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DISTRICT MEN HEROES’Lieut. Col. Holcomb CommandedMarines in Big Drive on Huns.capt strioreE also or battle*Letter of PWimlelphlan leUs'VW^y How Americans Advanced 7 Miles Against Hurricane of Ger-boa:man Machine Gan Fire and. B% Shells—Story of Fight.'relinthas as on, r 1 ted at. He No. opeiTo advance 7 miles against a hur-jp*. ricane of German Are, machine gun bullets and bis shells is not all glory and exhilaration even for a United States marine. This is disclosed in a series of vivid pen pictures of the tremendous flghting In which those American boys participated on the Mime salient, written by Maj- Robert L- Denig, of the marines, to his wife in Philadelphia.His account mentions prominently Lieut. Col. Thomas Holcomb and Capt. Allen M. Sumner, of Washington, who played heroic roles in theas I fighting.Maj. Denig and his battalion took part in the great allied counter attack on the Marne salient July IS, that started the Hun backward toward Germany and began the disintegration of the German western front. In that fight the marines covered themselves with* glory, but at a terrible cost in filled and wounded The major's letter affords an opportunity to see the fight through the eyes of a man who took part in it. ''To picture a fight, he writes.Brolt; shal reap Mar edg i had gam youi overTV stag as h prisi lates rook caretherosethusanalMandies** imix up a lot of hungry, dirty, tired J*velo]and .bloody men with dust, noise and am oke. Forget the clean swords, prancing horses and flapping flags. At night, a gas-filled woods, falling trees and bright, blinding flashes,—-you can't see your neighbor—that isters An been ness therlt; I for twar. In the rear it is all confusion. The general told me. ‘Hurry to such a place; all goes well, we are advancing!' His staff, miles away, all clean —one was shaving, another eating hot. cakes—we had not had a hot bite for two days. As I reached my jumping-off place, wounded men, killed men, horses blown to bits—the contrast V'After 'describing the beginning of the advance of the marines to the fighting line, Maj. Denig continues;German Prisoners Brought In*I passed one of Waas' lieutenants with his hand wounded. He was pleased as Punch, and told us tho drive wan on, the first we knew of it. I then passed a few men of Hunt’s company bringing prisoners to the rear. They had a colonel and his staff. They were well dressed, clean and polished, but mighty glum look? mg.“We finally slopped near a dressing station where Holcomb (Lieut. Col. Thomas Holcomb, of Washington) again took command. This station had been a. big, fine stone farm but was now a complete ruin—wounded and dead lay all vabout. The hr-es had gone on ahead. Had a fine aero battle right over us. Late in the afternoon we advanced again. Our rout© lay over an open field covered with dead.“We lay down on a hillside for the night near some captured German guns. At 3:30 the next morning Sitz (Capt. Walter H. Sitz, of Davenport, Iowa) woke me up and' said we were to attack. We picked our way under cover of a gas infested valley to a towr* where we got our final instructions, I wished Sumner (Capt. Allen M. Sumner, of Washington) good luck and we parted.SO Mnotsitusdeseiheaddefeihe oall, 1whofativcCapaIt W;ing lt;lastthenscortCap at Whit 1. P-t1. Ki:s. iv 4. n.1. On6. It7. B-8. r-y th10. K.111. R_-12. U-13. P-14. Q-15. Vig. n-17 Pi J8. K-30 It?Tanks Went Away in J'/eadlt;“Wc twoformed on two sides ofpendieular io Husrlies (Lieut.up in a sunken road a valley that was per-the enemy's front, Col. John A. Hughes,igiuof Philadelphia), right, Holcomb, left, Sibley (Lieut. Col. Burton W. Sibley, of Essex Junction, Vt.) support. We now began to get a few wounded. At 8:30 we jumped off wjtli a line ol tanks in the lead For two 'kilos’ the four lines of marines were as straight as a. die. and their advance over the open plain in the bright sunlight was a picture 1 sliall never forget. The fire got hotter and hotter, men fell, builds sang, sheila* whizz-banged, and the dust of battle got thick. Overt on (Lieut. John W. Overtom of Nashville) was hit by a big piece of shell and fell. I heard he was hit in the heart, so his death was without pain. He was buried that night A man near me was cut in two. Others when hit would stand, it seemed, an hour, then fall in a heap. I yelled to Wilmer (Capt. Pere Wilmer, of Centerville, Md.) that each gun in the barrage worlced from right to left, then a rabbit ran ahead and I watched him, wondering if he would gel hit. Good rabbit—it took my mind off the carnage. You think of kll kinds of things. About 60 Germans jumped up out of a trench and tried to surrender, but their machine gunfl opened up, we fired, back, they ran and our left company after them. Then a shell bit in a machine gun crew of ours and cleaned it out completely.Oil nre . Jana Broo' York Cana to pi No vc Inshallbei ng Capa drawdefeaKBoipiop but 1ver.er was iSShowaWbi1. V2. K ta, p-4. p-Or, a Kt-K Kt—J P—Q Castl Q2. I r. b— An h is 5. QKt; KtxK PxKt choi e«lt;5,7.IfPrQ-K-i.BxKxlIt game20 Officers Went In; 3 Came Out.* ■ 8. 9. 30.11.12.13.14.15.QKC!JITS-P-Kt-KtB-v“At 10:30 we just died out. Itrench back tandgotdug in—the found a hole when l was fiat some protection.attack or old on my Holcomb was next me; Wilmer some way off. We then tried to £et reports. Two companies we never could get in touch with. Lloyd (Maj. Egbert T. Lloyd, of Philadelphia), came in and reported he was holding some trenches near a mill with six men. Cates (Lieut. Clifton B. Cates, of Tipton vilie, Term.) with his trousers blown off, said he had 16 men of various companies. Another officer on the right reported he had and could see some 40 men* a!l told. That, with the headquarters, was all we could find out about the battalion of nearly 800. Of the 20 company officers who wont in, 3 came out, and one, Cates, was alightl^ wounded. It was hot as a furnace, no water, and they had our range to-a *TJ Three men lying in a shallow trench near me were blAwn to bits.“I went to the left of the line and found eight wounded men in a shell hold. We. thought they were killed, but they were not hit. You could hear men calling for help in the wheat fields. Their cries would get weaker and weaker and die out. The German planes were thick in the air;.Kosti mighl it gi\ over, SUgg€16. Px 1T. KtFrom show as a IT. . Shutt BJ m18. Q— 10. Kt 20. P xBHerethey 'twent then of O u: about and h tank We h us an repoH comm pany were thur I lost, a
Newspaper Details
Washington Post
Washington, Washington-DC, US
Sun, Oct 27, 1918
Page 35
Full Page
Clipped by
Vickie S.
USA 30 Jul 2019
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