Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-03-10
TELLS PART 56TH REGIMENT PLAYED

and upward were ranged there and |
when the attack started on Sept. 26 |
at 1920 at night the field artillery was
so close that it was literally wheel to
wheel. Here where the French said
was an impossible situation the Ameri- |
cans started the Germans on a back
ward move that never stopped. The
advance was so fast that the supply
trains could not keep up, they never
had any more than half rations, the
principle staple being canned salmon.
with occasionally canned beef and
perhaps hot coffee once a day. Every
man was wet to the skin all the time,
there was no change of clothing. The
men would struggle forward, drop in
the mud and fall fast asleep. The
Germans massed everything they had
against them. But the Americans
fought on, weary, dumb, apathetie,
thin and pale, until it was a wonder
! they could move a step farther. Burial
squads could not begin to keep up
with the work, bodies lay for days in
the mud, and the stencil from gas and
| the bodies of horses and men was in
describable. When the advance stop
ped with the armistice the Americans
| had just about reached the limit of
| their endurance.
| Speaking of the losses in battle,
| Captain Ganey said the first division
| was replaced 200 per cent. which
means they We're twice wiped out. The
| Goth division lost 10000 men in two
stands, aud he saw the nth division
practically wiped out at Chateau
| Thierry.
Captain Ganey spoke bitterly of the
| treatment given the seth regiment
when they We're sent back to Brest.
| They might have been sent through
| Paris but they were shunted around
for three days through France in
freight cars, 60 men to q car, too
| crowded for more than a few to lie
down at a time, so that they couldn't
see Paris. Reaching Efest, they were
marched out to tents with no floor OF
| stoves in them, mud inside the tents
over their shoetops, up to their knees
outside. He had heard guards shout
for help to get men out who got stuck
in the mud. They were not allowed
to use their own kitchens and that
whole camp of $4,000 men was served
by just ten kitchens. Men stood fol
! two or three hours to get such measly
food doled out to them that if the
same were served to conyicts, someone
would lose his head for it.
And men treated this way We're the
ones, said Captain Ganey, before whom
!
: nation ought to bend the knee. Sucl
! was the gratitude they experienced.
On Christmas day they were march
, ed down to the battleship South Da-
!, lota loaded coal all day, We're sivei
a little coffee at II o'clock at night
| worked some more and nothing to ca
till O'Clock the next afternoon. WheI
they We're told they could walk bacl
: to camp. Anybody who says tina
> Crest was anything but a public scan
:, dial, declared Captain Ganey, ought Il
lose his head for it. The men neve
kicked against necessary hardships
. but there was much. that was unneceS
! sats.
= Speaking of the American genera
, Headquarters at ChauInont, Captain
! Ganey said that the American reegula
. army officers were as thick as file
) there, but just before the day of tn
q armistice groups Of regular army Off
| GERS We're sent up and attached to tn
: fighting regiments. The captain ais
q said that it would always remain a
Y unansw question in his mind VIII
i division after division was sent in t
q the attack in the last day or two whe
| it was perfectly well understood anon
the leaders that everything was a
a over.
t The 56th was occupying the south
n ern end, the Germans the norther
= tn5 of the Town of Lourzy, when tn
d armistiee went into effect on NoYen
y Der 18th.
d No one man can realiz3, said Car
Y tYin Ganey. whit it is 10 lie undo
shelIfre, the terrorizing .Iiect. Aftt
S IN hour of II there is nG more tigf
e left in a man. The Germans VIII
S were taken prisoners ware in stat
d of surgical shock after the terrif
d fire of the American artillery.
u The captain paid a glowing tribut
d 20 the wondal full manhood that Amer
= ica put forth, the sheer courage thu
k cd what hal to be dtnc and man
y times each day surpassed The fea1
: Of ThermopE.ae and Btlan lava.