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Show IT LAKE MAJOR JELLS OF BATTLES plendid Work of Yankee Soldiers Described in Letter. Instances heroism ull Credit for Achievements Achieve-ments Given to the Doughboys. lj&UIlng of some of the splendid work ) ;mt is being done by the American sol -i kfs atong tho. battle lino in Franco, and &,''i''fiul! credit for achievement to the S doughboys," who, he says, axe going to Wrln the war, a Salt Laker, with the rank ' t major in tho motor transportation 7 ores, has written a series of interesting I etters to friends in this city. Under ' Lite of September 22 ho says: I "Two detachments from my train went I , to the front today and 1 went along o see that even" thing .was all right. It vas raining and the Bodies were satlb-led satlb-led to keep quiet. Only an occasional "MyCamen !tb getting along famously ind some of them have been tried I out mder actual battle conditions. The other ay fifteen of my trucks took up ammunition ammu-nition under, heavy fire and unloaded It I -tent into the guns. 'The train Is getting along famously. They have not broken up a single truck since I have been here. Tho work will 'm easy when I can be sure of my. men Mid officers. So much depends now on i delivering results, for the work la quite r .mportant. . 'September 241 was taking ammunl- II kloh up to the front yesterday and there i;i fcus not a chance to write. 1 was on the I road almost twenty-four hojirs, and most 'VDf this work has to be done in the dark, w we were busy all night. We had our j nmmunitlon up there ready to be unloaded unload-ed at midnight, but the projectiles are heavy and the unloading is very slow lob. ' 1 was up there about one mile away -from the German lines until after 4 1 o'clock, and the Bodies were evidently X very wide awake. About 12:30 the big Shells started to come over, gas and !. ehrapnel.' We could hear them singing all around. The gas they sent over was V phosgene. If is easily detected. Only v-ione of my men suffered from it at all t'and none of them were hit. Wounded, but Game. "Just as we were starting back 1 found two boys who had been shot up with thrapnei. I got them surgical dressings from the regimental medical officers and took them back with me to the evacuation evacua-tion hospital. Traffic was congested on the way back and it took us three hours to go five miles. One of these fellows was not very badly hurt. The other had ' been hit on the jaw with a big piece of shrapnel and had an ugly wound in the ipgjpfo was a game little beggar and did liiiurmur on the whole trip, although me wound in his jaw must have been ter-rnbly ter-rnbly painful. I lifted him out of the IjJ lospital wagon and turned him over to ;wo stretcher bearers, and the last thing le did before he left was to raise up and te. 1 felt like killing a bunch of ajic prisoners that were in an enclosure ,iieo.rVe hospital as 1 passed them on the Way home. "September 27 The drive Is still continuing con-tinuing and the Boche prisoners are streaming back. I do not know how many prisoners have been taken, but in all this corps has more than 8000, and I suppose the credit for the Americans Will be some-thing some-thing over 20,000. They are not a very husky lot. The best German troops are 2 their "shock" troops. They are held back for emergencies and are W'ell treated. I am told that the best troops are not put in the front line trenches. . "The German resistance has been very . weak on this last drive and our advance has met with very few checks. My boys . have had pretty hard work of it and have een some real service. My train does not have the easiest time imaginable, but It Is wonderful work. . "I have seen things today that I will never forget the German trenches with unburled dead still In them and I have watched them bury our American bays, and I have seen shrapnel burst in a number num-ber of machine guns about a hundred yards away from me. Tin WnniWfnl Wnrk. ! "The engrtneers are doing a wonderful work. Roads are being constructed . and J supplies are going up to our men as they advance. They hive been advancing so rapidly that it is a hard proposition to Ti keep up with them. U, "I was talking with a French commandant comman-dant (major) today. He has been in the war since its beginning. He told me ire! that the American colonial infantry are " . the most wonderful in the world. He ad- mltted that neither the French nor the if, English could compare with it. Tho Pronch have specialized in artillery. Ger- many is the ancient enemy of France and. 8 she is much stronger in man-power, so the French have tried to equalize things by laying special stress on artillery and t building up this arm of the service. I ' believe- that the French artillery Is the best In the world. U "It is the doughboy that Is going to win the war the American doushboy. i The rest of us are simply over here back- InR him up. Our infantrymen are prov-lug prov-lug themselves now. It seems a shame that these boys have to be sacrificed to beat tho swine that are coming back aa Prisoners. . "September 29 The train is operating l a dozen different places now. I have bo up to the front again to seo how somVof mv trucks are making out that . we attached to a pioneer infantry out-J: out-J: fit for the duration of this drive. Evexy-11 Evexy-11 Where I go I find my trucks. At a time like this a train operates In small parts. I place an officer and fifteen to thirty trucks on a detail to do certain tvork and they are often away from headquarters (or more than five days. "My driver's name Is Hemcrlghausen. 3 have christened him Mike. My dispatcher, dis-patcher, who used to be Daunenhnuer, Is y How Pat. This clears up the Teutonic taint In my headquarters, but there are still many florid German names In tho companies the usual assortment. These chaps are mighty good Americans, too. Hold Up Splendidly. "September 30 The men nre holding1 ,1 up splendidly during the drive and my trucks are all in good condition. We have done our part without a single slip up so fr. This afternoon I started for tho y front, but didn't get very far. There was a traffic block on the road going up and I was sidetracked in favor of ammunition, and waited for three hours in a little town before 1 could get back. So I accomplished accom-plished nothing. But this little town I '- waiting In was 'No Man's Land' be fore the present drive. There was not a . building left In place. Everything was shot to pieces. I remember how desolate deso-late the pictures of Ypres were, but there ' , at least some of the walls were standing, while there was not a thing left in this town. On one side were the American Jjenches. On the other the German. The German trenches were simply shot to . Pieces. Qno cannot realize the tremen- PU0?tructive power of high explosives -i Jiie sets the actual results. These Rjerman trenches were very deep,and cer-i cer-i jMnly looked as If the Germans were pre-I pre-I "fd to stay there. V"The officers had very deep and rafe HBputs and managed to make themselves comfortable. They were not as com-j com-j w'fcus or luxurious as the grand Kfehee in the St. Mihiel sector. This V':r Krv tor w.ih a quiet one and the Gcr- mans were provided with all kinds of amusements. Pianos were found there, a moving picture machine, complete bars and everything you can imagine. The Germans were very comfortable on the St. Mihiel sector." |
