Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1919-03-26

for q rest but instead OF rest we went
to- the ArgOnne Forest to- start a big
drive. was driving team which
has been my job ever since We drove
two days IN the day time and then we
drove nine straight nights from { to s:
In the morning. On the tenth night we
went into position and then we hauled
munitions to the guns all night long
for three nights. The next night about
III o'clock we started big barrage and
all we could hear for the next nine
hours was one steady roaring OF the
guns. That night we drove the Ger
mans out Of where they had been for
three years and / guess it was one Of
the greatest surprises they ever had.
They had some dandy dugOuts there
and some nice beds to sleep in Just like
q real home. The next morning we
moved ahead. We were about the first
artillery to move up. TWAS a One-way
road and they would not let us back
with the horses until the artillery was
all up SO we stayed by the guns with
the horses overnight. It took all the
next day to open up the road and by
that time the Germans had retreated
some more so we moved the guns still.
farther up At this place we cot shelled
quite little and bombed some. We
lost q few men and also some of our
officers. Our Colonel was wounded in
the leg and had to have his foot re-
moved just above the ankle. He re-
turned to the u. s. short time ago.
Inc rest Of the time we were at this
front we. kept the horses up close to
the guns all the time. We drivers were
shelled quite bad the last night we were
at the front, but as luck would have it
no one was hurt. We were relieved
from this front about the middle Of
October and went by train to the
Flanders front in Belgium. It took
two days to make this trip. We I'M
loaded at Ypres which at one time was
q large city but after being on the
battle front for four years it is nothing
but shell holes, a few dugouts and few
pieces Of stone wall left from some of
the buildings. We started across No
Mans Land, a strip about 10 miles
wide, where the front has been most Of
the four years. The road we travelled
on was kept in fair shape but the land
was in awful shape The shell holes
were so thick that we could not ride
a horse across the fields There wasn't
building to be seen and all the trees
were cut off so nothing but stumps
remained This was at the time when
people thought the war had ended and
the Germans had retreated few miles
on the other side of No Mans Land. 1t
was the latter part Of October when we
went into our first position We were
kept busy day and night keeping up
with the enemy from then on until the
armistice was signed. We. were not
shelled as much as in FRANCE but we
were bombed nearly every night Of the
week. The last day of the war we were
supposed to fire at 9.15s but at; 8 o'clock
the orders came to cease firing all along
the front. In some places in Belgium
some of the families never left their
homes but when the Germans came
along they took their horses and cows
away from them and made them work
for the Germans. am in France now
waiting to go home, but it seems to
take longer to get home than it did
to end the war. I have no hopes Of
getting home this month, but we might
make it in April. They are sending
the casuals and the divisions that came