitof fifty kiiometsrs, He aoan-
q n0r them when he was sure the
Il AAf3W was coming.
md when this attack occurred ne
Aadxfhe fifteenth New York on one
1 80 u that fifty kiIo line and the Ole
NGfxtteninth New York, in the Rain
Il bovfS Aivision. on the other hand And
|SNA. hen the German fire fell on these
1ro1 ksline trenches for five hours and
Rk-five minutes they fell on empty
" fra2 Mes except for the few patrols
NAaRtiHa reinforced trenches with sigma
focSs, gas shells and n few machine
nnrf Practically all of these came
Il 49, 40 us In the morning.
EH s1hen the hour for the German
Il lanintSy attack came these patrols
81 1T III gAa bombs and signal rockets
- SSur artillery let loose on the
n snnk ~ Germans. The Germans were
inee3ly smashed and never got
& fhruS7xh to our second line.
skut on the other end they did get
II khr Skh. They crashed into tbs
& Ra{ ow division and Sixty-ninth met
u sfhs6s hand to hand In some OF the
Il 49, terrible fighting OF the war
4 fl9 anG III for that terrible battle
81 ~ kttIe that was the turning poin,
8p - war"