The Iron Division, National Guard of Pennsylvania, in the World War

rch of

the Germans, without expecting or intending to hold the town, had taken every possible step to make the taking of it as costly as possible. With their characteristic disregar

e they stood. As was the case 99 times out of every 100, they fired until they dropped from bullets or thrus

en had fallen from apparently mysterious fire that they discovered the squealing Hun, hands in air, had his foot on a lever controlling the fire

ame of hide and seek, in which the men in khaki were always "it," and to be spied meant death for the Hun. From building to build

n in the belfry, from which the bells had been removed and sent to Germany. Gothic walls and balconies, from which in happier days the plaster st

d the outer edge of the town and surround the church. When they found houses with partition walls so strong that a hole could not be battered through easily, sharp

ade the prospect of crossing them seem like a first class suicide. Nevertheless, it had to be done. The men who led this circuitous advance waited until enough of their comrades had arrived to make a sortie in force. The best rif

ort to a minimum. Our marksmen did not wait for a German to show himself. They kept a steady s

t to fire, but put every ounce of energy into the speed of their legs. Thus a footing was established by a considerable group on the othe

pe so many years. Its stout stone walls, built to last for centuries, offered ideal shelter, and be

pen space at the rear of the church. Here a shell from a German battery had conveniently opened a hole in the solid masonry. It was the wor

, which still was taking its toll. One man led the way up the winding stone stairs, fighting every step. Strange to relate, he went safely to the top, although c

command of the stronghold, leaped over the low parapet to death, and three Huns, the last of th

e. Then, with only a brief breathing spell, the regiment swung a little to the northwest a

to come. It was one of those feats that become regimental traditions, the tales of which are handed down for generations within regimental organization

aking of the Bois de Grimp

y-fifth Brigade, compared most favorably with the never-to

ich miles of other front bulked large in public attention; second, the taking of Belleau was one of the very first real battle operations of Americans, and the marines were watched by the critical eyes of a warring world to see how "those Americans" would compare with the sea

e Ourcq, which is so narrow that some of the companies laid litters from bank to bank and walked over dryshod, and so shallow that those wh

trong position in Gri

upplied with groups of junior officers and "non-coms" who felt-and justly-that they knew something about cleaning up "strong positions." They no longer went about such a task with the jaunty sang froid and reckless daredeviltry that had marked the

Already they had determined on, and had begun, the further retreat to the line of the Vesle, at this point about ten miles farther north. Such places as Grimpettes Woo

ir places; the underbrush was laced through with barbed wire; concealed strong points checker-boarded the dense, second growth woodland, so that when the Pennsylvanians took one ne

od was assigned to the 110th, and the

ood was 700 yards from the farthest extension of the vill

lmost like a solid wall in places. There was not a leaf to protect them. Hundreds of machine guns tore loose in the woods, until their rattle blended into one solid roar. One-pounder cannon sniped at them. German airmen, who had complete control of the air in that vi

he men said afterward-those, and the air bombs. T

une. That the regiments were not wiped out was a demonstration of the tremendous expenditure of ammunition in warfare comp

in. A few of the others who were nearer the wood than the town scraped out little hollows for themselves and stuck grimly where

ts in turn besought their officers. The Pennsylvanians had been assigned to a task and had not performed it. That was not

their teeth grimly and plunged out into the storm of lead and steel once more. It must be remembered that all this was without adeq

began to seem as if nothing could withstand that torrential fire in force. Three times more, making five attacks in all, the

30th, that artillery had come up an

We will clean that place up a

wire. The scattered few of the Pennsylvanians who still clung to their places just within the first fringe of woodland made themselves as small as possible, hugging the ground and

t the necessary added weight to carry them across. The Germans flung themselves from their dugouts and offered what resistance they could,

chine gun and one-pounder, and the best men won. Some prisoners were sent back, but the burial squads laid away more than 400 German bodies in Grimpettes.

ed. He had flung himself into a shell-hole, in the bottom of which water had collected. The machine gun fire of the Germans was low enough to "cut the daisies," as the men remarked. Therefore, there was no

ll holes, and they kept their machine guns spraying over those nests. Other men had to don the

re than anything else the German has to offer, more than any other single thing in the whole category of horrors with which the Kaiser distinguished this war from all other wars in the world's history. Yet the discomfort of the gas mask,

sk was secure-just enough to make him feel rather faint and ill. He knew that if his mask slipped to one side, if only enough to give him one breath of the outer air, he would suffer torture, probabl

e and breathing only through your mouth. When you have discovered how unpleasant this can be, try to imagine every breath through the mout

fifteen hours. And then ask yourself if "hero" i

scovered in a flash that the last officer of the first wave had fallen before his shelter was reached. Being next in ran

fice, which by no means was confined to enlisted men. Lieutenant Richard Stockton Bullitt, of Torresdale,

n charge of the rifle squad had been killed and the other men could not operate the gun. Lieutenant Bullitt, member of an old and

efiantly, waved away stretcher bearers who wanted to take him to the rear, and pumped the

ntly. Staff officers were just beginning to fume and fuss about the ridiculousness of sending a party of prisoners back unguarded, when they discovered a very dusty and very disheveled American officer bringin

0th was moved to Courmont, only 700 yards behind

shell struck the headquarters building squarely. Twenty-two enlisted men and several officers were injured. Major Martin, Captain John D. Hitchman, Mt. Pleasant, Pa., t

first time he was blown through an open doorway into the road by the explosion of

ng use of the answers of the prisoners in studying the maps and trying to determine the disposition of the enemy forces. Almost exac

habit with you,"

fe," said Lieut

Lieutenant Alexander's number o

eas. As soon as American occupancy of Bois de Grimpettes had been established definitely the Hun turned loose an artillery "hate