The Butler weekly times and the Bates County record. (Butler, Mo.) 1918-1950, 1919-05-08

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vision was moved east where, from
September to September Is, they
acted as reserve for the American
army which was reducing the St.
Mihiel salient.
On September Is commenced the
great battle OF the Argonne forest.
The battle line extended from a
point short distance north of Ver-
dun to point in the Argonne for
est. Each man carried his rifle,
bayonet, steel helmet, gas mask, $50
rounds of ammunition, on his back
was slung pack containing his rain
coat, his mess kit and two days field
rations. which consisted of two cans
of cornsd beef and six boxes of hard
bread. which is all improved form Of
! the old hard tack Of Civil War days.
At three o'clock on the morning Of
the Goth, 2,6oo guns were hurting
tons of metal into the lines of the
Huns. This barrage continued for
three hours during which time the
guns of the 35th fired 10000 shells.
At $50 in the morning the infantry
and machine gunners went over the
| top for the first time. The advance
was made 100 yards behind rolling
barrage which was kept up until 7:3o
when it ceased. The division ad-
vanced in brigade front with the regi-
ments marching abreast, with the
6oth brigade, I37th and 13Sth infan-
try. leading. The advance was made
in dense fog and soon it became
evident that it was going to be a
i! difficult matter to keep in touch with
the units OF either side. All the
usual modes of communication
failed. Signal flags, photographs and
flashes were useless on account of
the fog and for some reason the car
rier pigeons refused to fly. At
tempts were made to keep in COM
munication with keadquaTters will, ,
so that the first days fighting was
somewhat in the nature of free for
all. That night the men secur
what sleep they could. which was
very little, as the big guns were busy
the entire night; besides the ground
was cold and muddy and not con-
ducive to restful sleep.
From the prisoners taken in the
first days fighting it was found the
boys from Missouri and Kansas
were confronted with Ist and 5th
divisions of the Prussian guard with
the s3rd line division in reserve and
as these were considered the flower
OF the German army they knew that
they had stiff work ahead of them,
but the best Germany had to offer
could not break their morale and the
morning of the '27th found them
tired and sleepy, but eager to get at
the enemy.
The first days battle went we'll
with the division, but the second
day. September ,7, they did not
fare quite SO we'll The orders were
TO advance at $50 behind rolling
barrage as on the first day. but for
some reason the artillery could not
get into position during the night
and the advance was started without
the barrage. 1t was this failure of
the artillery to get into position that
Governor Allen. of Kansas, who was
with the Y. NJ c. A.. found so much
fault with. Part Of the 3sth was out
of the forest on high, open ground
and they paid heavy price for the
advances that they made as they
were under heavy machine gun fire
that it seemed would finally get
every man in the advanced lines.
But the day was saved by orders be-
ing issued to halt the advance and
dig in, which was done about 10
o'clock. In this engagement the
I2Sth machine gun battalion was at
tached to the Doth brigade. One
Missouri unit. the I3Sth infantry, ad-
vanced so fast that they found them
selves under fire, not only from the !
front. but from both flanks, and
were forced to retire to the main |
front of the division and dig in.
That night was spent in trying to |
get up ammunition and get the
wounded back to the dressing sta
tions. In the fighting the day be-
fore the units had become badly |
mixed and it was herculean task to
bring some sort of order out of the
seeming chaos. The roads to the
rear were choked with all sorts of
trucks, artillery. am
balances and field kitchens. So that
another night went by with but little
sleep for the weary boys. |
During the night the Germans
up a large force of fresh re-
serves and on the morning the 35th
was confronted with a comparative
ly fresh army. The advance was or
dered for 6:3o and this was the
bloodiest day of the battle. Only
about a mile and a half advance was
made and that at q terrific cost. The
guns were doing their best
to take the place of the artillery,
which, owing to the rough country
and torn up, congested roads, could
not always get into the proper posi-
hon 80
Sunday, the soth, the fourth day of
The battle, the 3sth was ordered to
at $50. The advance was
made through = sea of mud with .
eold tain falling. Il wa3 .. dreary
peospeet for the cold. sleeSy boys of
'he division, but they. wers eager 20 |