The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-02-12

ish border. For three days and nights
we travelled so uncomfortable that II
seemed a life time. At last we stop
ped at La COrtina. a small town high
/ in the mountains near the Spanih
! border.
La Cortina was formally used as a
fort by the Russian troops allies OF
the French. Three or four weeks be
fore we arrived they had revolted and
| had killed nearly all their officers
| The buildings or barracks were built
! Of heavy stone blocks The troops
had blown some Of the buildings up,
others had big holes in them. The
! floors and wall in many places were
| transferred to the 18th Inf. Jan. /
Another two days and nights were
| spent in nearly crossing France for
| the second time. AT IIondalancourt, a
town we'll liked by American troops,
we joined the 18th infantry. / was
assigned to Co. A.
On January - we left MOndalain-
court and started on our long hike
| to ScheSpray where we have spent so
much Of our time. One big city we
passed on our way was Void, (trace
these cities on u map of northern
France and you can see the great dis
| a""ee we have hiked)
While in the Schespray district we
stopped for most Of the time at the
little towns called Ansovil)e, Mandra
a pile Of ruins, only the mere outline
| showed us where once had been
homes.
The barrage ! tried to describe in
one OF my letters occurred on Febru-
airy 2. 1t was one Of the worst bar
! RACES l have ever been under.
After nearly two mouths Of front
| line duty we were moved back for
a rest. On April 10th we were billet
ed at Treveray For five weeks we
stayed at this beautiful little. town.
Look up my letter telling about be-
ing surrounded by hills. In that val
ley was located Treveray. About
May 3 we were ordered to another
front Thus closed our rest and the
only one we have known in France.
May we made a relief with the
French troops at Contigney. This
time OH a front which was said to be
ono of the worst on the western front.
The. English had been driven back
i for 40 kilometer GO miles) short
just bitches about three feet deep.
-uring the day the men had to lie
down so as not to be seen. After 81
days OF front line duty our troops
were moved back about five kilonl,
eters a miles) to what was once
town called Rocencourt Chat is the
was it is pronounced can't spell it).
In four days we moved again into the
trenches, this time for three days.
Then We went back in support OF an
other regiment and went over the top
for the first American advance. Al
ter heavy artillery battle and fierce
hand to hand fighting Cantigny was
recaptured and from then on was oc-
cupied by Americans.
From May until about July Is we
! were moved back and forth along the
line from Cantigny to Montdidier,
Two of the towns where we were bill
leted were Piallert and Follerli.. Some
where near July IS we movew back
to little town near Juilley (look on
the map about half way between the
line on July IS and Paris.)
| ne uSAC udy we "Clc out Pioy IL b
base ball remember this; it was
the first half of the second inning,
two men out and two on bases when
the. order came, for us to roll our
packs as we were to move at once.
We never have had time to finish
that game.
From July Is to July II we moved
in trucks toward Long Point which
is half way between scissors and
Chateau Thierry, before our advance.
We went over the top for big gain
and our regiment alone captured $500
prisoners and hundreds Of machine
guns. This is the over the top story
wrote about in my letter. After
five days we were relieved by the
Ladies from He'll as the Germans
call the, Scotch kilties. We moved
back leaving a dread in the minds
@of the Germans for the LIST decision.
1.-The Black Snakes
Back to Juilley we travelled by
trucks and took up life where we had
i