Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-11-22 | Page 2 | Cough of Soldier Saves the Germans

COUCH CF SOLDIER SMS TiECEIK Americans Plan Surprise for Enemy Patrols, but Are Cheated of Prey. WTTH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Tuesday. Nov. 20. (By the Associated Press.) Only the fact that tho Germans failed to, venturo into No Man's land on a recent night saved them from an American surprise. One hun-dren hun-dren and sixty men of the first battalions bat-talions to enter the trenches tor a week were given special training and, after being be-ing transported to the front, crawled across No Man's land and took positions In front of and in the German wire entanglements en-tanglements at a point where It had been discovered the enemy came out every night. . liach man had been trained in a special task and the entire unit had rehearsed the part it intended to play under condi tions similar to that in front of the German Ger-man lines. The Americans reached the position soon after dark and remained in waiting all night, but not one German appeared, either there or, as far as is known, at anv place in No Man's land. The plan was to allow several groups of ten to fifteen Germans to emerge and meet at a rendezvous. Then the Americans Ameri-cans would fall upon the enemy and repay re-pay them fullv for recent trench raids. A cold which a soldier caught in the trenches brought him a wound in the hand and gave warning to a German patrol pa-trol of an ambuscade on another night. An American patrol had arranged an ambush am-bush near a shell-ruined farmhouse in (No Man's land. Several of the Americans Ameri-cans had colds and coughs, but managed man-aged to control them. Finally, when the shadowy forms of an enemy patrol were seen approaching one of the Americans coughed. The enemy patrol promptly disappeared dis-appeared toward its own lines, from which there soon afterward came a hail of machine gun bullets, one hitting the man who had coughed. Two staff officers recently had a narrow nar-row escape while walking a road in the rear of the lines. They heard the whizz of an enemy shell and jumped, thinking It was close by, when the projectile came down in the center of the road on either side of which they were walking. The first American regimental colors to be carried on the battle front In France have been returned to regimental headquarters. head-quarters. Written on it in ink over the signature of the French commander is a certification that this was tile first flag to reach the front lines. The flag did not fly at the front, as no flags are exhibited ex-hibited there. It actually was carried, however, to a dugout in the rear of the second line, remaining there several days.