Carthage courier. (Carthage, Tenn.) 1913-current, 1919-01-23


couple of hours when the enemy star
ted Smelling the place. We We're taken
to the Forest De Hesse, to lay in wait
for the time when we were to go
Over the Top" and get our whack at
the. "Boche." We stayed there about
a week, and were fully equipped for
battle, and made bridges with which
to cross a creek in mo mans land"
These bridges were taken along with
US on the night of September 25th,
when we were taken quietly up to the
brow of a hill, just behind the French
trenches. We were just ahead of our
artillery, and believe me it was some
artilley. Our barrage started about
100 a. m and dealt the Germans a
lot of misery until about $50 a. m.
1t was now up to the "doughboys" to
finish the job, and we went "Over the
Top" like lot of wild cats, with the
determination to let nothing stop US.
We had to pass through woods, bar
bed wire, brush, and old trenches,
all the time we were doing it we were
doing 1t we were subjected to heavy
artillery shell fire from the enemy.
Believe me, those shells were big ones,
making holes in the ground about s
feet deep and 10 to 20 feet wide, tore
trees down, and blew everything out
OF sight that got in the way. We got
somewhat split up but continued to
advance regardless Of their barrage,
and double timed for about two kilo-
meters to get ahead of it, and finally
came up slope, with in range of their
machine guns, after having crossed
the creek. They then proceeded to
/ pepper US but could not stop US, so a
couple of their aeroplanes came over
and tried to discourage US with ma
chine gun fire, but it didn't work.
Then the artillery got busy, but even
that didn't hold us back, and we took
everything in sight and continued to
advance all day, and finally arrived
at the village of Very, where we held
the line for the night. The next day
we started the ball rolling again, ad-
vancing of course. They continued
the Smelling with everything they had
including high explosive, gas and
/ shrapnel, and the shells were of all
sizes from the largest down to a one
/ FOUNDER which we call a "condiment
cam. The larger sizes are called"G.
4 |. cans" and the largest are entitled
/ Barracks Bags. We covered about
the same distance the second as we
had the first. We sent them another
barrage that night, and the next day
4 we advanced some more, and took up
a position on the side of a hill, which
we held for six days and nights feed
ing most of the time on "bully-beef'
and hard tack. We were under a con-
tinuous shell fire from the enemy here,
and more than one aeroplane came
over and machine gunned US, but
could not make US give up our posi-
ton. We were finally relieved and
moved back out of danger of shell fire
to the woods, where we went into pup
tents to shelter US from the rain.
/ might add right here that rain was in
1 league with the Kaiser one night while
we were holding the line but we stay
ed there in about four inches of mud
/ in some places, and the next day we
forgot it ever happened.
We rested two or three days, and
then moved back further, and again
went into pup-tents, this time on the
side of a hill in the mud, near grave
yard. The weather was raw and
chilly and we had to build a fire dur
ing the day to keep warm, and put it
out at night to keep from being air
raided. One glance at a hole made
4 by an air bomb is enough to make
anyone take the necessary precau-
tions to keep from being located by
the enemy observers.
on three days hike arriving the
third day at Triacourt, 80 kilometers
away. Once more we took to the pup
tents for day or two. Then we went
to a place called Bussey, and were
billeted for few days. In this place
we were able to buy American ciga-
rettes, cigars, condensed milk, jam,
chewing gum, etc., from the Y. NJ. c.
A, for the first time since arriving
in France. Rabbits and chickens
could be bought here, and the boys
who had "beaucoup" (many) francs
to spend could enjoy regular" feed
once in while.
From Bussey we went to Mussey,
2 lxilometers away, and once more en-
trained in our old standby Pullman
(box) cars, and went to BoeSinghe,
Belgium, where we were quartered in
some old German sheet metal shacks.
From there we marched across muddy
Flanders, passing through what had
once been towns of eight thousand in
habitants, but were reduced to pile
of bricks, trenches, barbed wire. An
occasional car track could be seen
here and there, and everywhere around
there was lots of water and mud. The
towns referred to are Langemarck
and ,Poelcapelle. These places had
been recently retaken by the Allies,
and the signs of the battle were still
there. Even the roads we were hiking
over were full of shell holes, and the
bridges had been blown up, and tenn
porary bridges replaced them. This
was our first introduction to the cob
blestone roads of Belgium Qater call
ed ''hobblestone") and believe me
they are daisies to hike on, being
both rough and uneven.
We rested a day or two and then
liked to Emelghem, just outside of a
large town named Izeghem. Upon
leaving there we were headed for what
was known. later as the Lys-Ssheldt
front, for another swat at "Heinie"
We left at night and camped in q