Gunnison news-champion., 1919-06-13

the gun crew includes Corp. Chas-
Il. BAN Of Quartz creek. in our
county, 80 that IN reading il. We
are following the adventures Of
one Of our own Gunnison county
boys.
Manufactured and proven q; the
French shops AT PuteauS late in 1917,
the "Gia Monster" was isued to the
Third Section of Battery A., Iss;h
Field Artillery tArTny Artillery, for
merry Colorado National Guard) n
LibOurme, France, early in the
spring Of 1915. At this time the G..
+. = gun was merely French ex-
pertinent, combining the proven quail
tiles Of the little French 49, the
long Schneider gun. and the French
$50. In n few weeks this gun had
completed her range tests and was
taken into position at Auclain, six
miles southeast Of Chateau I hierry,
tatiached 10 the French arIuy,) to
take her place in the line of patriots
which was TO block the Hun in his
autrociOus drive across France. In
this position she battled away. blow
ing up Boche munition dumps. tearing
up highways and lines Of communica-
tions, and raising all the general dis
turbance possible on the other side of
the line. ntil on the memorable night
Of July II, 1918, when the carefully
arranged schedules Of the war lord"
denoted that u was time for the start
Of the biggest and fiercest barrage of
the war-Ihe drive that would smash
the whole allied line, capture Paris
and render the whole world slaves TO
Hohenzollorn kulture.
The arrangements had been care
fully, completely, and accurately
made: me enemy had all the neces-
sary data pertaining to every gun
position on the west side OF the line.
and the Necessary troops and ammu-
milton to carry out their plans. Ire
barrage began at midnight and Tor
fourteen hours the murderuus fire of
German s-inch gun fell around the
position of the ella Monster A
very slight shift in the elevation OF
any Of the shells would have destroyed
the gun and her crew.
But she was busy with l2 groups
of Huns who were trying to span the
river with pontoon bridges. and when
the light artillery, twelve hundred
yards away, destroyed their guns and
fell back. she still belched out her
two tons of high explosive per hour.
On the 5ioth minute of the drive, the
Boches were scheduled to occupy our
position and the town of Montmirail,
nearby. The 5ioth minute came and
the ella Monster" fired on. French
and American artillery filed past by
the thousands, but the gun never even
slowed up her cadence of fire. The
barrage Of krupp heavies became
barrage of light field pieces, and the
put-tut-tut-tut of the machine guns
began to sound out thru the heavy
artillery roar. The Germans had
crossed the Marne.
II was then that Marshall Foch.
with both fianks shattered, and the
center giving way, decided to attack.
Orders came from the heavies to keep
the Marne free from pontoons and to
cover the fartherest bank of the river
with shells. For Y hours. the "Gila
Monster covered her section of the
river, taking complete care of 16 diff
ferent targets at one time, sending
hundreds of Huns and thousands of
dollars worth of material to the sandy
bottom of the Marne, which was al
ready flowing red with human blood
AZ dhN hiIhs the HTSt
hours the tube of the gun was hot
enough to fry eggs or steaks "well
DONE" and on several occasions it
had to be filled to cool it sufficiently
to load without exploding the powder.
then the smoke drifted away, we had
10000 prisoners and several hundred
captured guns. The tide had turned
and the ella Monster" moved across
the river to Vaux (then pile of
ashes and stones.) entering the west
side as the Germans vacated it on the
east. Here the crew had to bury
some rs or 80 "good" Germans and
several boys in khaki in order to make
the positions habitable. In a few
hours we had filled our mission there
and the "Gila Monster" went to Bezu,
opened fire Under direct observation
Of German sausage" balloon, was
shelled with high explosive, shrapnel
and gas, carried out her progress
without hitch in spite of these OBJ
stacles, and passed on by her targets
Of the day before, into a vacated Hun
position at Beauvardes. This move
also was made at night, thru shell-fire
and gas, and without moon. stars, or
artificial light of any kind. but after
four hours of almost superhuman ef-
fort on the part Of her crew, thru
mud hub-deep, and crew wearing gas
masks) the old Hun exterminator was
in her place, well camouflaged, and
waiting for firing data Soon it came
and during the % hours which fol-
lowed, the "Gila Monster" dropped
over sixteen tons Of high explosive
shell into Fereen-T Tardeenois, then one
Of the most important bases of Ger,
man supply.
As unit performs the missions, it
is given harder missions to perform,
and our "hero' was moved into Death
Valley near Gerry -Chartreuve, force
ing gap in the second line of infant
ry. To those who have seen Death
Valley and the constant rain Of shells
and gas which poured into it, q mere
mention of the place is sufficient,
but for the uniformed. II 1ixht he