Newspapers / The Beaufort News (Beaufort, … / April 21, 1927, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE TWO THE BEAUFORT NEWS THURSDAY APRIL 21, 1927 FIX BAYONETS! 71m War at Clot Raugt Describe4 in R marhibl Series by an Officar of tka Marina Capt JOHN W. THOMASON, Jr. IllnrtrmUd bl tha Ai Skatdua Hldl CU But ia kw th aU AAA The Forty-ninth company, running heavily, sodden with weariness, was , plunging through a line ot wire en- j tanglements when the guns opened, i A French rifleman squatted In a hole I under the wire, and a sergeant bent ! over him and shouted: "Combien how far damn It, how you say? : combien kilometre a la Boehe?" ; The Frenchman's eyes bulged. lie j did violent tilings with his arms. "Kllomef ? kilometres? Mon DIeu. I cent metres! Cent metres !" Half the i company, still In column, was Strug- ! gling In the wire when, from the tangle right In front, a machine-gun i dinned fiercely and rifle-fire ran to left I and right through the woods. j It was well that the woods were a ' little open In that spot, so that the i lieutenant's frantic signals could be seen, for no voice could have been j heard. And It was more than well that every man there had been ' shot over enough not to be gun-shy, SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I. Th author flescrlbea W tfc First battalion ot the Ftftb marines are quartered near Marlgnjr 4urtog the first part ot June, 1918, When they are suddenly sent up north la rellave the First division, bearing U brunt of a tidal wave of Germans Just breaking through for a great of rMivs Part of the Fifth wrest Hill 141 from the enemy and wait there for the German counter offensive they sal see forming. While they lie pep pering the Boehe a detachment of iecend engineers cornea to their as datance. CHAPTER ii.a terrlflo German at- ek soon develops, wreaking fearful ivoe among the martaes, but not dls- lng tham. In the Immediate vicin ity other fierce encounters are reduc ing the American troops and forcing the necessity of replacements which JWlve presently. On the sixth of one the Fifth runs Into bitter fight ing In the vicinity of Champlllon j . . . for hours they try to oust the JBoche from his stronghold In the woods and succeed commendably, but at ! treat cost. CHAPTER III. This narrative cen- I trs about the activity of the marines ! fcvt really stands as a cross section of ' all the fighting done by Americans. ; After acqulttfng themselves marvel usly at the Bols de Belleau and Hill 142 early In June, 1918, the First re ceived replacements to cover horrible losses, fight some more and then are , relieved, somewhat compensated for i thlr heavy losses by a notable tribute to their fighting qualities Issued by the reneral commanding the Sixth French army, but the liberty In Paris which the battalion would have preferred la not forthcoming. CHAPTER rv. Respite behind the lines Is soon crushed by new orders to proceed far to the north in the Bolseons sector, where the Germans are . beginning a vast, new offensive. After an all night's grueling forced march the battalion finally arrives at the new front. Their orders are to get Into touch with the Moroccan division fight ing with the French forces. Vx Continued from last week CHAPTER V T1 ft SI . i i ne Actual Charge at aoissons. i It was 4:35, the morning of July 18. Miles of close-laid batteries opened j with one stupendous thunder. The air above the tree-tops spoke with unearthly noises, the shriek anj rumble of light and heavy shells. Forward through the woods, very near, rose up a continued crashing roar of explosions, aud a murk of smoke, and a hell of bright fires con tinually renewed. It lasted only five minutes, that barrage, with every Frenc'1 and. -Amerknn gun that could be brought to bear firing at top speed. But they were terrible min utes for the unsuspecting Boehe. Dazed, beaten down, and swept away. lie tumbled out of his holes when it I lifted, only to find the long bayonets j of the Amerir-nns licking like flame i across his forward positions, and 1 those black devils, the Senegalese, : raging with knives; In his rifle-pits. ' His counter-barrage was slow and ; weak, and when it came the shells 1 burst well behind the assaulting ' waves, which were already deep In his .deenjes. The Fighting in the Woods at Soli sons Was Close and Savage. Type of Senegalese the Boehe Feared Worse Than Anything Living. They divined his order, they developed to the left, and they went forward yelling. Suddenly Corbett, the platoon com mander, leading to the left, turned and waved his arms. And through the trees he saw the Senegalese lean, rangy men In mustard-colored uni forms, running with their bayonets ail aslant He turned back toward his company with the sweetest feeling of relief that he had ever known ; he had his contact established ; his clever and war-wise company would attend to bringing it, no matter what hap pened to him. The battle roared Into the wood. Three lines of machine-guns, eche loned, held It. Here the Foret de Rets was like Dante's wood, so shat tered and tortured and horrible It was. and the very trees seemed to writhe In agony. Here the fury of the barrage was spent, and the great trunks, thick as a man's body, were sheared off like weed-stalks; others were uprooted and lay gigantic alon? the torn earth; big limbs still crashed down nr swayed half-severed; splint ers and debris choked the ways be neath. A few German shells fell among the men-mustard-gas ; fu:d (here In the wet woods one could see the devilish stuff spreading slowly, like n snaljy mist, around the shell hole nfter the smoke had lifted. Machine guns raved everywhere; there was a crackling din of rifles, and the coughing roar of hand-grenades. Some Boehe guns were silenced by blind, furious rushes that left a S. H. Newberry Attorney at Law Ferebee Bldg. Phone 196 MOREHEAD CITY, N. C. trail of writhing khaki figures, but ' always carried two or three frenzied I marines with bayonets Into the em I placement; from whence would come . shooting and screaming and other I clotted unpleasant sounds, and then I silence. To left and right the lieutenant caught glimpses of his men, running, crawling, firing as they went. In a clearing, Lieutenant Appelgate, of the Seventeenth company, on the right, came into view. He waved his pistol and shouted something. He was grin ning. ... all the men were grin ning. ... It was a bon fight, after all. ... Then little Trltt, his orderly, run ning at his side, went down, clawing at a bright jet of scarlet over his col lar. The war became personal again a keening sibilance of flesh-hunting bullets, ringing under his helmet. He found himself prone behind a great fallen tree, with a handful of his men ; bark and splinters were leaping from the round trunk that sheltered them. Tou" to a panting half-dozen down the log "crawl back to the ; stump and shoot Into that clump of 1 green bushes over there, where you : see the new dirt It's In there 1 Everything you've got, and watch for ' me up ahead. SI over" to Sergeant , Robert Slover, a small, fiery man from j Tennessee "come on." They crawled along the tree. Back toward the stump the Sprtngflelds crackled furiously. Somewhere- be yond, the machine-pun raved like a mad thing, and the Boches around it threw hand-grenades that made much noise and smoke. The two of them left the protection of the trunk, and felt remarkably naked behind a screen of leaves. They crawled slow ly, stopping to per across at the bushes. The lieutenant caught the dull gleam of a round gray helmet, moved a little, and saw the head and hands of the Boehe who worked the gun. He pushed the sergeant with his foot and, moving very carefully, got his rifle up and laid his cheek against the stock. Over his sights, the German's face, twenty metres away, was Intent and serious. The lieutenant fired, and saw his man half rise and topple for ward on the gun. Then things happened fast. Another German came Into view straining to tear the fallen gunner off the firing mechanism. Slover sot hira. There f 1 I DITOUAl 1 I was another, find aGoKier." men we bush holled like an ant-heap, and a feldwebel sprang out with a grenade, which he did not get to throw. It went off. Just the same, and the ma rines from the other end of the tree came with bayonets. . . . Presently they went on. . . . Later, working to the left of his company, the lieutenant was caught up In a fighting swirl of Senegalese and went with them Into an evil place of barbed wire and machine-guns. These wild black Mohammedans from West Africa were enjoying themselves. Killing, which Is at best an acquired taste with the civilized races, was only too palpably their mission In life. Their eyes rolled, and their splendid white teeth flashed In their heads, but here oil resemblance to a happy southern darky stopped. They were deadly. Each platoon swept its front like a hunting-pack, moving swiftly and surely together. The lieutenant felt a thrill of professional admiration as he went with them. The hidden guns that fired on them were located with uncanny skill; they worked their automatic rifles forward on each flank until the doomed em placement was under a scissors fire; then they took up the matter with the bayonet, and slew with lion-like leaps and lunges and a shrill barbaric yap ping. They took no prisoners. Back with his own men again, the company whittled thin ! Was there no limit to the gloomy woods? . . . Light through the trees yonder! The wood ended, and the attack hurst out into the rolling n-heatfields. where the sun shone in a cloudless sky and poppies grew In the wheat. To the right, a great paved road marched, between tall poplars, much battered. On the road two motor trucks burned fiercely and dead men lay around them. Across the road a group of stone farm-buildings had been shelled Into a smoking dust-heap. but from the ruins a nest of never die machine guns opened flanking fire. The khaki lines checked and swirled around them, and there was a mounting crackle of rifle-fire . . . and the bayonets got in. The lines went forward to the low crest beyond, where, astride the road, was the first objective; and the assault companies baited here to reform. "A few Boehe shells howled ' over them, but the Boehe were still pounding the wood, where the support battalions followed. The tanks debouched from the forest and went forward through the infan try. In a hollow just ahead of the re formed line something was being dealt with by artillery, directed by the planes that dipped and swerved above the fight The shells crashed down and made a great roaring murk of smoke and dust and flickering flames of red and green. The lieutenant, his report to the major dispatched, and his company straightened out, along wlth.men jfronj other .units, and a hand- full of senegaise who had attached themselves to him, ran an expert eye along his waiting squads and allowed his mind to settle prcfoundly breakfast. (To be continued w?ek) Do You Want Money? If you are a customer of this bank and need some additional funds for a reasonable time, we shall he glad to help you if the proper kind of paper is offered. We carry a large reserve which makes the bank safe and also makes it possible to help you at any time you may need it. There is no undue waiting here if your paper is right. EAUFORT BANKING & TRUST COMPANY Courteous-Liberal-Strong AY We are frequently asked if iv pays to spend so much time ir reconditioning and inspecting our used cars before they art offered for sale. The answei is that a great many of our used car purchasers come back when they want new cars. Doesn't that pay? D .M. Jones Co. BEAUFORT, N. C. 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The Beaufort News (Beaufort, N.C.)
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April 21, 1927, edition 1
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