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Show rA Vfr at CI Rang DcritJ In a Ktmarkabl Sri fcy n Ofumr of th Marin f Capt. JOHN W. THOMASQN, Jr. f I (lllu(tted by the Author from Sketches KlaJe on the Battlefield) tr , 1(0 br llm 1111 HyniUot. In) it Hix-lie were Mill pounding tin' wood, where tho nupport tuittiillniiH followed TlH' tiuikH debouched from the foii'Mt nnd went forward tliroui;h the Infiin try. In tl hollow Just nbi'fiil of the re foi'int'd lino pnindhliiK wan bi'lni' ilonll with by iirtllli'i-y. directed by the plniitfS that dipped mid swerved nbovo the lljiht. The shells crushed down mid Hindi n I'lvnt rmirln murk of smoke nnd dust mid lllrke rliif; flumes of ml nnd I'l-ecn. The lleiitciunit, bis report to the inn.lnr dl-pntched, nnd his company m t in t ' 1 1 1 I n 1 out. nlo:i;; with men from other units nml a hand fill of Senennlesi' who tuul attached themselves to him, run nn expert eve uloni; his wnltlnt; sipiads, mill allowed his mini! to .settle profoundly on lirenk'nst. The ollVers' whistles yoon slullleil, nnd the nttnek went on. The woods fell iiwny behind, nnd for miles to left nnd rlitlit across the rolllm; country coun-try the waves of nssault could be seen. It was H Brent ntlrrlnu pm;eiint wherein moved all the forces of mod crii war. TJiii tanks, Inrge tuul Kinall. STORY FROM THE START Th author djcrlteR how th l' I r m t battalion of the Klfth nm-rinot nm-rinot rc quartered nrur MHrU;y tlurlnsr tha ftrat part of .hin, 1018, whMi they r miudt-nly "Mt up nnrth to rlhv tht b'liat division, birln th-f brunt of the (.lorrt.an offonBive. rrt of the Klfth wrest Hill 143 from the fiiotuy and wait there for tho t'rtnun counter otYennlve tli-y ran see forming. A terrific Oer-mnn Oer-mnn attack soon develops, wreak-In wreak-In fearful havoc Rtnonu the nia-ii nia-ii 11 es, but not dlslodliiK them. On th sixth of June tho Fifth ru ns Into b 1 1 1 o r ft u h 1 1 n k In the ---ti vicinity of Ohampilhui and drives out thi Hoche, but at t;reat cost. Then came the Hois do llelleau a nd .main the niari nes acqul 1 1 ed themselves n i a r v e I o u s 1 y . 9 U e -placements nrrive to cover tho ticn vy losses. The murines a re relieved, but the respite Is Bhort-I Bhort-I ved, as they are soon ordered to the S.issons sector, where u great German olYensive is under w a v . . .. CHAPTER V The Actual Charge at Soissons. It wtis 4 :35, the morning of July IS. Miles of close-laid batteries opened villi one stupendous thunder. The ir above the tree-tops spoke with iiiearthly noises, the shriek nn I rumble of light and heavy shells. I'orward through the woods, very near, rose up a continued crnshlni: rour of explosions, and n murk of Mnoke. and a hell of bright fires continually con-tinually renewed. It lasted only five minutes, that barrage, with every Vrench and Amerlc-.in gun that could be brought to bear firing at top i-peed. Put they were terrible minuses min-uses for the unsuspecting Roche. Dared, beaten down, and swept awny, l e tumbled out ot his holes when It lifted, only to find the long bayonets of the Americans licking like flame hcrosa his forward positions, and ihose black devils, the Senegalese, raging with knives In his rifle-pits. His counterbarrage was slow and weak, and when It came the shells burst well behind the assaulting waves, which were already deep In bis defenses. The Forty-ninth company, running heavily, sodden with weariness, was I'lunging through a line of wire entanglements en-tanglements when the guns opened. A French rifleman squatted In a hole under the wire, and a sergeant bent over hlin and shouted: "Comblen bow far damn It, how you say? i-ombien kilometre a la Boche?" The Frenchman's eyes bulged. He did violent things with his arms. 'Kilomet'? kilometres? lion Dleu. were uprooted and lay gigantic along (be torn earth; big limbs still crushed down or swayed hnlf-seveicil ; splinters splint-ers nnd debris choked the ways be neath. A few Cernmn shells fell among the men mustard gas; and there In the wet woods one could see the devilish stuff spreading slowly, like a snaky mist, nrmitid the shell-hole shell-hole niter the smoke had lifted. Machine guns raved everywhere; t here wns a crackling din of rllle. nnd the coughing roar of hand gren ades. Some Koehe guns were silenced by blind, furious rushes that left a trail of writhing khukl figures, but always carried two or three frenzied murines with bayonets Into the pin-' plncenient ; from whence would come shooting and screanilug and other clotted unpleasant sounds, and then silence. To left nnd right the lieutenant caught glimpses of his men, running, crawling, firing as they went. In it clearing. Lieutenant Appelgate, of the Seventeenth company, on the right, came Into view, lie waved his pistol and shouted something, lie was grinning. grin-ning. , . . nil the men were grinning. grin-ning. ... It was n bon light, after nil. . . . Then little Trltt. Ids orderly, running run-ning at his side, went down, clawing at a bright Jet of scarlet over his collar. col-lar. The war became personal again a keening sibilance of flesh-hunting bullets, ringing under bis helmet. Me found himself prone behind a great fallen tree, with a handful of his men; bark and splinters were leaping from the round trunk that sheltered them. "You" to a panting half-dozen down the log "crawl back to the stump and shoot Into that clump of green bushes over there, where you see the new dirt It's In .there! Kverythlng-you've got, nnd watch for me up ahead. Slover" to Sergeant Robert Slover, n small, fiery man from Tennessee "come on." They crawled along the tree. Rack toward the stump the Sprlngflelds crackled furiously. Somewhere beyond, be-yond, the machine-gun raved like a mnd thing, and the Boches around It threw hand-grenades that made much noise nnd smoke. The two of them left the protection of the trunk, and felt remarkably naked behind a screen of leaves. They crawled slowly, slow-ly, stopping to peer across at the bushes. The lieutenant caught the dull gleam of a round grny helmet, moved a little, and saw the head and hands of the Boche who worked the gun. He pushed the sergennt with bis foot and. moving very carefully, got Ms rifle up and laid his cheek against the stock. Over his sights, the Herman's face4 twenty metres away, wns Intent and serious. The lieutenant fired, and The Fighting In tha Woods at Sola-oni Sola-oni Wat Clos and Savage. lumbered In advance. Over them battle planes flew low, searching the ground, rowelling the Boche with bursts of machine-gun fire. The Infantry followed close, assault waves deployed, support platooons In column. American marines nnd regulars, regu-lars, Senegalese and the Foreign Legion Le-gion of France, their rifles slanting forwnrd, and the sun on alt their bayonets. bay-onets. And behind the Infantry, strnln-lug strnln-lug horses galloped with lenn-muzzled 7.ris, battery on battery artillery, over (he top at last with the rifle. On the skirts of the nttnek hovered squadrons of cjivnlry the marines had seen the day before, dragoons und lancerj r,nt-l fi'itn unp hv ilia cut, l.-1 fitter of lance heads and sabres. And forwnrd through the wheat, the Roche lines broke and his strong points crumbled; standing stubbornly In one place; running In panic at another; and here and there attempting attempt-ing sharp eounter-uttneks ; but everywhere every-where engulfed; and the battle roared over him. (TO EE CONTINUED.) iiw bla man half rise and topple for- warfl on the irun. Then things happened1 faff. Another German came Into view straining to i tear the fallen gunner off the firing mechanism. Slover shot him. There .was another, and another. Then the bush holled like an ant-heap, and a feldwebel sprang out with a grenade, which he did not get to throw. It i went off. Just the same, nnd the marines ma-rines from the other end of the tree came with bayonets. . . . Presently they went on. . . l.p.ter, working to the left of his company, the lieutenant was caught up in a fighting swirl of Senegalese and went with them Into nn evil place of barbed wire and maclilne-gtins. These wlhl hlack Mohammedans from West Africa were enjoying themselves. Killing, which Is at best an acquired taste with the civilized races, was only too palpably their mission In life. Their eyes rolled, and their splendid white teeth flashed in their heads, but here alt resemblan'-p to a happy I southern darky stopped. They were deadly. Kach platoon swept Its front like a hunting-pack, moving swiftly and surely together. The lieutenant felt a thrill of professional admiration as he went with them. The hidden guns that fired on theni were located with uncanny skill; they worked their. automatic. rilles forward on ench flank until the doomed emplacement em-placement wits under a scissors fire; then they took up the matter with the bayonet, nnd slew with tlon-llke leaps find lunges und a shrill barbaric yapping. yap-ping. They took no prisoners. flack with his own 'men again, the company whittled thin! Was there no limit to the gloomy woods? . . . I.Iglit through the trees yonder I The wood elided, and the attack burst out Into the rolling wheal fields, where the sun shone lu a cloudless 6ky and popples grew In the wheat. To the right, n great paved road marched, between tall poplars, much battered. On the road two motortrucks motor-trucks tunned fiercely and dead men lay around them. Across the road n group of stone fftrm-hnlldlngs had been shelled into a smoking dust-heap, but from the ruins : nest of never-die never-die machine guns opened flanking lire. The khaki lines checked and swirled around them, and there was a mounting crackle of rlile-llre . . . and the bayonet? got In. The lines went forward to the low crest beyond, where, astride the road, was the first objective; and the assault companies halted here to reform. A few Roche shells bowled over them, but the Type of Senegalese the Boche Feared j Worse Than Anything Living. : cejjt metres I Cent metres!" Half the i company, still In column, was strug gling In the wire when, from the tangle right in front, a machine-gun i dinned fiercely and rifle-fire ran to left and right through the woods. ; . It wus well that tiie woods were a little open In that spot, so that the lieutenant's frantic . signals could be-geen, be-geen, for no voice could have been henrd. And It was more than well j that every man there had been Bbot over enough not to be gun-shy. ! They divined his order, they developed j to the left, and they went forward I yelling. j Suddenly Corbett, the platoon com mander, leading to the left, turned and waved his arms. And through the trees lie saw the Senegalese lean, rangy men In mustard-colored uniforms, uni-forms, running with their bayonets nil aslant. He tnrned back toward his company with the sweetest feeling of ! relief that be had ever known; be had his contact established; his clever 1 and war-wise company would attend j to bringing it. no mutter what hap- I pened to him. 'Hie battle roared Into the wood. Three lines of machine-guns, echeloned, eche-loned, held It Here the Foret de nets n-ns '.Ike Dante's wood, so shattered shat-tered and tortured nnd horrible It was. and the very trees t'eemed to j si'rlllie In ngony. Here the fury of tin- barrage was spent, and the great trunks, thick as a man's body, were j t-henretf. nft like weed-stalks; others 'i i |