The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1919-03-12
CROSSWELL DAVIS
Tells FARNY LIFE
Hilgert, Germany,
February 4th, 1919.

Hilgert, Germany,
February 4th, 1919.
Dear Shelby
Well do know that this letter will
be surprise to the family, Of course
l have been thinking Of writing to
you but as q fellow invariably does,
Kept putting it off for another time.
Now that the Censor regulation are
rescinded ! am allowed to tell you
what ever ! may fest so disposed to-.
VI course you would have liked very
much to have been in the game with
the rest rf us. 1t was great sport
even as dangerous as it was. You
never gave tia thought as to how
dangerous an undertaking you were
gong into. Some times a fellow
would run into an incident that would
make him feel awful funny. Can't
say that | was ever really scared;
but many are the times when had
a lonesome feeling, as best | can de-
scribe it, caused from not knowing
| whether you would ever get back to
tell the tale or not. One never felt
scared but he felt as if the whole
world had deserted him. 1t is feel
| ing that cannot be described, all you
| can say is that you have had that
| feeling at some time or other, that
is if you were in the war and not in
the S. O. S.
| From the first day the Americans
took over the Fronts, January 18th,
1919, to the signing Of the A,'nistice,
we sure were kept busy. From one
front to another. On January 18th,
the fighting first took over the front
known as the Lorraine Sector and
there we stayed until April 3rd. Of
course there was not much doing in
this Sector as the Boch and French
had as it seemed an agreement among
themselves not to fire at each other
But before we left there they knew
that things were going to change
IRON the Lorraine we went to the
Montdidier Sector, which was only a
short distance from the ground that
the English were holding and the
same place where the Germans made
their June push, that looked as if
they were going to reach Paris. The
ground that we took over in the
Montdldier Sector was known as the
Cantigny fortification, it was at this
place that the Americans made their
first offensive, and very successful,
1T was. 1t waa town that the
French had beeA trying to regain for
two years. On the morning of May
2Sth, the Americans went over the
top" at the break Of day. For the
next two days the Americans repulsed
twelve counter attacks made by the
Germans trying to regain the lost
ground And it was here that the
Germans first realized that the con-
temptible American Army could
really fight. For not one inch of the
ground was ever gained back by the
Germans. Every time they made a
counter attack they were repulscd
with heavy losses and routed in dis
orCer.
From Montdidicr we went to Sois-
sons where we pulled the Scissors
drive from July 18-23rd. Scissors is
Just to the West Of Chateau Thierry
where the Germans made their last
futile attempt to reach Paris. The
Germans were driving at Scissors
when we sailed in with four divisions
Of Americans and turned the tables
This sure was some battle. Anyone
who did not see it would not believe
that the Americans had three inch
field pieces lined hub to hub across
the wheat field, only about three
thousand yards from the infantry.
and directly behind them. about two
thousand yards were six-inch field
pieces lined hub to hub. From the
battery positions one could see the
infantry in motion as they went for
ward. These field pieces would be
advanced as fast as the infantry
would gain ground. All around the
positions one could zee dead Dutch
men laying on the ground that the
Americans had crossed. From this
drive to the end the Americans did
not let the Germans have one day Of
rest. At night the whole sky woult!
be in a solid flame from the discharge
of the guns. 1t would look as if
the whole sky was on fire.
From Soissons we next went to
Mont Sec, the strong fortificaton
where the French lost forty thousand
men in day, trying to capture this
hill from the Germans. They cap
tured Mont Sec in 1914 and held it
for two hours, and the rcsult was
that it cost them forty thousand men,
then they fell back and it has been
in the Germans hands until the
Americans came along on the 11th
! of September. There was a barage
put, over by sixteen hundred guns,
each gun firing eighty shots every
minute. This barage started at $50
a. m. on the morning Of the 1lth, and
, lasted until II a. m. the same day.
SO you can readily see why the Ger
! mans were unable to stay any Longer.
! 1t is impossible for the human mind
to grasp the truth of the above state
! ment, bat when fellow sees thinr
,, he can some time believe it, If !
should tell you some Of the things
that really happcncd, you could not
really believe them for they are be-