Evening star., 1920-02-08

which received the approval Of the
high command.
"Accordingly. after the withdrawal
of the tanks from the st. Mihiel sec
tor. Lieut.. Higgins with his platoon
of the 344th Battalion. Tank Corps
was directed to proceed from this
point in 4 northwesterly direction
along the lines via narrow gauge rail.
| way He was to stop each night and
make a reconnaissance in front of ouI
positions with his tanks: and imme-
| diately load up and repeat the opera
tion the following night further down
the line.
"On the 18th of September the Ave
| expedition started. That evening they
| stopped in the rear of a little wood
many kilometers west of st. Mihicl
off Of the tricky little narrow-gauge
fat cars trundled the tanks and nosed
into the woods for concealment. About
Il o'clock all was ready and the min
:ature army started forward on its
mission. Everything went Off as
scheduled. The tanks rolled through
our positions and into no mans land
for half an hour. After this they
were quietly withdrawn, crawled back
| on their little narrow gauges, and
started merrily on their way. They
timed their work perfectly, and as
Fthey pulled out terrific barrage hit
effect of this bombardment was to
| elate the spirits of the adventures,
who suddenly realized how much they
were worrying Heinie. From that time
on the expedition became for them a
| picnic. True. it was loaded with dan
! ger. hardships and worlds of hard
work. but picnic nevertheless.
| The following evening the pro-
| cedIre vas repeated. Again the bar
! rage descended too late to hurt the
ion in,
| of bursting shells was greeted with
/; ieers and shouts of derision as the
rafting. humping little train car
| ried them toward the next nights
adventure.
For six successive nights the
troupe staged their one-night stands.
and the reports all along the sector
showed that the Hun was up in the
air. All day long the sky was full
of planes searching for the army of
concentrating on this front. All sus-
picious-looking. places were bonn
| barded with the usual Hun thorough
ness and intensity. All night long
the darkness was dfspelled by hum
dreds of flares and rockets. and all
not going to be caught mapping
again. Best Of all. just as the little
band was preparing to entrain to
get into the big show in the Argonne
there came a message from the in
telligence section stating: Two Ger
man divisions withdrawn from Ar
gonne front. Entraining for your
sector
How the little outfit got back to
the big show, arriving at $3.50 on the
go in to connect up between the 35th
and 91st Divisions and. incidentally,
to cover itself with fame and glory.
is another story. The expedition was
| over. It's object had been accom-
plished. not a shot had it fred nor
| worn out. unshaven. dirty. but su-
| premely happy. they loaded their
tanks, curled up under them, and
never realized that the bumpy. noisy,
| rattling. jerky little narrow gauge
that was puffing them back to the
hig battle was less to be desired as
| sleeping couch than the once well
| known feather bed"
Gallant Record Of Our Army.
AS an inspiration to the young men
now entering the Army to conduct
! themselves so that their successors
may point with pride to the history
they are making in this day: the war
Department is publishing broadcast
an article on THE Old Army and the
New" written by Mai. Henry W. Daily.
! a man who has been connected with
/ the Army for almost three score years
and ten. "The article is real history.
says an official bulletin, "and not
mere narrative. Mai. DAILY has writ
tribute to the Army. 1t is as graphic
and compelling as a romance of the
| wars of old. 1t opens a door to the
corridors of history and gives US a
| glance at the records of greatsAmeri-
can achievements"
iclo hiDh1v nraigad fol.
| lows:
| .sWhat a wealth of memories does
not it conjure up-the old guard that
| fought the Indian and the outlaw in
the reclamation Of our western from
tier from the Missouri river to the
shores of the Pacific and from British
| Columbia to the Gulf Of Mexico
known in our biographies in the days
! following the civil war. 1865, as the
great American desert, distance
! Francisco measured by rail of 2.197
| miles. and north and south from Van
couver. Wash. by way of st. Louis to
Galveston. Tex. OF 1926 miles. This
vast territory was practically with
out fence, over which roamed many
tribes of Indians and countless thou
sands of buffalo.
very few men of the present gen.
| Grafton stop to consider the wonder
| full achievement of the American peo-
| pie tnat IN tAe lapse OIL HalI Il CEN
tury has organized this vast domain
into states filled with thriving cities.
busy with the hum of commerce and
enjoying the fruits of civilization
days when their fathers and fore
fathers braved the dangers of the
desert and battled with the Indian
and the outlaw to find homes for
themselves and their children-days
when the pony express Gs6D ran by
relays between Atchison. Kan, and
San Francisco. entailing Journey of
/ fifteen days.. to be followed by the
Concord coach and locomotive. when
to protect emigrant travel the gov
ernment established frontier posts.
garrisoned by our little Army of
IS, 900 men, that included twenty-five
regiments Of infantry and ten Of cav
alry-days when the call OF the bugle
sounding boots and saddles kept
| the troopers of the old horse regi-
ments in the saddle night and day as
onward they rushed across the Santa
Fe and Oregon trails to relieve dis
tressed emigrants surrounded by en-
circling Indians.
DAYS when the troopers menu
| card read hard-tack that required an
| h.no1x colt nnrlr with UraeD