Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1919-01-01
BATTLE IN Which
CARL MIDkIff FELL
CAPT. OF COMPANY WRITES AC-
COUNT OF TERRIBLE CONFLICT
IN ST. MIHIEL DRIVE.
BOYS FELL TO RIGHT AND LEFT
Account of This Battle VIII Give
Home Folks Some Idea Of What
the Boys Faced.

Reading an account OF the death or
Carl Midkiff in the papers some weeks
ago, Mrs. Edward Garst of Coon Rap
ids, Iowa, wrote letter to Mrs. Mid
kiff, stating that she has son who
is in the same division, the 35th, and
that the Captain of the company in
which her son was serving had writ
ten an interesting account OF the bait
tie in the ST. Mihiel sector, in which
Carl lost his life. Mrs. Garst sent a
newspaper containing the letter from
Capt. H. B. Dudley Of the 35th Divis-
ion. We give this letter in order that
our readers may be able to learn
some of the experiences our brave
lads passed through during those ter
rible drives on the western front dur
ing the last few weeks of the war.
Capt. Dudley writes as follows:
"The 35th was called into the st.
Mihiel drive as reserve force. We
were subject to she'll fire without Q
chance to fight back, but it was
cinch that the front line division had
very few casualties, so they ship
ped us anyway in trucks to the sector
opposite the Argonne Forest. Then
things began to pick up.
I'VE were inspected carefully and
fully equipped and September 23 1t
was announced that we were to at
tack on the 23rd as the front line d.
vision. We were told it was the
strongest position the Germans had;
that the French had lost thirty-three
thousand men trying to take it.
"The morning of the Gath was de-
tailed to go with the commanding Of
fcer as bridge liaison agent and scout.
| was to go out on the front lines, 10
cate them, note anything of import
ance, spot boche batteries and machine
gun nests and get the information
back to bridge headquarters so artil-
lery could clean them out. AS had
to cross open fields was under fire
continually from machine guns, rifles
and artillery.
Things started on the morning of
the 25th. Large shells dropped close
enough to me to cover me with dust.
saw men falling on all sides of me
but queer feeling came over me and
could see men killed and mangled
right before my eyes, and l never
stopped walking. By the end of the
second day, however, everybodys
nerves began to get frayed.
I'VE were driving ahead all the time.
but at a fearful cost. Because of the
| censor | can't tell the total loss, but
| the number was large, and the few
who came out alive never expect to
go through another scrap like that and
! get back I was slightly gassed twice
and knocked down by a she'll still
| feel the effect of the gas. but never
went to the hospital because they were
| crowded with severe cases.
by the end of the fourth day every
one was going ahead in a sort of
| coma--iust on their nerve. In Civ
| ing my reports l would have to re-
peat them two or three times, because
I couldn't talk with sense and the
other people couldn't keep their mind
on what l was saying. Oh, it was
ASltS. 90" iileh SlSSptuB III puu-
dies of mud. in shell holes, with their
head on their packs to keep them out
of the mud
1--WE had five days of this before we
were relieved. Some of the men didn't
get back for three or four days, they
were exhausted. l got back safely, by
the grace of God; that is the only way
l can account for it.
I've are resting in a quiet sector.
They are sending us new troops to fill
the division. The 139th infantry re-
ceived thirty-fve new officers to help
fill the gaps caused by the Argonne
hattie"