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Show Crossing of the Ourcq' Brilliant American Feat. GREAT DIFFICULTIES Germans Raise WMte Flag and Open In-. In-. iejseJF ire... WITH THE AMERICAN. ARMY ON THE AISNE-MARNE FRONT, July 29 (By the Associated Press) The crossing of the Ourcq river was ef fected by the Americans on Sunday in brilliant style in the face of great difficulties, tho Germans having destroyed de-stroyed tho bridges and placed their nrtillery and machine guns in advantageous advan-tageous positions to resist the passage. pas-sage. The Franco -American forces had planned to cross the Ourcq before daylight day-light on Sunday, The Americans repeatedly re-peatedly started to advance during tho night by as often were held back by the fire of tho enemy machine guns and heavier pieces. During one of the lulls in tho German Ger-man firing, Captain Allen Huff of Onu.ha, Nebr., worked his men up to the center of a field, the slopes of which led to tho Ourcq. Just then the Germans resumed their fire in full force. Immediately Huff and his men dug in and held on where they were until daylight Meanwhile the German artillery had been quieted somewhat by the heavier artillery of the Allies carrying out counter battery work. Choosing an opportune moment, Huff's men dashed to the river, jumped in with a splash and waded across, cheering as they went. Corporal Chris Berthelsen of Sioux City was among those of the first wave to cross tho river. They immediately went after the machine guns on a hill on the north bank of the Ourcq. The firo which they opened on the enemy nest at this point was so intense that tbo Germans raised a white flag. Anticipating An-ticipating a nice bag of prisoners, the Americans rushed up only to be opened op-ened upon again by tho enemy machine ma-chine guns as they approached. Then the Americans let loose with the full weight of their fire against the Germans, Ger-mans, who again ivised tho white flag. Twelve Germans were killed and nine captured in this operation. Why Germans Count WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY ON THE AISNE -MARNE FRONT, July 30. (By tho Associated Press.) Brought to an American dressing station sta-tion on the banks of the Ourcq, a wounded German captain kept repeating repeat-ing "one, two three," monotonously. An inquiry to a nurse elicited this explanation: ex-planation: "Oh, all those German officers do that. You see," said the nurse who was administering ether preliminary to an operation upon the German officer, of-ficer, "an average person talks when under the anaesthetic. It is like talking talk-ing in your sleep. Tho Germans know this and every officer we get goes under un-der tho ether while counting. The result re-sult is that, instead of talking and giving giv-ing information, they keep right on counting." |