Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-02


light when I climbed the slope to
where the German front line hao
been. From the way Che dirt ana
stones. were flying earlier in the
morning / had thought nothing could
remain alive there, but now | saw
that the Germans had dug deer
trenches and dugouts there that molly
but the heaviest shell could destroy
But when man is twenty or thirty
feet underground i'll dugout he is
in no position to hold back a flock
OF hard Uniting soldiers who have
travelled some five or eight thousand
miles to get a crack at him, so Fritz
didn't have much chance, and we soon
had him tearing through the heavy
woods that covered the rear of his
position. It had been planned. so we
understood. for the infantry to make
this initial, attack. and for the ma
rines to '.ieapfros" them the next day
and push the Germans back out OF
Thiapcourt. But before midnight that
night I was in Thiaucourt myself,
yond Limey, for the infantry did it's
own days work and that of the ma
rines. too, in less than a day. / was
in Thiaucourt until September IS, and
every day and every night the Ger
mans she1Ied the town with 1o0s (six-
ing raids thrown in. The building I
was in WAS hit several times, and
the one adjoining was hit by an air
bomb that killed two horses anu five
mules We had wine cellar we used
for dugout. but it was not all I'M
foreground and had small window that
looked right toward Germany.
The Artillaryman's Job.
has 10 do--he has TO go to the front
and stay there. For exauple. we
started out by supporting tffs 2Sd In
fantry, then they were relieved and
the 9th Marines came in. and finally
the marines were relieved by some
time We stood to ou- guns and banged
away at Fritz with everything in our
cafssonS. Late in the afternoon of
September Is. however. we loaded up
and started back for the long rest we
never got. think that night was one of
the most beautiful I ever saw, with
its brilliant moon. balnay air. the long
line of guns and caiSsonS and wagons.
and the singing soldiers. We marched
back over the country we had freed
from the invader and camped near
the village of Novient. A few. days
later the regiment went into billets
at st. Germain- sur -Meuse, while the
list Battalion, with which / was de-
tailed, was put in another village
nearby One day was to be devoted
to washing gun carriag es, wagons and
harness, another to cleaning UP per-
sonaliy and then there would be the
usual drills, with possibly twenty
four-hour passes for many and seven
day leaves for few. On the second
day, however, l was ordered to re-
port at regimentaI headquarters to
take up the duties of regimental ser
xeant major. My successor had al
ready left, and / knew very little
about the work. but ! started it. And
two days after I entered the regi-
mental office we started again for the
front.
This time we rode one night on the
train. detraiaing at Citry-la-Ville near
Vitry-le-Francois. We marched to
Donpier-sur-Moivr and from there
moved up TO a position in reserve near
Suippe. Here we were in support of
part of the French army and after
two days in reserve we moved to the
attack. taking our first position near
the. village. of Somne Ply. then held by
the Germans. Five times we moved
forward on this front, always pushing
Fritz before US. Il was here that we
helped take the famous Blanc Mont,
which the Germans held so stubbornly
because it commanded the country for
miles on either side. And 1t was right
into our regimenta1 headquarters
under fire. that one of the two clerks
helping me in the Office was killed by
she'll. The she'll. n (3-inch), hit
within three feet OF the dugout where
was experimenting detail cleaning
out the rubbish left by the Germans
The man had Just brought in small
field desk and was going back to the
wagon to get this, typewriter when
the shell struck. If it had hit the
dugout window the colonel would have
had to pick out new officer and a
new sergeant major.
Incidentally. that dugout was the
last one we occupied, for we never
took the trouble to make dugouts
ourselves, but just moved into those
lately vacated by the enemy. Some
of them were very deep and had been
built at an enormous expense of labor,
but, you see. they hads been built to
hold off an attack on the south while
our front was to. the north. There
fore we always ran the chance of
having H E. shell come right down
the stairs without even knocking.
But in time we pushed the Germans
out Of. theirAo dugouts and kept
pushing. them until they had no time
to build new ones, and when it cam
to open warfare-wel1, you just ought
to see the United States artillery reg
ulars. -. - -
our extreme ADVANCE on from
was at .Vaux-Champagne, just short
of Attigny. on the Aisne, which was
held by our infantry. We were there
for eleven days and that was as near
,, res. as we had. though shells fell
near enough to US every day for
US to hear them whistle. and two OF
the best friends ] had in the regi-
ment were killed there. In the mean
time the rest of our division was
taking q rest, but it seemed the high
er command wanted some experienced
artillery right at that point, and we
stayed on.
On Meuse-Argonne Sector.
We pulled out from that sector
two, nights and the end of the three
days hiking found US in position to
fire, this time in. what is known as
the Meuse-Argonne sector. Let me
tell you. folks. that is ma king war
We were tired. of course. and, OF
about it. but secretly we were proud
for we inquired that it meant we were
q crack outfit that was too valuable
to be left idle.
The attack here opened before
daylight November / and about noon
we hitched up again and started gu,
chasing Fritz Never in my life die
| see so much artillery as I saw tina,
| day. Every bush and tree and patel
/ of shrubbery h1lf concealed its share
| Of black, etching muzzles. and many
! batteries had gone right into actor
| in the open. Many of the guns wer.
| firing as we rode along, and the con
| cussion from one of those six-incf
/ muzzles when you are right in from
! of it is something terrible. Two Of
\ three times i was almost knocked
| Off my. horse by the force of it, Or
! this front we moved up altogether
| seven times. and 1t was the most haz
/ ardeus as we'll as the most trying
| sector in which we bad operated. ~,
a fHu0 sill l,.,.