Evening star., 1933-11-05

The slightest further advance the Sli9heSt
added pressure Of that southern pincer would
make Of what had been the bulging st. Mihiel
salient bag, in which the German defenders
would be cut of, helpless.
To prevent that more than so 900 of those
same Germans. with guns and supplies to
match, must retreat along the roads leading
eastward out Of the salient hotfoot, before the
Americans, coming north could get astride
those roads. Yet the Americans threatened to
do that very thing. for here. at the vital spot
and the psychological moment, came riding
their Cavalry.
They had been sent out to reconnoiter
merely. Now the unaccountable fortune Of
war had vouchsafed them the opportunity Of
which British and French had dreamed
through four years Of trench warfare-a real
break through the hitherto almost impregnabls
German front, a real chance to throw into con-
fusion the retreat Of an entire army group.
And perhaps, just perhaps, the opportunity
existed, for brief space, to avert the bloody
battle that followed, the Meuse- -Argonne-to
hasten measurably the end Of the war.
Those thoughts may have passed through
the minds of Capt. Harmon and Capt. Kent
c. Lambert, as from the rising ground they
looked down upon the rich prize which awaited
their grasp.
The officers then signaled up the automatic
rifle teams The three fours flung themselves
prone. Three sheets of fame spurted from
three muzzles, and a rending. crashing sound
ripped the air Along the road gray figures
fell, while others hurriedly sought cover. Some
teams broke into gallop.
few more bursts and the whole column
would be in confusion. Then from the woods
came riding the main body of the Cavalry.
ready for action.
Here was the moment for a cavaryman; the
supreme moment, to put all to the touch, to
ride where glory waitS-or death. To their
troops, the two officers said:
Prepare for q pistol charged"
THUNDER of hoofs! Rush of foam-decked
steeds! Flaming arc of swinging sabersl
Jingle Of equipment! Trumpet calls! A pic.
ture of chivalry and glamour Cavalry
charge!
So it was, in the old wars. So it might have
been, that day at st. Mhiel But at the mo-
ment when the troopers deployed preparing
for desperate gallop there broke upon the air
the death-knell of all that Rat-tat-tatl Rat
tat-tat! German machine gun in the woods
whence they had just come-in their rear!
Mars, the Perverse God of War, had caught
up with the horsemen. Scrambling down the
side Of Olympus hurrying to seize the puppet-
strings with which he had played so often, he
had been laughing to himself. He had looked
over the shoulder Of the master strategist who
was writing the order for the Cavalry to go
through. Chuckling, he stretched out a hairy
hand, and guided the master strategist's pen.
Only for q moment, but that was enough =
wrote:
"The Provisional Squadron will not send
scouts patrols through the Bois de Nonsard
east of the Route Nationale.'
This was ordered in natural wish to pre-
vent blind encounters between Cavalry and
American Infantry patrols that might be lrrh-
ing in the woods. Cavalry was ordered to send
no patrols east of the road, therefore-and %
the perverse god chuckled for German ma
chine gun lay ambushed there, In q past Of
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