Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-21
BATTLEFIELD VISIT
BRINGS MEMORIES
Scenes of 1917 Recalled as
Legion Revisits Spots Hal
lowed by War.
By SIR PHILIP GIBBS.

By Cable to The Star and New York Times
ON THE OLD SOMME FRONT,
September 21.-Yesterday the Ameri-
can LegionnaireS made expeditions to
many battlefields forever sacred in
American history because of the valor
and victories OF their troops, and of
those of the dead who lie close to
where they fell on French soil. Most
of them went 10 the old sectors where
the American Army was most heavily
engaged--Chateau Thierry, Belleau
Wood ste Menehoulde and st. Mihiel.
But there We're some groups who came
northward by way of Amiens and
across the old SOmme battlefield TO
the country which was most familiar
10 me in the time of war and where
] first saw American troops in action,
fighting side by side with British divi-
sions.
Today there are few traces of that
scourge of war which once ravaged
this line front. 1t was hard for the
American pilgrims TO imagine that
endless desolations Uttered with ruin
and wreckage. of the internal battle
which for four years swept backward
and forward across this soil of France.
Trenches have disappeared. Villages
have been rebuilt. y harvest has
ripened where once this ground was
strewn with death.
Visit Historic Ground.
American men and women drove
along roads where. not much more
than 10 years ago, no man could show
his head above the earth and remain
alive. The truth is that onln by
IMAGINATION and remembrance can
one summon up those pictures of what
happened in the fields when masses
of men lay in the bitches of death
under frightful shelifire and fought
for every yard Of earth under bonn
bardment by heavy artillery and
through the deadly sweep of machine
gun bullets.
These American mothers, these girls
Of the Y. w. c. A. and the American
Red Cross, stared about them with
reverent eyes, knowing that they
stood on historic ground. but not for
them was there actual vision of wars
abominable drama. Only here and
there some quiet fellow stood alone,
thinking of old ghosts.
I remembered the first time I ever
saw Americans on these Somme bat
tlef1elds. It was in November, 1917,
before the American Army had come
a surprise attack and had captured
the village Of Gouzeacourt. ] hap
pened to be walking that way, and !
narrowly escaped capture before /
was aware of the enemy's position. 4
bunch of engineers shouted to me,
and I found they were Americans
who were working on light railway.
They explained the situation, while
German field guns dropped shells I'M
comfortably close.
Meets Americans on Front.
81 guess had close CALL" said one
of them from st. Louis, and he told
me he had seen the enemy advancing
quite close and was only aware of
his danger when a shell burst quite
near him and killed an English
Tommy by his side. One of his COM
rades. who came from Tennessee.
tall, lean. swarthy fellow. picked up
petrol tin and put it on his head as a
German airplane few low. using a
machine gun.
TITS better than nothing-as a steel
hat" he said, laughing loudly at his
little joke.
This amt in our contract" said
one of the American engineers, but
that afternoon he and his comrades
went outside their contract. They bor-
rowed English rifles and joined bat
talon of English guards, whom saw
marching up to counter attack,
munching apples as they came.
That bunch of American engineers,
among whom were some New Workers,
helped retake GouZeaucourt that day
and had some casualties. They were
the first American troops to fight in
IS %nId
was 1.-The dog-gonedest experience l
ever had and a mighty close call any
way"
Looks for Friends.
Yesterday I looked in the faces of
American Legionnaires, wondering
whether by any luck / should see that
man from Tennessee, whom | should
certainly remember, but / missed him
in the crowd, IL he was there.
looked also for one American
officer with whom / had q meal once
on a historic day in a cellar in Amiens
when that city was deserted by all
its inhabitants. after heavy bonn
bardment, and when the German
army was not far outside. Gen. Man
gin was with us and drank toast
to the American army, represented
by that young officer.
When I went to America after the
war I had another meal with that
officer, and it was exactly the same
as that In the cellar before the tide
of war had turned.
These old memories came surging
up in my mind today, but / seemed
a ghost among ghosts, and those days
of war seem now far back in his
tory belonging to some other life.
This thought was in the mind of
one man of the American Legion,
who spoke to me in Paris.
Il cannot believe" he said. "that
] once wore a steel hat and led my
bunch over German trenches. 1t
was some other fellow who was once
me-"
And yet I remember as though it
were yesterday that great battle in
which the twenty-seventh and thir-
tieth American Divisions, from New
York State and Tennessee, with North
and South Carolina men. attacked
the Hindenburg line, with Austria
Han and English troops, between Belle
Court and Bellenglise.
II was a Sunday morning in Sep
TENDER. 1918. There was a white fog,
so dense that one could not see gun
team ahead. / stood as though blind
folded in this mist, listening 10 the
terrific gunfire.
Mist Favors Allies.
The British troops had to attack
across a canal, using RATS and life
belts. but the Americans. higher up,
had to advance over dry ground,
under which the enemy had driven
deep tunnels, in which their bat
falions were safe from Shell fire.
They had large numbers Of machine
gun emplacements. from which they
could sweep our lines, and they be-
lieved their position impregnable.
The dense mist favored the Amer
leans and the British They stormed
the German positions. Smashed
through the Hindenburg line and
..a...oa xa,,+ 4ha M chine oin raStg he.