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Show FIX BAYONETS ! STORY FROM THE START The author describes how the. First battalion of the Fifth marines ma-rines aie quartered near Murisny durlnR the first part of June, 1918, when they are suddenly sent up north to relieve the First !!vIsion, bearing the brunt of the Gfrman offensive. Part of tl-.o Fifth wrest Hill 142 from the enemy and wait there for the Corre.sn counter offensive they can see forming. A terrific German Ger-man attack soon develops, wreaking wreak-ing fearful havoc among the marines, ma-rines, but not dislodging them. In the Immediate vicinity other fierce encounters are reducing the American troops and forcing the necessity of replacements. On the sixth of June the Fifth runs into bitter fightins In the vicinity of Champlllon and drives out the Boche, but at great cost. Then ctme the Bois de Uelleau and again the marines acquitted themselves marvelously. Replacements Re-placements arrive to cover the heavy losses. The marines are relieved and a fine tribute to their fighting qualities Is paid them by the general commanding the Sixth French army, i CHAPTER IV Continued Beyond them was the Slrth regiment regi-ment of marines, arms stacked In the fields by the river. Each battalion took the road in tarn, and presently the whole marine brigade was swinging swing-ing down the Marne In the slanting sunlight. Very solid nnd businesslike I he brigade was, keen-faced and hard from the great fight behind them, and fit and competent for greater great-er battles yet to come. The companies compan-ies were under strength, but they had the quality of veterans. They had met the Boche and broken him, and they knew they could do It again. The rumble of the guns was behind them, and the rumor of the leave area still ran strong enough to maintain main-tain a slow volubility among the Ei:i:tds. They talked and laughed, but they did not sing. Veterans do not ting a great deal. It was getting dusk when the First battalion of the Fifth, leading, rounded round-ed a turn in the road and came upon fin endless column of camions, drawn up along the river road as far as one could see. The companies became silent. "Camions! They rode us to Chatto-Terry Chatto-Terry In them busses "Yeh ! an' It was a one-way trip for a hell of a lot of us, too!" "Close up! Close up an' keep to the right of the road." "Cannons! That's a sign they want us bad, somewhere on the line," com mented the lean first lieutenant who hiked at the head of the Forty-ninth company. "Walter," the officer beside be-side him "I wonder what happened jesterdny an' today, with all that (hooting." "Don't know but this Chateau-Thierry salient Is mighty deep an' narrow, unless the Boche spread himself yesterday. ... If we were to break Into It, near one of the corners. . . ." "Yes ! Well, we're right on the tip of It here can Jump either way Lord I there's u lot of these conveyances." Later the battalion knew what had happened on July 15, when the F.oche nia'V his final cast across the Champagne Cham-pagne country toward Itheims and ICiKTiiay ; and his storm divisions fcur:;ed to the Marne, nnd stayed, and lapped around the foot of the gray i:"'.iutain of Itheims, and stayed. Just Low the battalion cared for none of these things. It had had no supper; it faced a crowded trip of uncertain duration, and was assured of various discomforts after that Well accustomed to the ways of war, the men growled horribly as they crammed into their appointed chariots, wtiile the officers inexorably loaded the best part of a platoon Into each camion, the dusk hiding their grins of sympathy. "Get aboard ! get nlioard! Where'U you put yo' pack? Now what the hell do I know about o' pack want a special stateroom Hii" a coon vallay, do yuh, yuh !" The sergeants didn't grin. They wore, and the men swore, and they raged altogether. But, In much less time than it took to tell about it afterward, af-terward, the men were loaded ou. The officers were skilled and prompt In such matters. Wizened Annamltes from the colonies colo-nies of France drove the camions. Presently, with clangor nnd much dust, they started their engines, and the camion train Jolted off down th" river road. They le't the river, and hy the testimony tes-timony of the stars It seemed to the lieutenant of the Forty-ninth that they were hurrying north. Always, on the right, the far horizon glowed with the fires of war flares, signal lights, cim-llashes from hidden batteries: the roule paralleled the line. The lieutenant lieuten-ant visualized his map: "FoHowIn' the snlient around to the north the north Soissons way, or Montdidier. The Boche took Soissons. . . .'" Ou:et French villages along the road, stone houses like grr.y ghosts ntiiler the pr.'e moon, and all lights hooded against Bo:he plane?. Long, empty stretches of road. Shadow column col-umn of French Infantry, overtaken i n. I passed. Horse-drawn batteries e.f 75s on the move. Swift staff cars t::at d.ished by, hooting. Then, long tiler of horsemen, cloaked aid hel-meicd. hel-meicd. with a chostl" K'int of lrtnre-fcead lrtnre-fcead over them French cavalry i'resen'ly, dawn, with low cluuils pll-io pll-io g up la the ro;y sky. it was rii'.iMorer).io:t v.:. en the trVri lopped, odJ the buuu'iuu cUmbeJ I Hie War at dost Range Described in a Re-' markabtt Series by an Officer of the Marines Capt JOHN W. THOMASON, Jr. by the Boll Syodlcats. Inc.) out on cramped legs. "Fall in on the right of the road. . . Platoon commanders, com-manders, report. . . Keep fifty yards' distance between platoons. . Squads right. . . March I" and the companies moved off stiffly, on emnty stomachs. The little dark Annamltes watched the files pass with Incurious eyes. They had taken many men up to battle. Company by company, the First battalion bat-talion passed on, and behind them the other battalions of the Fifth marines took the road and, after them, the Sixth. "None of the wagons, or the galleys don't see the machine-gun outfits, either," observed the lieutenant lieuten-ant of the Forty-ninth company, looking back from the crest of the first low hill. Here the battalion halted, having marched for half an hour, to tighten slings nnd settle equipment for the real business of hiking. "They may get up tonight, chow and ail wonder how far we came, an' where we're goln'. No. sergeant ser-geant can't send for water here my canteen's empty, too. All I know about It Is that we seem to be In a hurry." The battalion moved off again, and the major up forward set a pace all disproportionate to his short legs. When the first halt came, the usual ten-minutes rest out of the hour was mmM Bringing In German Prisoner at St. Mihisl. cut to five. "Aw hell ! forced march ! "An' the lootenant had forgot everything every-thing but 'close up 1 close up !" Listen at him " The camions had set them down In a gently rolling country, unwooded, and fat with ripening wheat Far across it, to the north, blue with distance, dis-tance, stood a great forest, and toward to-ward this forest the battalion marched, talkative, as men are In the first hour of the hike, before the slings of the pack begin to cut Into your shoulders. . . . "Look at them poppies In the wheat" "They ain't as red as the poppies were the mornin' of the Cth of June, when we went up to Hill 142" "Yep ! beginnin' to fade some. It's gettin' late in the season." "Ill I'm beginnin' to fade some myselfthis my-selfthis guerre Is wearUf on a man . . . remember how they looked In the wheat that mornin', Just before we hit the Maxim guns? red as blood " "Pore old Jerry Finnegan picked one and stuck It In the buckle of h!s helmet I seen it In his tin hat after he was killed, there behin' the hill I'll always think about popples an' blood together, as long as I live " This last from little Trltt. the lieutenant's orderly. "Long as you live that's good !" gibed Corporal Snair of the company headquarters group. "Don't you know by now how expendable you bucks are?" the lieutenant heard, and remembered re-membered It, oddly enough, In a crowded moment the next day, when he lost the two of them to a hard-fought hard-fought Maxim gun. No wind moved across the lonely wheatfield; the bearded stalks waved not at all. and the sun-drenched air was hot and dead. Sweat made mudJy tunnels through the thick white dust that masked the faces of the men. Conversation languished; what was snld was In profane monosyllables. mono-syllables. Clouds came up. and there were showers of rain, with hot sunshine sun-shine between. Uniforms steamed after each shower, and thirst became a torture. The man who had the vln blanc in his canteen fell out and was quire 111. "Illkln' In. . . ." After Interminable hours the column col-umn came to the forest and passed from streaming snnhine into suitry shades. It was a noble wood of great high-branching frees, clean of nndor-hrv-sh as a park. Something was doing l:i th forest S:r.;d!-a:-ms rm-munlrlon rm-munlrlon v-qs stacked hesi.lo tire road, and there were dumps of shells and bomb' under the trees. And French sot.ilera everywhere. This roe..! presently led into n great paved highway, r.d along It were mere of the pre-porti.'S of war row upon tow of every caliber of slvil. orderly stacks of winged aerial bombs, piie a'iier pile of r:"e ard m i- I iiic-r.-r. :v.T.'.r."it!en. and c.ist-s of '.ami irren-ai.es irren-ai.es end pyrotw .'hne-s. Tfc.-re wro picket Hues of cavalry, uad park af ter t park of artillery, light ar.d heav... There were Infantrymen with stacked rifles. The highway led straight through the forest Many roads emptied into it, and from every road debouched a stream of horses, men, and guns. The battalion went Into column of twos, then into column of files, to make room. On the left of the road, abreast of the murines, plodded another column col-umn on foot strange black men, ir. the blue greatcoats of the French Infantry and mustard-yellow uniforms under them. The sultry afternoon passeo drearily, and at six o'clock the battalion turnei off the road, shambling and footsore, and rested for two hours. They found water and filled canteens. A few of the hardier made shift to wash. "Gonna smear soapsuds an' lather a!l over me the hospital corps men sa7 It keeps off mustard-gas." But .most of the men dropped where the platoon pla-toon broke ranks and slept Battalion Battal-ion U. Q. sent for all company commanders. com-manders. Presently the lieutenant -f the Forty-ninth returned, with pap-rs and a map. He called the company officers offi-cers around him, and spread the map on the ground. He spoke briefly. "We're in the Vlllers-Cotterets woods the Foret de Retz. At H hour on D day, which I think Is tomorrow morning, although the major didn't say, we attack the Boche here" pointing "and go on to here past the town of Vierzy. Eight or nine kilometers. Three objectives marked so and so. The Second division with one of the infantry regiments leading, and the Fifth Marines, attacks at-tacks with the First Moroccan division divi-sion on our left. The Frog Foreign Legion is somewhere around, too, and the First American division. It's Man-gin's Man-gin's Colonial army the bird they call the butcher. . . ." It was dark when the battalion fell In and took the road again. They went Into single file on the right, at the very edge of It, for "the highway was jammed with three columns of traffic, moving forward. It began to rain, and the night, there under the thick branches, was inconceivably black. The files couldn't see the man ahead, and each man caught hold of the pack In front and went feeling for the road with his feet, clawing along with the wheels and the artillery horses and machine-gun mules. On the right was a six-foot ditch, too deep in mud to march In. The rain Increased to a sheeted downpour and continued all night, with long rolls of uiuuuei, ttiiu wnne Biuub UI uglimiug that Intensified the dark. The picked might of France and America toiled on the road through the Villers-Cot-terets forest that night, like a great flowing river of martial force. No battle ever tried them half as hard as the, night road to Soissons. . . . The rain ceased, and the sky grew gray with dawn. The traffic thinned, and the battalion turned off on a smaller road, f.'osed up, and hurried on. Five mlnci by the side of the road to form combat packs and strip to rifle and bayonet. "Fall In quickly ! Forward !" Overhead the clouds were gone; a handful of stars paled and went out; day was coming. The battalion, lightened, hastened. They perceived dimly, through a mist of fatigue, that a cloudless day was promised nnd that the world was wonderfully new washed and clean nnd quiet ! Not a gun anywhere, and the mud on the road muffled the sound of hob-nailed boots. "Double time! Close up! Closeup, there I" There had been fighting here; there were shell-holes, scarred and splintered splin-tered trees. The battalion panted to a crossroads where stone buildings lay all blasted by some gale of shell-fire. shell-fire. And by the road what looked like a well ! The files swayed toward It, clutching at dry canteens "Back In ranks! Back In ranks, you " Then, barbed wire across the roadway, road-way, and hattered shallow trenches to right and left, and a Utile knot of French and American officers, Major Turrlll standing forward. The leading lead-ing company turned off to the left, along the trenches. The Forty-ninth followed In column. "Turn here." ordered or-dered the major. "Keep on to the left until you meet the Moroccans, and go forward. . ." The Forty-ninth went beyond the trench still In column col-umn of route, picking its way through the woods. The lieutenant looked back at his men as he went; their faces were gray and drnwn and old; i they were staggering with weariness j "Fix bayonets!" and the dry click of the steel on the locking-ring locking-ring ran along the ragged column. I loud in the bush of dawn. I (TO ES CONTINUED.) ! |