El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-12-22

this column daily during Lle next several
months Ioday's instalment. continuing
the general narrative. relates experiences
during the great battle OF the saint MI
1t IS Suggested that readers clip these
articles each day and paste them 10 scrap
books. they will not Be reprinted and back
numbers cannot be supplied
CEPTE8IBER Il 1 went up to within
-. 1000 yards of our front line; look
ing out from the edge. Of the woods
across an open space I could see the
German positions. No difficulty rea-
Izing the enemy's nearness for several
times on this trip was "braeksted'
by German artillery or under shell fire,
and had information from enemy
snipers that they had a message for
me.
Traversed the space Of three or four
miles between the jump-off trenches
of y September and the line five days
later when the Germans were still try
ing their best to prevent the Ameri-
cans from making their gains secure,
and on their own side were digging IN
for another long stay.
Crossing what had been the four-year
intrenched positions Of the enemy and
what had been No-Man's-Land the
thought constantly crowded ip that the
whole thing was utterly lImpossible:
men simply could not have advanced
over such a frightful place in the face
Of desperate enemy resistance. But
they did, somehow, do 1t, and there Is
not one who can tell now how he got
on the other side Of that stretch
Cut stone and steel-reinforced con
crete used everywhere through this
section by the Germans for trench
lining, machine gun emplacements, tele-
phone and observation posts concrete
dugouts far below the surface, 25 10
40 feet, roomy, and provided with
everything for comfort and enjoyment;
officers Command posts and recreation
rooms with pianos, and monographs
and libraries; endless trench and wire
system, the barbed wire a maze, on IRON
stakes short OF long and planted so
thhkly the whole area Intervening be-
tween trenches looked like a waste Of
blaclzthorn or catsclaw- While all this
region showed the effects Of our ar
tillerv fire, It was asserted that the
wire had to be cut by the attacking
echelons or got over in some way;
there were some wonderful instances Of
heroism in this phase Of the
advance.
The Germans had been in here a long
time and were making themselves at
home as If they never expected to move.
Passing into the woods beyond the open
country we found many evidences Of
the Germans hard fighting after haT-
ing been taken by surprise. Meals on
tables, barely touched; clothing and
personal and official papers scattered
about every which Why, letters half
personal portraits and keep
sakes wrapped IN dirty paper along
with bread and pocket prayers OF song
books; any amount Of ammunition Tor
small arms and emplaced artillery;
rows Of helmets IN a little shop where
some German had been idling his time
decorating them for his fellow soldiers
In an sorts Of weird camouflags de-
signs In barbaric col0rs, and had been
forced TO drop his brushes and flee,
he paint still wet on the steel bOnnets,
he artists work half finished; in one
rather elaborate command post, a vel
built cabin of several rooms with glass
n the windows, there stood, on a
table under q window, q little Christ
mas tree, perhaps 20 inches high All
decorated with fairies and stars and
-insel. coiored paper chains and figures
this was September, and maybe the
little tree had been there not one year
Iut two OF three
Through these woods infantry men
IF our division had fought their way
with heavy losses three days before, /
but the area was still under constant I
sarassing fire and the work OF clear
ng out German snipers and concealed [
machine guns, and burying the dead, I
lad not been finished. I saw many
German dead through these
woods and not a few American dead
wing where they fell
Under a German observation post IN
] tree lay three German corpses; some
useful American sharpshooting had
leen done there which had probably
saved many a good Texas and Okla
loma life German machine gun nests Z
Tere indicated by the corpses that lay
near, Germans and Americans both.
On a road, half a dozen c0rpses lay
mead TO foot IN the ditch, face down
ID the slime, four Germans, two Ameri- 7
ans; somebody had taken time 70 push
hem over out Of the way of the carts, I
lut no burial squad had come BY them
yet.
The battle-desd, after a short time,
ose almost all resemblance to human
beings; some, depending on how they
are hit, retain lifelize features, but
generally, and soon. they seem to
.hriYel into little piles Of foul rags
.uggssting nothing that ever lived and
jreathed. Through the thiekets, came 1
lpon the queer shapeless things, IN
stumpy black boots and field gray, OF
Shaki and puts all soggy in the rain, |
Utmost lost sight Of already.
We were walking along one Of the I
1erman narrow gage railways when /
re heard the familiar screaming of
.he rs coming our way from the
Enemy lines. The shells passed pretty
lose overhead and exploded - OF 30
Yards beyond us. As we walked the
ihells seemed to Be following us, COM
ny at regular intervals Of a few sec
luds and each time a little farther on
"a the direction we were walking. just
et them fall a little short and We
night be annoyed.
] started 10 60 in the direction the I
.hells were coming from, but at the
same moment the German gunners de- l
.ided to shorten their range a little /
md the shells commenced to explode /
ln the other side of me.
90