The Bismarck tribune., 1919-04-01

and made for the trenches.
Some Of the Germans left the shell
ter of the trenches and started to run
towards the rear, only to be shot
dawn bv rifle fire; others climbed out
with their hands raised in surrender.
few crouched in fear in the bottom
.bof the trench, but the bravest stuck :
! with the machine guns to the last. !
This last was not long in coming, our
bows making free use of the bayonet.
Some prisoners were taken ana sent
back to the rear at the double, their
hands in the air, glad to get away
with their lives.
We continued to advance. our tanks
taking Zig-Zag course. smell tore
by close up, cutting long furrow III
the ground and then reboundlng AGAIN
into the air. The Germans were M
ing point blank at the tanks. the one
ON our left was in flames but our tank
untouched. was splitting from its ma
chine-gun sweeping the ground Ill
front and now and then throwing Il
shell from its siX-pOunder.
The German machinegun fire was
bot. the boys were falling here and
there, and the bullets kicking up little
putfs of dirt where they struck the
ground.
We had been advancing too fast for
our barragc and had to stop for few
minutes. taking what shelter we coulil
in shell holes I was in one with Fat
and another boy from our squad.
Before we left the woods Fat llai
picked up an extra canteen and filled
it with water with the remark that
he was going to have plenty Of water
even if he didn't have anything else.
I now asked him how his water was
holding out he grinned through the
dirt and sweat on his face and pulled
out one of his canteenS. 1t was emp
ty. A bullet had pierced it. He, ex-
amincd the other: it was in the same
fix Fat just kept on smiling. /.
We now advanced again and soon,
= came to the main line of the German
q trenches This line had Il large am
4 cunt of wire before it, but with great
s gaps torn through and the trench It
: self partly demolished, showing the
s accuracy of the American artillery fire.
4 The Germans put up but little resis-
t tance here. Most of them were hidden
p one grenade to each was generally Sllf-
d ficient. The machine gunners would
S stick to the last and die at the guns.
The enemy was retreating We
f could not see very far ahead for the
r smoke from our barrage but from the
S amount of equipment scattered about
they We're on the road to Berlin.
d A German field battery was firing
|, on our tank. which was replying with
: machine-guns and its six-pounder; we
t could see the Germans. loading and
k firing in great excitement and we fir
n ed on them with our automatic and
: service rifles. >5Egz .r:E
S We rushed for the guns but the Ger
e mans abandoned them and ran to-
e ward wood A lieutenant yelled
: "Come on. boys. we've got to get this
: gun around" Several of us grabbed
: the wheels ,and swung the gun around
and brought it to bear on the enemy.
y The lieutenant opened the breech. one
= of the boys, threwssin a shell and the
g lieutenant pulled the string Their.
n was loud report and the gun surged
d cried the officer ''Give them anoth-
e or" The gun was fired once more.
y then the Germans began shelling us.
t so we left the battery and ran down
:. the hill into ravine. From the bot
: tom l looked back and saw the tank
e that had led us SO we'll half way
down the slope. on it's side, in flames,
l, its ammunition exploding with u
e queer sound within the steel shell Of
n the tank. but it had served its pur-
s pose. The Germans were on the run.
& The lieutenant called to us from tn"
I, trees ahead, look here, fellows" and
II he pointed to several Germans climb
II ing the bank on the far side of the
e ravinc. We adjusted our sights. We
= had all done some shooting Oh the
range. so these targets did not last
e long. We pushed ON till we came in
e sight Of Il village which our guns
y were tearing to pieces. Our planes
were flying overhead, observing our
|, progress and the work of the artillery
~ then dartins back to headquarters with
3 the information. We were meeting
~ With but very little resistance now
: and picked up several prisoners Ger
l. man dead and wounded were lying
y around everywhere: they had been
- caught in our barrage The prison
y y crs seemed dazed and they were justi-
- fled in looking SO by the way things
~ ~ were torn up. The Germans were
~ still shelling us, but nothing like they
were before weetOok the battery. =
= Our barrase now lifted over the
y, village and we entered it. All was in
confusion. American and German sold
y, lers running everywhere without or
- der. The Americans mostly in squads
LIr' were cleaning up dugouts and round.
~ ing up "Kamrads' and shooting those
that offered resistance. There were
v many duSouts along the road that RAJ,
. through the village l saw a large
q overgrown Swede standing at the en-
n trance Of one of these dugouts, and
a as the ferries" came out of the low
Il door he would make vicious lunge
= with his bayOnet and drive it clear
: throuh the Huns body: then putting
his foot on the corpse, he would pull
{. out the dripping point and stand in
IF readiness for the next and give him
% the same treatment II don't know
how many he got; he had several
n piled up around himself when I left
t him still at his amusement. He was
d in complete command Of the situation,
: and seemed to enjoy his work. I ran
e, down side street and saw a Fritzie