Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-11-04

! of unusually great honor and ls
awarded only to units as a whole,
where the yalor and activities of
such units are such that the indi-
vidual members thereof would be
/ entitled to the croiX-de- guerre.
The colors of the fourragerc are the
same as those Of the CrUix-de- guer-
re. 1t must be distinctly borne in
mind however, that those entitled
to wear the fourragcre are not en-
titled to wear the crOiX de. guerre
unless individually cited for the
| latter decoration. as the fourra-
gerc is a collective decoration and
! the crOiX- de-guerre is an individual
one.
IlOw the marines were cited for
the fourragere has been ably told
bv Brigadicr General A, w. Cat
lin. L. S. NJ.
"The backbone of the German
resistance was broken on the night
| of June 9Th. when Siblcy went
through Eelleau Wood and Robert
son walked into Bouresches, but
there still remained much to be
done. We held the town and the
lower edge of the wood, but it was
at best but a precarious foothold.
! The enemy remained in force toI
J the north of the town. his machine
guns were still thick in the greater
part of the wood, and his biz guns
| still Numbered from back of Torcy
| He was daunted by our first rush,
| but he came back, II took the ma
rines many DAYS to finish the lob,
but finish it they did.
ION June eth fighting recon-
menced with more intense fury,
and our losses on that day were
even heavier than on the 9Th. We
lost a series of battalion attacks
against the forces in the woods, be-
sides the constant fighting for local
positions, and the REFUSING Of
counter attacks On that day, Sib-
ley's men resumed their rushing
of machine gun nests and. their
strenuous hand to hand fighting.
AT the peep of day they were
up and at them again as though
fresh from 1.-The billets. 1t was
a matter Of thrusting the whole line
northward through the woods, and
into the darksome NAV they
plunged, straight into its Dantean
horrors. There was no respite. The
enemy machine gun fire became
more deadly after they had pene-
trated to some little distance, butt
| they had to keep going. When
they could, they dug little rifle pits
for themselves with the small
trench tool carried in the kit, as
slight shelter against that wither-
| ing fire. When fatigue became
greater than could be borne, menI
curled up in shell holes or crevices
in the rocks, or in the shallow
trenches they dug, hoping for al
brief respite, only to be rushed by
the uproar of a new conflict or the
nearby bursting of shell. Occa-
sionally gas was poured into the
wood. and that meant fighting mi
masks. None but the finest type
Of soldier could have stood up tol
all this and continue to make
progress. They took those machine
gun nests. one after another, and in
some cases were able to turn them
on the Germans.
Artillery at Disadvantage.
"Our artillery was at a disad
vantage in not knowing lust how
far our men had penetrated. but
gradually. with more complete in =
formation. our shell fire improved. !
The guns co-operated when thew i
could. eventually hurting more than
; 600 high explosive and gas shellsI
into the woods and cleaning the
heights
"Fiehting on in those treacherous
woods subject TO thanking fire and
in constant danger of ambush. the
marines continued ia advance re- |
eardleSs Of fatigs,,a and LOSSES mn
fiji thew held another ouorter of q |
mile Of the woods and the advance
was halted The new nosition wasl
CONSOLIDATED with the helm of the
engineers and food and anmuni.
ton were sent in.
AS a result of the fighting on
June 9TH all along the line. tho
Americans advanced tbeir nos;tion
over a six-mile front.
To the men in the woods fight
ing most Of the time snatching
sleep when they could the suc-
cessi0n of night and dav was hardly
noticeable and there were few Who'll
could have told how long they had
been fighting
"And So tho hattie continued
with our bows cdging their way
slowly ahead in The forest the
CHASTITY dead living all about them.
COMPANIES that had entered the
battle $50 strong dwirdled 10 fiftv
or sixty with a sergeant or a cor
poral in command: but with burn
ing eyeballs and drawn faces, they