Evening star., 1927-09-18

1--WE must take Madeleine Farm or
the 1st Battalion will never reach the
Bois de Cunel."
And the doughboys took the farm,
one.third Of their electives lying out
there in the shellscarred field that
had been a placid expanse of pasture
aftermath Of an infantry charge.
Just one of the many incidents of
that great forward movement Of the
Meuse- -Argonne fight, nine years ago
this month, where American arms and
American soldiers demonstrated again
to the world their fighting efficiency.
while Germany tottered on the verge
Of anarchy, as victorious men in olive
drab pushed toward Sedan and a
Kaiser prepared for fight across the
protecting border Of Holland.
Just another scrap for the dough-
boys who took part In 1t. but one that
proved again to Germany that Ameri-
can determination and battle strategy
could overcome even the veteran
troops of Prussia in one of their most
strongly intrenched positions.
One Part of Carnival.
The Army is going to show civilian
Washington just what 1t means to be
in a scrap like that of the Madeleine
Farm on October 9, 1918, during the
Argonne push. And the Army is 60
ing to spread itself. take off the wraps
and shoot the works, to show just
what makes the wheels Of the military
machine go round.
The reproduction of the Madeleine
Farm flght is going to be just one
part Of the military exposition and
carnival to be held at the Army War
College September 80 and October 1.
Just one phase of the work Of the
military machine that Is poised for
fight or frolic. the protecting arm
around the Nation-in peace or war.
The Army is going to call into serv-
ice every factor in the varied and
manifold phases Of its work. and lay
them out before the eyes of Washing
ton, so that cross-section of the
work of the Army, in peace and grim
war, may be presented to those who
visit the carnival.
LAUNDERING tanks, all the manifold
agencies for dealing swift and certain
death, airplanes, bombs. machine
guns--all the implements that man
uses when he makes war-will be used
in the reproduction of the Madeleine
Farm fight, the most spectacular
part of the carnival, to be presented
four times during the two days of the
exposition.
The Army is to bring Capt. Cyreno
Brett to Washington to show what
nerve and skill can do with tank.
Brett will drive his five-ton steed Of
steel across a hidden mine, exploded
by contact, and the explosion will
move the ponderous machine clear
off the ground. He and his tank will
be in the forefront of the Madeleine
Farm scrap.
The Army is leaving nothing un-
done to show Washington what the
military Is doing and can do.
Proceeds of the carnival will go to
swell the Army Relief fund, for the
aid of relatives of soldiers.
How Army Became School.
Apart from the spectacular fea-
lures of the carnival. such as the
farm fight, air acrobatics, the antics
| OF the tanks. battery drill and caval-
ry stunts, the Army will show to
what extent 1t has been metamor-
! phosed into a school where almost
every phase Of training may be had.
Everything in the way of construc-
ton, from mammoth steel bridges
down to the delicate embroidery work
| done on flags at the Philadelphia
! Quartermaster Corps depot, will be
spread out in the booths that are to
| line the parade ground at Washington
| barracks during the two days of the
| carnival.
Several of the participants in the
| actual battle on the Madeleine Farm
! are to take part in the reproduction
! among them Capt. Turner Chambliss
| then q major, who foresaw that If the
| farm were not taken the American
attack on the height known as the
Bots de Cunel would not be successful
A few days earlier. a Washington
| boy, Lieut.. William Atwood Sheehan
had been killed in an unsuccessful at
tempt to capture the farm. His body
was found just a few days ago, buried
| In q shell.hole grave with six enlisted
| men on the edge of the Bois Ogons.
On the morning of October 8, while
the German defenders rested, secure
| in the knowledge of their apparently
impregnable position, American troops
massed quietly in the woods. A lone
battalion of the 30th Regular Infantry
suddenly debouched from the protect
ing woods and moved at dog trot
obliquely across the front of the farm
toward the Bots de Cunel, their OBJ
jective. Across ground that had beer
fought over before, they went for
ward while German steel and high
explosives bit gaps in their thinly
spread ranks.
isn't this as hot as the Marne?'
Chaplain sadler OF the soth asked
MaA Tho ,h1icR y