Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-05-11


spring it began to feel its oats"
and by the beginning of May il
passed that point where it could be
pushed just so far and no further"
Fights just burst right out of it.
There was a beautiful little forest
called the Bots de Chenes near An
cerviller. It was full of boches. They
had made h, apparently ippreg-
nable position of it, filling It with
networks of wire and concrete
trenches and blockhouses conceal
ing minenwerfer, machine guns and
the deadly us. The whole thing
was covered with dense forest and
commanded the open level ground
on three sides.
Into this stronghold on May 3
French and Americans artillery
poured destructive fire, which con-
tinued until dusk of the next day.
At that time the Third battalion of
the Tooth infantry. an Ohio regi-
ment, penetrated the entire salient
under command of Major Hender-
son with virtually no losses. A go
and come raid" they called it. The
raiders found the forest of oaks
completely destroyed. It's trenches
were filed, all works were entirely
torn down and the forest itself
turned into almost bare field.
Got Relief in Raids.
Two mornings later, May 5, Lieu
tenant Cassidy of the 16sth led a
party over and sneaked around be-
hind a German OUTPOST at Hameau
d'Ancerviller. They jumped on the
Germans, killed two and captured
four. Sergeant O'Leary mate one
resisting German his own special
prize. While O'Leary was killing
him with trench knife, Lieutenant
Cassidy held up two others with his
pistol. They brought the prisoners
back across No Mans land Nnder
heavy machine gun FIRE. Lie,ten-
ant Cassidy-Was made captain be-
fore the war ended and was twice
wounded. Sergeant O'Leary was
killed in battle on the Ourcq.
4 Three Alabama snipers brought
on another mixed fight on May IL,
when they went out in broad day
light to see if their new camoufage
suits would camoufage., They lay
IN front OLA dugout and when Ger
mans began filing out they began
firing as fast as they could load and
pull. Almost Immediately the Ger
mans began rushing out in such
great numbers that the Alabamians
would have been overwhelmed if
they hadn't started retreat. Two
got back safely. The third was miss
ing. -
Got Quick Revenge.
Lets go get him" said the south
eyners, so a party of about dozen
went over the top. Thsx found No
Mans land full of Germans waiting
for them in the tall grass. Greatly
outnumbered the Alamabians ex-
changed shots with them for a
few minutes and more Germans
came out, until there were more
than 100. So the rescue party, too,
retreated, while one man with an
automatic rifle lay in a shell hole
holding the Germans back from the
chase with a steady stream of bull
lets. And when the Alabamians got
into their own trenches, instead of
one man missing there were two.
The automatic rifeman hadn't come
back.
Two snipers' private little hunting
party babe fair now to become a
pitched battle. The blood of the
Alabama mountain men was up.
Lieutenant Breeding, who, they say,
was full blooded Indian, gathered
up nearly a whole platoon and went
out to swipe the boehes up and
bring back both the Americans.
Now crawling, now dashing for
ward, whooping and yelling as they
came, Breeding's men fell upon the
Germans and routed them. When
ever they could they used the
bayonet, and they killed seven Ger
mans and wounded many more,
without a single casualty to them
selves.
And they brought back the auto
matte rifeman, but the missing
sniper they never found. In his
place they brought one dead Ger
man whom they hung overfhe wire
as a challenge, guarding him con-
stantly until the division came out