Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1919-04-24

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st. Die sector reaching there July
20. This was rather a quiet sector,
our only real battle being the cap
ture of Frapelle, a German strong
hold in the mountains, which we
helped to take. We did some work
after that Strengthening our posi-
lions. This was our first experience
under fire and we believe we made
a good impression. We also did
much camoufage work on the road
to the front lines and destroyed
considerable enemy barbed wire
positions. We remained in this sec
tor until August 22nd, then rolled
packs and hiked about eighty kilo.
meters to little town called ST..
!. Nabord. After few days Of drilling
there we moved to Villacourt where
we put in week of intensive train
ing. Sept. 10th, we started another
hike, all ignorant of our destination
Our hiking was done wholly at
night and it rained almost constant
ly. The roads we're very muddy, in
some places the mud was foot
=
deep. 1t was SO dark that the man
directly in front of you could not
be seen and now and then some UNI
fortunate fellow would get bad
fall by tripping in a bad spot in the
road or stepping off the road into
the ditch alongside. We hiked until
the morning of Sept. 18th, stopping
at the small village Of Martincourt.
Here we unslung packs, ate some
corn Willy and 'shard tack" then
got busy making some bangalor
torpedoes which are used for blow
ing up charged wire. We realized
then that something was going to
happen Tout Sweete fright away
We worked here until nightfall,
then partook ofsome hot coffee and
Gold Fish" When it became dark
we started again on our weary way
thru mud and water and kept going
until just about midnight. We had
just about halted when we were
greeted with a tremendous noise. It
seemed as though every large gun
in the world was firing at once.
This was the beginning Of the now
famous est. Mihiel drive" the first
all American drive of the war. We
were then divided into sections and
assigned to the different outfits in
division to do their Engineer
ing work. Some of us, with our
two Infantry Regiments who have
gained much fame and are now
known as the fighting 9th and l1th'
and some with our Artillery Regi-
ment the 10Th, Goth and 21st Field
Artillery, who have also gained an
enyiable reputation due to their fine
work throughout the war. About
twenty of the boys were with the
Tanks. Each hour the barrage in
creased and at A o'clock il the
morning when we entered the
trenches we had to yell at the top
Of our voice to be heard Dawn be-
gan to break about this time and
all the boys were on their toes
ready and anxious to go. Our ma
chine guns and automatic rifles OPP
ened fire and the barrage was In
creased to its fullest extent. It is
impossible to describe the noise,
the feeling Of excitement and the
anxious moments Of that last half
hour before going over. Then came
the zero" hour at FIVE o'clock and
the word was passed along the line
and the whistles blew and lover
the top" went the doughboys with
the Engineers almost directly be-
hind them. Nothing could stop the
9th and 18th that morning. They
fought like wild cats and had
Fritz running like a scared rabbit.
We advanced II kilometers during
the morning capturing many pris-
oners and guns. We advanced so
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