The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-02-13
SERCT. ARTHUR HARDY
WR|TESAbOUT THE WAR
Surrey Soldier Who Put in 80 Days
in the Trenches, Going Over the
Top Three Times, Tells Some
Interesting Facts

The Independent is pleased TO print
; The following letter from Sergt. Ar
thur Hardy, well known Surrey SOL
dier, who gives some valuable infor-
| nation concerning the war:
Surrey, N. D. Feb. II, 1919.
Editor Independent,
Minot, N. D.
1t is not generally known just when
the Americans started operations in
France, and it was some time after
| troops got into actual fighting before
information was let out as to what
they were really doing
The first shot fired from an Ameri-
can gun was on the 23rd of October,
1917, by Battery B of the 9Th F. A.
First Division in sector northwest
of Toul.
At that time the Second Division
was training in the vicinity of Tou!.
We didn't go into the trenches until
the first of March, 1918.
| The First Division took over this
sector in January 1918. The 10Th
and 18th Infantry were the first U.
S. troops to enter the trenches. The
first twelve American prisoners were
from the 18th Infantry
The way it happened: The Dough-
boys wanted the Germans to know
they were there, and party in an ad-
vanced out post stuck up small Am
erican flag.
The Germans answered by putting
down a box barrage around them,
cutting them off from their comrades.
They sent over a raiding party Of
about so men and the Americans be-
! ing greatly outnumbered were sooa
over-powered and the twelve men that
were left were taken prisoners. They
were taken to Berlin and displayed
/ in cages on the streets. This was
lesson the Americans learned RICH.
at the start, not to run unnecessary
( risk or to expose themselves needless
! ly.
The First and Second U. S. Divi-
| sions have the largest casualty lists
| of any Of the combat divisions. The
/ First Division casualties were 80 per
! cent. The casualties in the Second
/ Division were 81 per. cent, according
4 to latest official reports. The cas-
! ualties in the regiment in which
! served while in France, the Second
/ Engineers, were 81 per cent.
Some of the Infantry regiments
! show casualty lists of 1856 per cent.
:. The First Division advanced their
lines 81 kilometers in the different
sectors which they held. And the
Second Division shows an advance
! Of 60 kilometers in different parts of
the line where they fought.
! l received letter today from pal
Of my old outfit and he says they
fought in rain of shrapnel and ma
chine gun bullets in the Argonne For
est till eleven o'clock the eleventh day
of November. and We're mighty glad
when it was over.
l missed out on the latter part of
the fighting as | was sent back in
July as an instructor. | put in thir-
ty-eight days in a sector northwest Of
Chateau Thierry, from JurA End, till
July 9th This was almost continu-
Gus fighting. | went over the top
three times during this time Once
at scissors, June End. At Belleau
Woods, June 9Th, and Vaux July End
Was nipped in the right arm by a
machine gun bullet and got hit in
the left thigh with a shrapnel slug,
Neither wound was serious enough to
send me to the hospital so l didn't
lose out on any fighting.
\ Since coming back to the U. S. I
have been an instructor in bayonet,
hand grenades, and gas masks. At
! Camp Forrest, Ga. and Camp Meade,
Md, was with the 18th Division and
equipped for overseas duty when the
armistice was signed.
I would liked to have been in at
the finish as | was there when il
started but it was not up to me ia
say where I'd rather serve.
C'est Ia guerre.
Sergt. Arthur R. Hardy.