Republican farmer., 1919-02-28

through the wood. Meanwhile the 1 Fourth Brigade launched the attack upon Vaux. The little village was re- 1 duced to a heap of stones by the ar l tillery. Before the attack the Germans 1 put over fifteen hours of intense coun- l ter artilIerying. But Vaux was occu- pied within five minutes after the 'jumpoff." In the early fighting the men had {; only their iron rations' and some l times were without food or water for twenty-four hours, through difficulty of transport. There was an ammuni- ton shortage in the rst hours of the battle. The enemy shelled the whole area heavily. In one brigade area nearly 22,0O0 shells fell in twenty-four hours. During the month of continuous 1 fighting that followed the Second cap l tured 24 officers, 1854 men and a | large quantity of guns and material. i Because of the bitter nature of the fighting the division lost heavily more heavily than in any other fight. The total casualties were 9,777, of which 1,260 men were killed on the field and more than 1,500 severely wounded Nearly 1000 slightly wound l ed, gassed and missing.
 1 At first the hospitals were made ! qudlt lU CG1I 4Oi lIt SIIeStiIl Ol 1 wounded. In one village the stretchers were laid out in the open. side by side. 1 until nearly an acre was covered by the rows of them.
 For five weeks the division held the road to Paris. The German drive was | halted. Then the Second was with i drawn to nurse it's grevious wounds. 1 At this time F'och was preparing the l great counter offensive that sent the l Germans reeling back from the Paris
 salient. The Second was getting re- ! placements to fill up it's depleted ranks. i On July 6 the division was hastily
 transported in trucks and unloaded in the Villers Cotterest region. By night marches through the forest the divi-
 sion was pushed up to the lines. The forest was full of troops moving to-
 ward the front. In the inky darkness l and driving rain the men were forced to march double file, touching one an other, to avoid being separated. l Reaching the lines only a few min
 utes before the "H' hour, the Second attacked behind the tanks at the vital
 point of the thrust near Soissons. Despite stubborn resistance and
 heavy losses the line swept over the
 German positions. Many times the Herman artillery fired point blank into
 the advancing Americans. But they nreQ only a IeW times 1nen the uOe
 rolled over them. Most of our losses
 occurred in the first few hours. The
 Ninth Infantry lost 66 per cent. of it's
 men within three hours. As the of fcers fell others took their places, un-
 til sometimes sergeants commanded
 battalions After very hard fighting
 the Second gained it's ohjectives. Dur
 ing the night the Germans brought up
 fresh divisions, and at dawn the
 
 again. In severe fighting they gained
 the heights dominating all the region
 around Soissons.
 In this battle the French and Amer
 jean divisions were under the com
 mand of Gen. Mangin. At Mayence,
 after the armistice, Mangin said this
 battle was the decisive battle of the
 war.
 The Seconds casualties totalled
 3,942 men in the two attacks. Only
 4SI were killed on the field. Among
 the killed, wounded and gassed were
 154 officers. The captures included 66
 officers, 2,S99 men. 75 guns and much
 other booty.
 The next action of importance was
 the battle of St Mihtel, America s
 first offensive effort as an army. In I i, days Of fighting the division advanced
 more than five miles against resist ance with 1851 casualties. More than $500 prisoners and 121 guns were
 taken
 7 After a few days the division was } shifted to the Blanc Mont sector. By an impetuous attack the Germans ) were showed back and the martyred city of Rheims relieved. In an ad- vance nearly 2,500 prisoners were , taken. The losses aggregated 4,975 men, of whom about half were only slightly wounded. The dead numbered | TOP; the severely wounded, 977. ) Soon thereafter the attack in the 7 Argonne was launched. In this fight } the Second drew from the Germans the first admission in their communique
 during the war that their line was ! broken. The Americans smashed through the Hindenburg line and the } F'reya Stellung-both formidable sys- , tems of successive wide belts of barbed , wire and concerted strong points, Despite the difficult terrain and stubborn resistance the division
 crashed through and started the Germans on the run. By this time the whole German military machine : was going to pieces.
 l In the ten days fighting before the ? armistice they advanced nearly 20 \ miles on the heels of the fleeing Ger mans, mopping up machine gun nests left to slow up the pursuit. The Ninth
 Infantry accomplished unique move. = during the night it marched five miles Q straight ahead into the enemy lines. I At dawn the Germans found ~ the Americans behind them and a panic f ensued. The manoeuvre was repeated l several times. On the night before = the armistice the famed Second Engi- = neers threw a bridge across the Mouse 6 under a heavy fire and the Fifth Corps e occupied a bridgehead on the heights ]. 1 across the river. The Second was still = | fighting when the arnistice was or 8 dered.
 7. During the advance the men suffer s ed many hardshtps in the rapid move l, ment in cold rain over roads ankle
 deep with mud Sometimes the sup r plies failed to come up and the men f went hungry-but always ahead.
 JUDGE SCORES