The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-11-15
enYears After TheFinalDrive

On the first day his corps stepped
right out through the woods and up
gullies for an advance of nearly six
miles through machine-gun infested
positions until the Barricourt Heights
were in their hands before nightfall.
1t was the rapidity of the advance
made on the opening day by the Sec
ond and Eighty-ninth divisions that
forced the Germans to relinquish their
hold on Buzancy Heights, just to the
west, the following morning to escape
being trapped in retreat.
*##
The Third Corps, on the extreme
right, commanded by Gen. John J.
Hines, had but a short advance to
make and made it without trouble.
With the Texas and Oklahoma troops
of the Ninetieth division and the Fifth
Regular Army division they simply
wheeled eastward against the Mouse
river, driving the Germans from one
dominant crest and making ready to
cross to the east bank of the river at
Brieulles.
Meanwhile, cooperating with the
Americans, a French army that in
cluded in its ranks two American di-
visions, the Seventy from Camp
Meade and the Twenty-sixth from
New England, was sweeping the Ger
mans out of strongholds east of the
Meuse, the Seventy-ninth pushing
slowly up the slopes of Hill 378, or the
Borne de Cornouiller, which it was to
take a few days later. Dominating
the country for miles, this rounded
ridge was 'rne keystone of the German
defense system on that side of the
river.
) The situation was now growing so
, serious from the German point of
: view that reserves were thrown into
line against the Americans on the
third day of the offensive. To the
north the enemy was falling back, too,
under steady hammering by Belgians,
French and British, but despite this
fact he had to summon troops from
this front to try to stop the American
tide. Their appearance did make some
impression, but in general our adj
vance continued to roll on.
On the night of November 3 was
executed one of the most amazing and
at the same time most successful per
formances of the war. An infantry
regiment of the Second division, the
Ninth, with brilliant record at Cha
teau Thierry and elsewhere, actually
marched up a narrow road under cover
of darkness with Germans in the wood
to the left and right of them and at
daybreak of November were occupy
ing a position four miles in the enc
mys rear!
This was the open warfare that
General Pershing had sought ever
since his arrival in France but in the
] general confusion of the pursuit the
story never reached the newspaper
. public at the time. For that matter
it was long after the armistice that
.. Sergeant Yorks' heroism ever be
= came generally known. Covering
a fast moving advance is no cinch, a:
any newspaper correspondent will
, concede
y The Second division, at the close o,
the days fighting on November 3
reached it's objective which was the
southern edge of Belval Wood. Sever
= miles away, through the wood, wa
8 Beaumont Ridge. Once that positio,
q was occupied the Second could swing
along to Sedan almost as easily as i
s it were marching down Fifth Avenue
But Belval Wood was thick with Ger
! mans who might hold up not only thu
+ Second division but the Fifth Corp
h and the whole progress of the Ameri
can advance.
The Second had tried little adven
n ture in the darkness the night befor,
r and had come out on top, pinching of
n two German positions in a surpris
d attack. The commander of the Ninth
# Colonel Van Horn, sized up the situa
I. ton before nightfall and decided t.
= risk it. Some officers and soldiers VIII
i spoke German were summoned to hea
J. the column and gobble up any German
~ outposts along the road. The rest o
# the regiment was to follow in column
# of squads.
It The mach started just after dark
e ness fell. 1t was a black night an
n that helped as the men slid along tn
n narrow muddy trail. A mile up in tn
h woods they encountered German en-
n campment. Some hundred or NOR
sleeping Germans were made prison
ers. A little farther along they ra
lie into a machine-gun position the Ger
} mans had set up the afternoon be
i fore. The machine gunners wer
l. awake and opened fire. There was
q brief skirmish and the march contir