The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-02-21
GLORY ON BATTLE FIELD
CONTINUED From Page One.)

CONTINUED From Page One)
single minute of pause in the terrible
fighting. Five separate attacks were
made and dozen counterattacks re-
pulsed. So heavy was the fighting
that at times battalions were COM
manded by lieutenants and sergeants
all other officers were casualties.
In Major Roosevelt's battalion every
Officer was hit within few hours
and sergeant commanded the unit
| for a time
The number of prisoners and guns
| captured in the face of such resist
| ances showed the character of the
| fighting-3375 men and 125 officers
were sent through the cages, and
the material captures included $50
| field guns, and 800 machineguns and
great quantities of other material
Several Weeks of Rest
Then followed several weeks of rest
and training Of requirements while
the wounds of the division were bound
up. Meanwhile General Pershing was
bringing to /; l,se the plans for the
bdttie OF St. VI mel.
| Early in September the First was
moved stealrh'iv iri o the lines near
! Beaumont. On thN morning of Sep
| TENDER II the division event after
| them" aga:r and helped wipe the st.
Mihiel salient off the map. Beside
the fighting at scissors, this was a
| field day for the veterans of the First.
Within nineteen hours some elements
'had advanced from ten TO twelve
miles. At places the resistance was
stiff and considerable machinegun
| fighting developed The division bag
ged 1880 prisoners, quantity of
guns, ammunition, and three locomo-
tives.
| With another short rest the First
was again on the way to another
great battle. In conjunction, with
the French, General Pershing was
laying plans for the battle of the Ar
gonne, which was aimed to cut the
vital artery between the northern and
southern Germany army groups.
Again the First was given an impOr-
| tant point
The First "Went Over"
! The attack was launched eastward
of the Argonne, October d. The First
went over in the Chepy sector near
! Varennes in the face of desperate
resistance. The Germans realized the
vast Importance of every yard of
| ground-a captured army order told
them that "the fate of the empire de-
pended upon their holing. With the
difficult terrain and several powerful
defense systems in their favor the
Germans fought like madmen. But
the line was pushed ahead yard, by
yard day after day, until the division
had gained more than four miles with
! in eight days. This division was OPP
posed by elements of eight different
| German divisions. The distracted
German commander threw division
after division into the path of the adj
vance.
Before it's withdrawal to rest camps
| the First captured 1873 men and
! thirty eight officers.
With evidences that, the German
military machine was rapidly going to
pieces, came series of quick, hard
blows The First division was hur-
ried up to the lines again and attack
ed toward morning fffld. u Ell
ed toward Mouzon on November 6.
By noon it had reached Mouzon. The
Germans were on the run and the
line pushed ahead five miles in as
many hours. Some prisoners and
material were captured.
Advance Toward Sedan.
That night the division was as
sembled and advanced in five col
umns toward Sedan. Then ensued the
race toward Sedan. With the Ger
mans retreating disorder the ad-
vance elements met only slight re-
sistance, but on the morning of the
7th ran into stiff machinegun re-
sistance on the heights near Sedan
which they quickly smashed through.
Although the doughboys did not know
the war was in it's last hours. Every
where the boche was running. That
was enough to know and the First
wanted to be in the chase. But ow-
ing 10 several French and American
units converging upon the same OBJ
iecrive- Seean-the First was Or
6ered back al p. n. Nov. 7.-Much
TO their disappointment tie boys
were pulled back to southwark OF
Besace. There they stood when the
armistice went into effect
On March Again
In a few days the division was on
the march again-on the "big hike
to the Rhine On November II the
division crossed No Mans Land near
Abaucourt and advanced toward Ger
man soil. marching steadily through
Lorraine and Luxembourg. and reach
ing the German frontier on the Mo-
sole in nine DAYS Of hard marching
After twelve DAYS more of marching
over muddy roads in cold rains the
First reached the Rhine and crossed
at dawn of the 18th at Coblenz. By
4 n. m. the next day the First reached
its goal-the fartherest point of the
bridgehead-and settled down in oc-
cupation of one third of the bridge
head area after a march of bout ZIG
miles.
According to final reports of casu-
alties completed after reaching the
brideehead, the First division lost as
follows:
Officers Men
hlllCQ lVf SoVi