Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-22

lHe rngllSn, VINO are lellluR N'u VI" All
the fighting and of the Americans who
cannot get over to help you. At present
there are but nine divisions of them in
France and most Of them are not fight
ing. When the French read this last
statement they laughed for sure, for
they well knew that there was far more
than nine divisions Of Americans right
on that front Mt the moment and wait
ing to cut loose at the enemy.
Soon all tho guns were laid. the tele-
phone lines established and all was in
readiness to start firing Up to this time
it had been the most peaceful rest fs
the men at the guns that they had had
as yet. 1t was almost impossible to be
lieve that the regiment was only short
distance from the front line trenches.
There was virtually no firing on the
part Of the Allies and little on the part
of the enemy. When they did fire their
shells fell far to the rear of the gun
positions. 1t was here that the regiment
met with more fatalities.
Supply Company Loses Men
The supply company base and the
regimental echelon had been placed just
to the rear of the Croix de Pierre cross
roads and on the night of September
a, Jerry cut loose on that place. The
shells. however. fell in the regimental
area. A number of the supply company
had pitched their shelter tents under
large tree. Just after they had turned
in. dead tired after strenuous days
work. the shells began falling near the
cross roads. They seemed far away. so
the men remained where they were when
one suddenly fell right near the tree
Cries for help and first aid soon
reused the camp. and First Sergeant
Harry p. Minnich rushed out to find
that some of them were seriously
wounded. He. with the help of some
others. carried them to the road. and
hailing an ambulance. got PriRtes Vic
tor Dawson. of Bellefonte. IA. and
Russell Confer. of Howard. Pa. on
board. He then went back to look
around. despite the fact that shells
were still falling close and that thcr"
was plenty of gas in the air. and
found that Wagoners Edwin Brooks
and Charles Doll had also been hit and
instantly killed. At the same time c
Battery lost Private J. Fl. Van Meter
when a shell landed near the main
ammunition dump.
This shelling made il extremely diff
ficult to get the large amounts of am
munition necessary up to the guns. for
the Germans seemed to know the loca
ton of the little railroad and continued
to send harassing fire at frequent in
tcrvals. There were no engines on this
road and the hauling power was men
or horses. As the Germans used
plenty of gas. it made gas masks nee
essary when passing along the valley,
and thus greatly retarded the work.
Despite this. the men worked like Tro
jams and by midnight of September -
all the necessary powder and shell were
close to the guns. The trees had all
been cut and wired in, position by II
company of the 1O3d Engineers. and
now at given signal the wires were
slashed and the way clear to work.
Big Guns Open Up
The hour given for the regiment to
start was . 80 a. m. About .. heavy
firing was heard on the left. and as the
time crept along so the sound of guns
came nearer. BY the appointed time it
had reached us and our guns and all
others in our sector opened up. Never
will any one forget that sound. | had
thought had hcakl the noise of a
barrage. but what I had heard pre-
viously was as cap pistol besides a
cannon. 1t was deafening, to say the
least speech. was impossible. And the
roar was continuous, for it was said
later that if all the guns crowded in
that one little sector could have been
placed hub to hub they would have made
line two miles long.
, ] looked down the valley behind us
it was one continuous sheet of fire
Back of us were the los. to the real
more 155s. like ours. and back of them
still larger guns. and so on. all firing
at once and all firing as fast as pos
sibe. And even above the roar of the
guns one could hear that whining
shrek of the shell in full fight, ant
fortunately for us all going and none
coming
Until nearly noon the next day tn,
firing kept up. the range constantly in
creasing. Then word came back thai
the infantry had advanced and reached
their objective, meeting no resistance
When we later saw the ground over
which we had fired we did not wonder
that the Germans had fed without
! fighting, for those who stayed did MOI
last long. Great dugouts were smash
ed in three or four shells having land
ed in one place-iust mass of she
holes and absolutely unattentable. s,
accurate and well planned had been
the firing that no place had been left un
touched where the enemy might fnt
shelter. while some of the holes made b,
the shells from the great guns at oul
rear were large enough to put al
ordinary house into and still have room
to spare.
BY noon all was quiet. except fo