Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-04-26

tered into Cunel, surprised and captur ed two German battalion staffs, con- sisting of 30 officers and 60 men, and brought the prisoners back.
 An attempt on the morning of the 11th to enlarge this success was,how- ever, broken up by the desperate ar- tillery resistance, and that night the SOth was relieved by the 5th Division, excepting the 155th Field Artillery Brigade. which remained in the sector.
 Operation Against Cunel
 The relieving division did not try to advance until the morning of October IA, when it undertook the hard oper- ation of capturing Cunel, the Bois-de- Pultiere, north of it, and the Bois-de- Rappes, still further north, all of which positions were effectively flank ed up on the sides of open hills or ravines from the organized villages of Romange and Bantheville, in the val 1 lev of that Andon river which had giv- en the 37th Division so much trouble south of Cierges.
 The advance was made with regi- ments abreast, the 9th Infantry Sri gade on the right and the 10th on the left. On the latter flank the attack was stopped on the open ground by fire; on the right, the Goth and 61st Infantry, after suffering particularly heavy losses from the reverse fire across the Mouse while reducing Gun el, passed that village and cleared the Bois-de-Pultiere by nightfall.
 Organizing and holding positions here for five days under very exhaust ing conditions, the division attacked the
 Bois-des- -Rappes on the ,20th, but could only gain 200 yards, the First and Sec
 ond Battalions of the11th Infantry, however, completing the capture of the
 woods on the 21st and repulsing fierce
 counter attacks.
 Next morning the division was re-
 for brief rest, though it returned to line again before November l.
 | The 90th Division on the afternoon
 of the 22nd advanced the First and
 Third Battalions of the 357th Infantry
 against Bantheville, which were able
 to take the village and the rising
 ground for about kilometer north of
 it, consolidating line from the north
 west corner of the Bois-des-Rappes
 across the Andon river to the north
 west corner of the Bios-de- -Bantheville.
 This line was held until the 31st and
 improved over the open hills and the
 valley to the northeast by the activi-
 ty of patrols.
 3rd Division at Hill 25O
 Though it had been in sector along
 the Nantillois- -Cierges road since Sep
 tember 30, the 3rd Division did not
 initiate any aggressive movement un-
 til the general attack of October 4, when at 5:25 a. m. it attacked from
 the Bois-de- -Cunel, with the 7th ln-
 fantry on the right and the 4th on the left. .....
 Savage resistance was at once en- countered, and though the woods on Hill 25O, about half a kilometer south
 of the Bois-de- Cunel, were reached at
 Il a. m., the troops could get no fur ther that day.
 The days of the 5th and 9th saw a continuation of the persistent struggle against intense machine gun and ar .. tillery fire, not alone from the Rois- de-Cuel but from the Mamelle trench
 northwest of it toward Romange. But the attack was so costly and resulted
 in such slight progress that the next day the front could only be organized on the north edge of Wood 250, 8 gallant party of 20 men of Company c, 4th Infantry, under Sergeant Cham bers, who had penetrated the Bois-de- Cunel being drawn back under cover of darkness.
 That night, the 5th Brigade was re. lieved in front line by the 9th, and on october 8, tho 80th and 3Sth Infantry , tried, no more successfully than theii predecessors, to register progress. .n, Enemy Regiments Extinct Early on the morning of the 9th however, the 9th Brigade, attacking !, at the same time as the flank divi. ,, sions, finally went through everything i, in the immediate front, taking the Bois-de- Cunel, the Ferme-de- Madeline the Mamelle trench and the pillboxes , north of it, so that at night the Jeff was nearly up east of Romange, whicl the 32nd division during the day haC , closely approached.
 Several attacks on the following I three days resulted in 7 only slight gains, but information given by pris 0ners indicated that the incessant Am f.ica offensive was literally burning | up the opposing Germans, it beini : stated that the 458th and 459th Ger z man Infantry Regiments had entirel! ] melted away while the 136th ant 457th Regiments were rapidly ap preaching extinction.
 On the night of October 11-12, tn, SOth Division, on the right, was re
 lieved by the 5th Division, and the fol lowing night the 5th was in turn re lieved by the 3rd, together with the ] left of the 4th Division the front ot ! the 3rd Division then extending iron ! within one kilometer of the Mouse tC the Romange-C road, distance o1 l about six klometers, necessitating tht placing of all the regiments on tn line, from left to right the 4th, 30th 7th and 18th Infantry.
 , At the same time the 9th Division ! was assembled for attack in the wood , west of the Nantillois- Cunel road, an
 as it was to drive in at the left O.