The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-04

cOld. marroW-SearcnlnS Tdin SuCH aS only northern France or Scotland can produce in the hottest month of sum- mer.
 Early in the morning of the 26th, the l commanders of the First and Third bat talions made hurried efforts to deter
 mine the exact position of the enemy and to strengthen their own positions. Patrols were sent out, only to be driven back with killed and wounded before | they had passed through their line of outposts. Enemy snipers again became active and. with fire that seemed to come from Hanks well as front, speedily made the more advanced line almost untenable. As the two battal- ions were finally disposed. the First battalion, with the French to their left, held the left of the line, to the north; i the Third mattalion, with a battalion of of the 16Sth infantry flanking, held the right. The Third battalion, in the thick ness of the dense woods had some pro- lection; the First battalion. with con- siderable area of cleared forest facing them, endured a searching fire with lit- tie or no protection throughout the day. When the order came to be up and at em" there was universal rejoicing. CLEARING PROCESS
 The order to advance was received by the commander of the First battal- ion at 4:45 D. m. It named 4:50 D. m. as the "H'' hour and to the minute, de- spite the brevity of the notice, the First battalion went lover the top" The ob- jective was the northern edge of La Ventelette. a strip of woods about | kilometer beyond the northeastern lim- | its of the farm; and the line of advance was in a norhweSterly direction, this gave to the First battalion the task of crossing the cleared stretch of wood land before it; of clearing out the ma chine gun nests in the strip of woods , beyond and of crossing the northwest | ern ce=ner of the farm and taking the ] adjoining piece of forest.
 For the Third battalion the task was l to clear the strip of forest between it
 and the farm, take the farm and it's l formidable fortress-like house, and | swinging north to occupy the woods be- yond to the clearing of the Croix | Blanche farm. With the First battal- | ion was the 167th infantry machine gun company; with the Third battalion was Company B, 151st M G. Bn. The dis position made by the commander of the First battalion had given Company A the right front of the line and Com pany the left. Through them to the
 charge moved Companies D and c (with 1 the latter on the lefD each accompan- jed by section of the 167th infantry machine gun company.
 All during the afternoon the enemy machine gun and artillery fire, annoy ingly harassing during the morning, had steadily increased. The front line of D and c companies rose to advance,
 and as though touched by an invisible spring, it suddenly increased to a yer tiable hail of death. It was and advance
 without "artilliery preparedness-a test
 that chills the heart of the bravest in- fantryman-and neither enemy battery nor deadly machine gun nest had suf- fered from that neutralizing fire for
 which American artillery has already become justly famous. Yet, into it. with an elan and dash worthy of the finest guards battalion of the ''Kaiser's Own" swept the First battalion of the Ala bams.' (The soubriquet by which the 167th regiment is known in the Forty second division.)
 No less quick was it's companion bat
 talion. the Third, in getting under way. An impossible road, pitted with
 shell holes, knee deep in mud and clog l ged with fallen trees and branches brought down by enemy shell fire. had delayed the delivery of their order of l advance a full 10 minutes; but at 5.05 p. m. they too, despite the almost im- passable underbrush, were pushing for 1 ward through the thick forest.
 l The casualties from the start were
 startlingly heavy. Among the first to fall was Julien Strassburger, gallant
 young commander of the 167th machine | gun company, who fell dead in the first l 100 yards beneath the deadly sheaves of enemy machine gun bullets. John Pow l ell, lieutenant in command of Company 1 T. fell charging through the woods far
 to the right. Machine guns were literally
 everywhere; in trees behind fallen l trunks, in hastily made nests in the l farm to the front. Red lines. painted l broadly on the tree trunks facing the advancing Americans were afterward 1 found, belting the forest with band of 1 red. These were the enemy targets With I their guns laid in these bands they had | only to pull their triggers and keep feed l ing their weapons to mow down the ad- ] vancing forces by the score.
 | About 300 yards north of the First Bat talions parallel of departure" an unim- proved road enteres the forest from the western edge of the farm and pene- trates it in an easterly direction for a | distance of four or five hundred yards.
 Along the road and leading north at right angles to it, the enemy machine l guns lay in greatest strength. Line after l line of Americans, in close lason with | the French on their left, advanced on l this position. only to wither away before 1 it's deadly execution. The machine gun ! sections, mortar platoon and even the 1 one-pounder platoon had all swunk eager | " 1ntO actlOn and concentrated neaVy fire upon it. but with only slight percep-
 tible effect. After more than an hours ] fighting it still held and the slaughter before it went on unchecked.
 l At this juncture Lieutenant Ernest 1 Bell of Company D and Lieutenant
 Robert Espy, Company B, led their pla- 1 toons forward in wild charge to cap | ture it. Bell, with 5S men and Espy with
 g. They were successful. With men dropping like the dead leaves of trees in autumn, they swept across the road, and before them the Germans fled. Behind l them they left their guns, rifles and hum l dreds of boxes of ammunition and be- l hind them came the First battalion, l charging forward. and occupied the road. l (Of Espy's platoon it may be stated that only IS survived the charge while Leu- tenant Bell arrived with loss of 33.)
 The rout of the enemy from this posi- tion rapidly changed the fortunes of the fight. With startling rapidity, the boche rallied and came charging back in coun- ter attack, but now it was American ma chine guns and American rifleStNhich did the execution. Line after line of deter mined Germans came rushing through
 the trees, only to falter and fall and finally disappear. As the last line to
 make the attempt appeared. doughty Major Carrol was heard to shout: Save your fire. men: we'll give 'em the bayo- net.~ On the instant the fire of our
 men ceased and with bayonet's fixed each man awaited the chance to impale a boche on his "toasting fork"
 It has been stated before that the Ger man soldier, trained as he is cannot en-