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Show WRITER TELLS OF TERRIFIC FIGHT Spends Saturday With American Ameri-can Troops on the Banks of the Marne. BATTERY UNSILENCED Men and Horses Lost But Guns Keep in Constant Action. LONDON, July 22. Reuter's correspondent cor-respondent at French headquarters telegraphs: "I spent yesterday (Saturday) on the bank of the Marno with tho American Amer-ican troops. They were tho officers and men of a battery of American 75's which had been in position on a bare exposed plateau above the river about a thousand yards from tho boche ridges during the entire week. They were aroused by terrific artillery preparation prep-aration on tho part of the enemy on the night of July 14. The American battery was in the- open and of the thirty enemy batteries which had been identified in the sector, five were concentrating con-centrating on the American battery. The men had to turn out and open on tho enemy without a moment's delay. The continued to fire as hard as they could for seventy-two hours. "The Americans were under a heavy shelling themselves but they never relaxed re-laxed their efforts. The whole pla-1 teau is plowed up by German shells. Tho Americans who had never been in a serious action before, lost both men and horses, but the battery was never silenced. Brave Lieutenant Maintains Communication Com-munication "In tho first hour of the bombardment bombard-ment every telephone wire in tho sec-:tor sec-:tor was cut by German shells and tho Ube battery was left, without means of communication with the American infantry whom it had tp support. "A young lieutenant volunteered to restore tho liaison. Taking a horse he rode down to the river through tho German barrage and back, and, during the night, galloped sixteen times between be-tween the battery and the river, always al-ways under a terrible heavy fire. He had eight horses hit under him and on the last journey he himself was hit In the knees. Men Refuse to Leave "A battery commander told me ho had the greatest difficulty with. his slightly wounded men. None of them wanted to leave the battlefield and tho men ordered to go away for treatment would hido themselves in order to avoid notice, hoping in this way to bo able to remain with their comrades. One gun, the crew of which had been knocked out by a single big shell, was kept working by the telephone men who, realizing what had happened, dashed out of their shelter and began to man tho gun themselves without orders." oo NEW MEMBER OF BOARD WASHINGTON, July 2-1. William Harmon Black, former assistant district dis-trict attorney of New York, has been chosen by Frank P. Walsh as his alternate al-ternate on the national war labor " board. |