Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1919-01-04
SOLDIERS LETTER
Excerpts of Letter Written From Some.
where in France on Oct. 30th. by
Charles E. Sager.

S lnasmUch as | am not very busy
? shall write you all of my last two week.
Last Tuesday, week ago, we relurne
D from the front; were there just tw
} weeks and are now at our headquartei
3 which they call q Rest Camp We AZ
; doing odd jobs about the camp. Til
} Company goes out in the afternoon 70
? drill, which displeases all of us. | wa
detailed to help at the stables today, bu
have toasted my shins nearly all day.
, The first week We were up, our wur
consisted Of road repairing. Shells wer
| bursting all around us, but after a fe,
days we became quite used 10 them
One afternoon on our way to Camp ",
witnessed an aeroplane battle-four ser
man planes and six American planes
Some great shooting ensued. Eventual
ly German plane was struck in tn,
rear, exploding the gas tank which
brought the plane down in flames
Forthwith the remaining Boches tool
flight, while the Americans held back
The Allied machine guns-about 25 il
number-stationed in the woods nearb,
opened up on them, pouring continua
stream of lead, but no more were brought
down. The Germans have a yer,
speedy plane. In passing | nigh
add, that the towns about here arc
bombed nearly every night, but not otter
from aeroplanes.
Every day We worked on the roads
We encountered men, either coming
from, or going to the front, and sucl
yarns as We heard
| went through some German trench
es which had been held by them fol
some time. In some places the trenches
and even the dugouts were made wholly
OF concrete, the roofs thereof being eight
or ten feet thick. Another place, EN-
poyed for heavy Smelling, was made
some twenty feet below. Some of the
rooms had been exceIently furnished
likely for officers. Pianos and such fur.
niture had been in these places, but the
tritzes were routed out before they had
much chance TO move them. Miles and
miles of barbed wire entangIements NAV
be seen everywhere.
| One night III. }. aud | decided we
should like to go cover the top" with a
bunch. Accordingly we consulted two
M. Ps. military police) near the line
and learned that an oyer the top move.
ment was to take place in a couple OF
days. On the appointed night we rolled
our light packs-blankets, mess kit, can
| teen full of water, and what few other
articles one needs-and beat it from
Camp, A. W. 0. L. tabsent without
leave) to the front line trenches, about
| three miles distant. When the signal
was given we went with the two NJ. P's
We soon ditched our packs for they were
too cumbersome, and took only our can
| teens Before going over we had to wait
several hours, which seemed ages and
ages we had an intense feeling ofagony
combined with fear. However, as soon
as we departed for the beastly Huns
| trenches everything else was forgotten,
for We then had but one job aud one
thought-to get FritZes The barage
from the artillery was simply wonder
ful everything was illumined by the
firing. Later some of the German OH
GERS admitted that the barage was the
| best they bad ever seen put over. We
gained about two miles in depth. In
way of explanation, the artillery fire
advanced just ahead of us-the guns be-
ing stationed at our rear-and was raised
nicely as We advanced, thus keeping
the fire always just in front of us.
The Huns are not much on trencl
fighting, but rely mostly on their ma
chine guns and artillery. We finally
came to a wooded place, which was JUS
full of their machine guns. One opened
up near us and luckily we got into
small trench, TIVE feet deep, and escaped
4 the fire, although dirt was thrown al
over us. Four of us crawled on oul
hands, knees and sometimes on ou
bellies, for several hundred yards, en-
circling them and after two hours o
maneuvering captured two Of them
Believe me, had close call and woUlC
have got mine, had it not been for on
of the fellows with me. One gun wa
stationed in a place so that ii could b,
operated with the foot. When we ha,
heard it shooting a few shots at time
and got it located, ve got old Fritz GOV
cred and he yelped. "Kamerad," Jump
ing to his feet, with both hands mp. w
advanced toward him, his gun shootin
to beat the band; luckily and just il
time, we discovered he was operatin
the gun with his foot. None Of the boy
were killed and We surely were tickle,
to think that We had bagged two ma
chine guns and as many Frilzes.
Several days later We returned /
Camp and the Commanding Officer ha,
us report to explain our unaceounte
absence. We reported. lie asked u
why We had gone ana ghere and "
told him We just naturally got tired q
the pick and shovel and decided "
would 20 over and get US some Fritz am
saner kraut. lie cooled down by de
grees, smiled, praised rs !or our pluc
and excused us. don't crave any NOR
saner krau,--not for a while.
STRAYED