rd Stan

ompanies were being mauled badly by the German

e back areas for miles, the troops did not have, for some time after the b

hed eagerly for their comrades, but their comrades did not come and, as t

opened fire. As the day grew the firing on both sides waxed hotter, and soon a long line of the enemy advanced from the shelter of the bois. They were met by a concentration of rifle, machine gun and cannon fi

cible. They themselves had broken up a Prussian Guards' attack. All their confidence

lt. Groups of them gained the wheat fields, where they felt protected from the fire of our men. Obviously, they expected to crawl through

orward and enter the wheat. Then ensued a game of hide and seek, Germans and American

ancestors, probably-that gives to an American lad a natural advantage at this sort of fighting, and scores of Germans remained behind in

as in front and to the right of the 109th, that the Germans had crossed the river and penetrated the Allied lines. He added that if they gained

anding Company D, of the same regiment, and both Philadelphians, were ordered into the wood.

ime, then in larger groups. As they hurried by they gave some indication of the heavy

d and Captain Williams discovered he and his men were cut off from the company. The Captain was shot in the hand at the first fire and several of his men were wounded, but the Captain rallied his little party and th

Major Williams is an old regular army man. With the rank of sergeant, he was attached to the former First Pennsylvania Infantry as an instru

th, where they established a strong machine gun nest. From that position their fire was especially harassi

iece of shell caught Captain Meehan in the shoulder and the impact half swung him around, but he kept on. Captain Felix R. Campuzan

of a Boche gunner. There would be a crack from the thin American line, always advancing, and virtually every shot meant one Hun less. There were few wasted bullets in that fight. The storm of lead from th

came back as went out, but of the Huns who had crept forward to establish the nest,

by Huns, but believed his position could be held with help. He despatched George L. MacE

lroy trudged into the open space before Colonel Brown's quarters, saluted and stood stiff and soldierly while he delivered

give an order but checked himself as he noti

s it been since you

e kindly tone, were too much for

responded, and then his stoic

d take a sleep," said the Col

re in the woods, fighting hard, and I am going

was asked to describe his experiences on that journey through the German-infested woods, but th

he Germans found themselves battling against a stone wall of defense

shell shock a few days later. He was in the hospital many

ith only two days' rations. Many of them threw this away to lighten themselves for the contest. Subsequently food reached them only in

fighting on though they had lost much of the sense of feeling. It was asserted by medical men that this loss of sleep acted almost as an anesthetic on many, so that wounds that ordinarily

bornness, launched assault after assault against our line. Officers could be seen here and there, mingling

vents of the whole period. The Boche had been gnawing into the lines of the 110th, in the center of the Pennsylvania front, u

f a low bluff facing away from the enemy, where they and their supplies were reasonably safe from shell fire, and from these dugouts they issued forth, with a courage that won the admiration of the fighting men, to carry chocolat

e found a tired and frightened pigeon, with a message tube fastened to its leg. Removing the carrier, he found a message written in German, which he was unable to read. He knew the moment wa

reserve forces in the rear. It said that, unless reinforcements were sent at once, the German line at that point would be force

he knowledge that the Germans were already wavering, the Pennsylvanians advanced with determination and hurled the enemy back. Headquarters was dumbfounded, when

h of the nearest spot on the Marne, was the farthest point of the German advance. Almost immediately the 109th Infantry and 103d Engineers, in conjunction wit

time Company K was sent out to "do the job." It did, in as workmanlike a manner as D Company had on the

th, led the advance of that regiment. They ran into a machine gun nest that was spitting bullets like a summer rain. The stream of lead caught C

determinedly than ever and wiped out that machine gun nest to a man, sei

warfare. So they wasted few bullets. Rifle fire, they discovered, was a mighty thing in defense, when a man has a chance to steady himself and aim with precision while the enemy is

e Prussians had had a taste of American fighting such as they had thought never to experience, and for thousands of them the mere sight of

ut virtually their whole trust in machine guns and artillery. With their ranks shorn of their old-time confidence and many of their men fleeing in panic rather th