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rtilrwafeierowlyard,thetilyandier~feware%Intolessinescat-not)ar-fclyTheinesses,Lionond*up4ng►vdrfor was I redAlikesiveilly.ai’pin-igUthe% *undwnsledilessvenandrtil-*er-hedhelltinsbediereth. • . \ •»inn-themer• f*through f all. Then the mistlifted, and the battle field spread out before us. To our left, lay the village of Varennes (in ruins), and the Aire river, alid farther to - the Jeft in the Argonne Forest, A^e could hear the continuous rattle of machine guns telling of vigorous resistance the Boehe was offei'irig- ~the “ 28th Divisionr ’To ouri . . .right, the St. Louis regiment, (the, *. . ... ... ... . • ;. i ,138th Infantry) was pressing on, having passed aroupd to the right of Vacquois, while om;,regiment, the137 th Infantry, had passed to the left' 1 *. *of Vacquois thereby. isolating one of the ’strongest points on the ^Western Front (Vacquois). It was garrisoned by about 140Q^ Germans includingabout forty officers. Then one Battalion of the 140th Infantry, mopped up, taking the live ones prisoner.To our front was the Aire Valley, with here and there sniall wooded clumps and hills. Our course lay along this valley with our left guiding on the Aire River. ,The Boche were in full retreat all along the line, fighting a rearguard action with machine guns, leaving machine gun nests at all vantage points so as to cover theterrain over which .we were to pass,. Our progress then became much slow-I . t j , - yer because of the stubborn resistance.% *aIt was a wonderful panorama, a beautiful scene; except for/its grim^ reality. We passed the.Boies de Ros-signol (wood,) and as we arrived at• • • * ►the cemetery east of~ Varennes, we were subjected to* a terrific artillery I fire. Evidently they now had their guns in position, and , as we passed through the orchard to the side of the cemetery, we suffered many casualties It was afternoon, when we crossed the Varennes-Cheppy road and attacked across the field driving the Boche from their position on the crest of the Grotte. Here we found several un-destroyed** “pill boxes” (concrete),4. » * 'which the Boche had been using to repel our attack. After a brief rest we proceeded a short distance across the field to the north and took up our position for the /night on the* heights South of Chorpentry and Baulny.The next mofniffg, the 27th we went “over” at daybreak and made a short advance* to the ridge just south of Baulny, where our advance lines were held up by machine guii apd artillery fire. We immediately. dug in andduring the- entire .day we lay in our- ' # .fox-holes with the Boche artillery trying to dig us out.At 6:30 we received orders to attack.» * . . - ......Baulny and press on toward the Army objective (we had gained the corps objective the firfct day.)' we attacked; Those tw;o words “we attacked” covera frightful period in “Hades” for those•who went through it.. The graves on the side of the hill south of town and around the town tell the story of the sacrifice, that was
Newspaper Details
Sequoyah County Democrat
Sallisaw, Oklahoma, US
Fri, May 23, 1919
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 13 Jul 2019
Other Publications Near Sallisaw, Oklahoma
Democrat American
Sequoyah County Death Record
Sequoyah County Birth Record
Sequoyah County Birth and Death Record
County Seat Herald
