The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-01-24

Next morning we hiked to Dieue-sur-
Marine. where we stayed for three or
four DAYS. In the meantime big guns
pulled by big caterpillar trucks were
moving up all night long as we'll as
machine guns and equipment OF all
kinds, We made another move Their
I'M near Verdun to Belrupt, where our
battalion headquarters were located
We were shelled by the Germans the
dav we novel up and that night we
got almost two hours of 1T from thelr
long range guns. There was a Dig
battery of our naval guns about a
a mile back of us, mounted on rail-
way trucks, that they were trying to
locate or get the range OF and 1t
wasn't very comfortable to be close
to them. And they made some noise
when they answered the Germans, too.
We all slept we'll though with the ex-
ception of the sleep we lost over a
few bites from an unseen animal
coolies, l think, or flees, and the rats
were fierce, too. You could hear
them scamper around in the middle OF
the night and squeak, and they were
as big as cats and not afraid OF hu-
mans. l was awakened about 4 o'clock
by somebody saying, "hurry up; crawl
out, the boys are going over the top
at Z o'clock" And, believe me, l
scampered out, too. The barrage
started a half hour earlier and l wish
everybody at home could have heard
it, and it seemed as if they could.
For 80 minutes our guns shot tons
and tons of steel and %schrapnel into
the German lines. The Germans did
not or could not answer very strong
ly. and when the zero hour came (the
hour set for going over), the barrage
lifted and over we went. We had
about a mile. of swamp to cross and
then up hill on our left and down hill
on IL right. We did not meet any
resistance until we had gone about
half way across the marsh. Then we
got it good. The Germans had moth
ing but machine guns and artillery,
but that was plenty, and we afterward
found out that they thought this po-
sition could not be taken. Our boys
dropped pretty fast for awhile, but
they kept going. The prisoners soon
began to come in. Some old men and
some very young boys, but they had
some pretty good soldiers. Some OF
the Prussian Guard were opposite US,
They all seemed glad to be captured
One old man could not stay captured
1t vas very funny. He was captured
in a dugout first and started to the
real alone and everybody that would
see him would think they had a new
prisoner and would keep him awhile
until they decided a prisoner was toe
much trouble, especially when every
body had so much to do.
The Signal Corps did great work
They kept up perfect communications
all the time. We (the supply detach'
ment) had to see that plenty Of wire
telephones, rockets, batteries, buzzers
and dozens of other things were got
ten up to where they were needed ane
every one who happened to delive
wire would have to drive along ant
let the men string it from the real ent
of a truck. We had light Ford truck
for the purpose and at the beginning
of the advance the Fords FOLLOWED
right behind the first wave. We wer'
held up by the shell holes, trenches
barbed wire and a few million of 9th
er things and of course the infantr,
got quite a distance ahead of US; blu
of course the smaller lines were KEEP
going by our outpost company wit
hand reels, and these went right wit
the infantry. In the meantime tn
lines in the rear were being continu
ally cut into by shell fire and thu
meant that there would be no wor
over that line until it was fixed; an
it was only a matter Of seconds unit
it was fixed, but only another matte
of seconds until it was unfixed agai
These Germans were a nuisance. {
course we had our wireless to fall bat
on in case everything else failed, ar
we used it to its full capacity anywa
The Germans were rather weak
their air activities the first day. o.
boys brought down two of their o
%servation balloons or sausages al
they got one Of ours. That was e
citing. The Boche that got ours h;
tried all morning to get v e but o
Arches had driven him away, but
came this last time behind a clio
bank and was not seen until he start
to spiral and dive down on u bs
loon. 1t didn't take him long to 6
down and once within firing distan
he opened up with his machine G.
and a few seconds later the ballo