Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-05


slightly hurt, although the building
was dem olished. l was on the street
Immediately the first one came III
and watched the others strike
around the railroad station. Ter
rife explosions, but no material
damage.
On the twenty-siXth. our division
moved up to Narennes and | collect
ed the trains from the vicinity OF
the cross roads CroiX de Pierre, in
the ArSonne Forest. and moved
them out that night for n point
north OF Varennes and Petit Dourcil-
les. distance of 90 kilometeTs. The
mire was deep in the roads Gf they
could be called roads. as for the
most party they were over old trench
and shell holes). bad. raining and
dark. | remained all night at CroiN
dc Pierre. in the forest checking up
all trains as they went out, and
then back to Les Islettes and Cler-
mont to Petit Doureilles. The trains
were all night and next day in
reaching their destination, as the
roads were blocked with ammuni-
ton trucks going forward to the
artillery. While at CroiX de Pierre
had a French battery of 10-inch
rifles about 100 yards away and
had not the slightest trouble in
keeping awake. Our division con-
tinued the attack. but the Bosch
had been fortified very strongly,
having been in this sector for four
years, and he put up a most deter
mined resistance and the fight was
more bitter than along the Marine.
Some of their best and strongest
troops were brought up, and they
launched terrific counter attack.
AS a result of this counter attack,
the division on our right was forced
to give up some ground it had pre-
Niously taken, and having suffered
quite a number of casualties, it was
later relieved by the First Division.
This same counter attack cost the
Hun very dearly on our immediate
front, as the sector of the Twenty
Eighth held. and our machine gun
ners and artillery cut to pieces
whole Prussian Guard Division. In
holding even there we were forced
to give up Apremont to straighten
the lines and maintain touch with
the divisions on our flanks. The at
tack continued and we retook Apre-
mont and Chatel Chehery and the
approaches to Grand Pre-.
The End of the War
On October our division came
out of the line. being relieved by
the Eighty y-Second. and Il day or so
later the Seventy Eighth relieved the
Seventy Seventh. Ten main road
from Clermont to Narennes had two
large mine craters blown, which
caused considerable trouble in the
intensive traffic of supplies and
ammunition. which we were forced
to take over that one road. one of
the craters was 40 feet deep and 100
feet across. so that it was necessary
to build a new road around the hole
until heavy timbered trestles could
be built to carry the traffic. The
fields were too soft to use, and all
this caused much congestion; it took
hours sometimes to make Il trip to
the trains in my car. Then too the
road was frequently shelled, especial
ly at night, and sometimes trucks
were hit. which, of course. was an
other annoying thing. For some
reason, our losses in the trains were
less here than during the Marine
drive. and our animals came out in
better condition.
on the night of October ., 7 re-
ceived orders at midgnight to con-
Solidate the trains and move out.
but it was impossible to move over
assigned roads and another order
was issued at 2:30 changing the
routing so that some trains were
moving on one road and some on an
other and to two different points. 1t
took me all next day and night to
collect my charges, which l finally
succeeded in doing, however, at
BrizeauX, a town south of Les
Islettes and Futeau, by October H.
Remained at Brizeaux all night and
started the trains over previously
reconnoitered road via Waly, Autre-
court, Ippecourt, st. Andre, DeuX-
nouds, devant Beauzee. at which
place we bivouaced in fields and l
quartered in the Marie. On the fol-
lowing morning we proceeded via
Chaumont-Sur-A -Asne to Pierrefitte
without incident. l quartered with
a French family - father. mother
and daughter-and had a most COM
Portable room and good nights rest,
leaving on the morning of October
II, at a. m, via Rupt devant, st.
Mihiel, Koeur lie Petit, Sampigne.
Mecrin, Pont-sur- Meuse, Boncoutr.
II. Julien, and parked the trains in
fields along the road between the
last two towns. Being ahead of
trains, took advantage of my oppor-
tunity to run down to Commercv in
my car and see headquarters of the
Fifty-SiXth Brigade. which was then
at Vignot. The officers, including
myself, secured billets at LerouviIle.
where we comfortably quartered for
the night, having released the trains
at Boncourt before leaving and see
ing to distribution of forage for the
animals. 1t rained all the time and
mud was over everything. The divi-
sion was at once ordered into front
positions and, on October 10. our
headquarters moved to Noviant
Town shot UP and the billets rotten.
although 1 had about the best.
Damp, rain, mud. We STAYED in
Noviant until October 2S; in the
our P. c. was located at
Euvazin, our Fifty-Sixth Brigade
was in the front line. Fifty-Fifth in
reserve. Our town was raided by
air bombing planes. Our division
took over the whole front that had
been covered by the Thirty-Seve
Division, which had been on our left,
and we moved to German billets in
the Bois Jura, north of Heudicourt
and south of Vigneulles, on October
Is. We have been here ever since,
the woods have been shelled, but
none of my men hurt. We were
here on November 4 when the armi-
stice was signed and have been very
busy inspecting right up to the line.
Have been to Toul, also to Nancy
and Metz on military business and
we are now awaiting orders to move