Ogden Daily Standard | 1918-02-04 | Page 1 | Americans in Artillery Duel

AMERICANS IN ARTILLERY DUEL Officers Elated Over Results of First Big Gun Fight With Germans. TRIBUTE TO INFANTRY American 75's LayXurtain of Fire Before Enemy Responds to Own Signal. WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Sunday. Feb. 3. (By the Associated Press.) American officers aro elated over tho results of thc first artillery duel betwen American and German gunners, which followed a pre-liimnary pre-liimnary .shelling by tho Germans Saturday evening. In official reports the infantry commanders today paid tribute to the promptness with which the artillery responded to the call for a barrage and to the effectiveness of the artillery fire. Aerial reconnaissances today shoved shov-ed that the American gunfire had had a very destructive effect. It will require re-quire several nights of hard work un-dr un-dr nrtillery fire for thc Germans to repair the first lino trenches caved in by tho American 75's and to patch the gaps In the. barbed wire. Enemy Dugouts Destroyed. It is known that at least three enemy dugouts wero demolished probably prob-ably with spmo casualties. On the other hand the damage done to the American trenches will be repaired before tomorrow morning. In a regimental headquarters village vil-lage shelled by the enemy many build- j ings wero wrecked. There wero no casualties among the officers. The German artillery opened with a do-sullory do-sullory bombardment of tho American Ameri-can trenches at a certain point, firing many shrapnel shells. In tho midst of this a. red rockot caning for ba-'rtigo ba-'rtigo asiien'dCcl'Trbm" "(he "German' first? lines. Americans Act Quickly. ' Before tho German artillery could respond the American 75's laid a curtain cur-tain of fire along the enemy first lines. Then began tho battle of tho gunners. The increased intensity of the German fire was met immediately by the American, Amer-ican, who not only showered shells on the original sector but quickly extended ex-tended their activities to a wide front. Within twenty minutes the 75's and larger pieces were bombing all along tho valley the shelling finally spreading spread-ing to a town in which regimental headquarters was located. As darkness settled down the guns were quieL Heavy mists again overhung the American sector today, consequently thero was artillery work and no aerial activity. no