The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-02-04
Soldier Letter
Segendorf, Germany,
January 4, 1919.

! papers dHy lulllS NE MdIlutS nave
done, with the exception of Chateau
Thierry and Belleau Woods, 1 thou
ght perhaps it would be interesting
to the public to know some facts
about us. 1t has been said the only
reason anything was ever published
in connection with the great work OF
ping of the German drive to Paris.
Never has anything been said about
the Marines in the ST. Mihiel drive.
in Champagne or the Argonne Meuse
sector. In all these drives we met
the Prussian Guards. The Germans
knew we were there, and by learning
the great lesson of their lives at
| Chateau Thierry from the Marines,
they had put their best against us.
In the New York Herald paris
edition) we saw where the President
had addressed the heroes of Chat
eau Thierry, st. Mihiel and the Ar
! come at Chammont, France, Xmas
Day. We were in all those drives,
| taking the brunt of them, but we
didn't get the credit, simply because
after the armistice was signed W
| hiked 219 miles to this place, about
ten miles from the Eastern banks of
| the Rhine, where we spent Xmas
! Day. About ten days after we came
out of the st. Mihiel drive. we were
called to champagne. The French
! had been driving the Germans back
| for several days, when they struck
/ Somme. They captured it, but could
not advance further; then the Ger
mans regained the town. 1t changed
hands several times in the next few
| days. Finally the French recaptured
| the town and held it. After that, in
four hard pitched battles, they tried
to advance beyond the town. They
were repulsed each time by the Ger
| mans, who inflicted severe losses on
| them. Finally they called on the
Marines to do the job, for we had
proved ourselves at Chateau Thierry,
Belleau Woods, scissors and st.
Mihiel.
| On the night of Sept. 30th we hik-
ed into Somme; as we hiked along
the road shells were bursting all
around, bullets were whistling over
head. the rat-tat-tat of the machine
guns, and the constant flow of
French wounded passing US. Some
of them were very still, as if dead,
while others as we passed would
murmur quietly. 1t comes to my
j mind now as we passed one of the
| Frenchmen, he murmured, 20, la la,
sweet la Ia" No doubt he was
thinging of some of the happy days
he had had, and if he would ever
have another happy time. The same
thought, no doubt came to every 9TH
er man besides myself as We march
ed into Somme, for we knew what
the Germans had done to the French
and that we had a tough lob ahead
of us.
We arrived at Somme, and every
body was told to dig himself in well
and to keep camouflaged, as we
would stay here the next day, before
| going over the top on the next. Well.
| Somme was nothing but few walls
! standin4g, and the REST. of the h13aaE
ings were all battered down. The
iplatoon l was in went to a great big
hole, and dug in. 1t was sandy, and
the holes would fill up about as fast
as We threw the sand out. Mean.
while the Germans had started tc
drop shells right into the town.
Twas on watch from II p. m. to l p
m. While watching for anything
that Nigh turn up, Frenchmar
came by was standing on the roaC
and he cautioned me to get into the
hole. as a German sniper would gel
me if didn't Well, 1 thought thai
was the best place for me to do my
fduty, so 1 said 1 was going to stay
there. Well, pretty soon one Of
those machine guns started its rat
tat-tat, and the bullets started whis
Ting around me. Naturally I dropp
ed into the hole, and cautioned the
next man about it.
The next day we laid around in
those holes, hungry as bears. The
lGermans were still keeping up theil
/ q
bunch of men went out on the roaC
to perform some duty, and the enemy
dropped a shell almost into them
One of them was killed, and all ex
cept one were wounded. We band
aged them up the best we could, anc
the stretcher bearers took them tt
the rear. That night we got some
chow; it was certainly great. The
Captain told us we were to go ovel
1.-THE top in the morning, and he SAID
for everybody to get as much rest az
started, and we were already to go
The next half hour was hell turned
loose Our guns opened up in a con
slant booming, and the Germans re
turned it. At $50 a. m. we went
over the top. We saw signs Of
where the Frenchmen had failed BY
the number of dead strewn thick up
on the ground. We drove the Ger
lmans out of their trenches, captur
ing many of them. AS we would ad
vance, the Germans seemed to have
known it, for they shortened the
range of their guns so the shells
would drop among our troops. We
drove ahead, and at noon had ad
vanced four kiiometers. We helc
an old German trench, land it was al
lthese positions, for we had gotten II
pretty good place. All day long the
lGermans had been firing at us from
our TANKS. That night we found
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