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About The Red Cloud chief. (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1918)
RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA, CHIEF i V 'THRILLING STORY OF HAOETREAT Illinois Officer Relates Experience of Hun Attack on the British. TEN DIVISIONS AGAINST ONE Detplte Overwhelming Number of En emy, His Losses Were Great Miraculous Escape From Bap tism of Shell Fire. First Lleutennnt Itoswcll T. 1'ettlt. M. O.-It. C, of Ottnwn, III.. In n letter to his fnther. Dr. J. W. I'ettlt of the Ottawa tuberculosis colony, nnd pub llsherl in the Chicago Tribune, relntos the thrilling story of the great battle In Plcanly. The American officer was In tho thickest of the fighting for nine days, during the retreat of the Hrltlsh Fifth nrrny from before St. Quentln. Lieutenant Petttt's account of the bat tlo thrills with the stress of the con flict, as it was written immediately after he had passed through the tre mendous experiences and before his Impressions had been In any way dulled by time. His letter follows: Lieutenant Pettlt'a Letter. March 30. Dear Father: Now that the show Is oyer for me for the time being, and I have time to breathe and sleep nnd eat and write, I'll try and tell you about the battle. Ucfore you receive this you will have had the whole story from the papers, but I know you will be Interested In knowing what I did In the affair. Of course, the things I saw were but an lnflnlteslmnl part of n gigantic whole and It would be Impossible for me to give n correct description of the battle. And as I write this, I do It with no knowledge whatever of what has been going on even a few miles from me. I have not seen a paper In eight days ; I have received no mall, nnd the only Information wc have received has been by word of mouth, and most of what wo hear must be wild rumors. For ex ample: The French hnve advanced 20 miles at Verdun, the Ameri cans hnve taken Ostend, and nre on their way to Zeebrugge, and n great naval battle has been fought In the North sea. All I know Is thnt on this part of the front the Germans attacked us in over whelming numbers, In places ten divi sions to our one; that they suffered terrible losses, but finally broke through our lines of defense, one nfter another, nnd fighting for the most part, a rear gunrd action, we have retired about 15 miles In a straight line. For a week before the bnttle started we had been expecting it; we were ready to move on 30 minutes' no tice. I had been out with combntnnt as well as medical officers on tours of reconnaissance, definite methods of evacuation of the- wounded hnd been worked out, and our p!nns of counter attack been made. After four or five days of waiting, the storm finally broke. The Boche opened up on us at 5 a. ra March 21, with the henvlest barrage I havo ever heard. "Stand to," wns sounded, we turned out dressed, and had nil our equipment packed In 30 minutes. Then we sat down nnd waited for orders to move. The bar rage kept up continuously, sometimes heavier and then of less Intensity, aometlmes It seemed to be to the north of us nnd then suddenly it switched to the south. Our bnlloons were up as soon as It was light and the airplanes were buz ring over our hends. The ground mist gradually clcnred and the Germnns put a hall of shrapnel on our camp nnd we all took cover, but three men were hit. Why it is n fellow always feela safer with a roof over his head, even if he knows bullets nnd shrapnel nnd pieces of shell will go through boatds nnd corrugnted Iron just like paper. Ordered to Move. Our orders to move finally came and we marched off to tho brigade assem bly point several mile away. This as sembly point was In n little bunch of trees about the size of Allen pnrk and behind nnd separated from n larger wood In front. In the larger wood there was a battery of heavy nrtlllery and shells were dropping In there two or three to a minute, and it was heavy stuff, too. Sometimes they overshot the big wood and shells were lnndlng In the open around the llttlo wood where my brigade had Its assembly point. As we approached our little copse we could make all this out from some dis tance nwny nnd It wasn't a pleasant aensntion to feel that we were march ing straight Into It. All the battalions arrived nnd In that llttlo copse thero must havo been at Uaat two thousnnd men. What a chance If the Germans only knew ! Hut tho shells continued to drop In front of us and on either side, but none lauded among us, and after waiting there for three hours, expecting to be blown to bits any second, wo finally moved for ward. Just as we left the copse, from behind us, up over a ridge, came a stream of galloping horses. "It's the cavalry," someone shouted, but soon I mnde out limbers and field guns. They galloped past us, going like mad, took up a position to our right, swung Into position, unllrabered, nnd in two minutes were blazing awuy. It was a thrilling sight. Torn by Shells. In going forward wt went around the end of the larger wood in front of u, over ground that wn torn to bit by the heavy "hell fire that had Just preceded, over another edge, aero n valle.v, and under tho oroj-t of a hill And here we found the tank" goim: over the top of the hill to take U their position. At tills point we were still about a mile from the front line. At this place I opened up nn aid lxist under the crest of the hill to take care of what wounded came In while we were getting Into position. Shrapnel was bursting In tho air shells wore whizzing overhead, and our guns behind mo were belching forth the fire. Tho noise was deafening. A railroad ran through tho vallo.v and un engine pulling n couple of tint cars was going by. A couple of sol diers were sitting on the rear truck swinging their feet. A shell burst on the track and only missed the last car about fifteen urds. Neither man was hit nnd tho train wont blithely on. By thi" time It was getting along toward evening, the sun was sinking In the west, nnd finally wont down a groat ball of fire. At tho time, I re member, I noticed its color. It was blood rod and had a sinister look. Was It my Imagination, or might it havo boon a premonition? At any rate, 1 shall never forget tho color of tho sun as it set that night at the end of tho first day of probably one of tho great est battles In history. It certainly didn't look good to me. The drumming of the guns contin ued, twilight grndually deepened Into night, the signalers stopped their wig wagging nnd took up their Hash sig nals, "a fog dropped down on us and put the lights out of business, and when we left to go forward under the cover of darkness they were busy put ting out their telephone lines signal ers and runners don't have an eas time. Shell Dump Goes Up. Behind us n shell landed In nn am munition dump and It wont up with a roar; then the rlilo nmmunltlon started going off like n groat bunch of fire crackers, and great tongues of tlaine lit up the sky. It Is reported thnt tho Germans hnd broken through our lino and wo wore to counter-attack In tho morning. Wo got Into positions without a single casualty. I opened an aid post In an old dugout nnd settled down to sleep until morning. You may think It fun ny thnt one could sleep under such conditions, but I had been up since 5:30, had tramped about six or seven miles, hnd had a rather trying day and was dog tired. Just like some of tho warm days we get tho last of March at homo. In going forward It was necessary for us to mnrch seventy-five ynrds In front of three batteries of field guns. There are six guns to a battery. They sltoot an eighteen-pound shell and wlillo we wore there each gun was shooting twice to the minute. You can imagine tho rncket when I tell you that the discharge of one gun can be hoard about four mile. In addi tion the Boche was trying to knock out this battery and he was dropping bis six inch shells a little too close for comfort. Nearly In a Trap. Then I mnde a lovely mistake. 1 wns to establish an aid post near bat talion headquarters and went blithely on when I met a company commander and asked him where to go. "Back there about a quarter of a mile," he replied. "This Is the front center compnny. If you keep on In the direction you nre going you nre going up over thnt ridge and Fritz will be waiting for you with u machine gun." So my sergeant nnd orderly and myself didn't waste any time In clear ing. On the way back I found a gallon can full of water, got Into n corrugnted Iron shelter and hnd a wash and n shnve. It certainly felt good. 1 don't believe I had washed for thirty-six hours. It was warm and bright. I could look out of my shelter nnd see our support lines digging themselves in several hundred yards away. Tho ennnon fire censed tho machine gun settled down to an occasional fitful burst and It was midday of a beautiful spring day. A couple of partridge flow over mo. What did they know or enre about all this noise nnd rncket and men getting up In lino and killing each other? Along about three o'clock things be gan to liven tip again. In the mean time headquarters had been establish ed In n sunken road with banks about fifteen feet high on either side (later this cut was half filled with dead). My aid post was in a dugout nenr by and gradually things got hotter nnd hotter. Our men hnd dug themselves In and were popping away with their rltlos. Tho field batteries behind us wore putting up n barrage, airplanes were circling overhead, both ours and tho Germans. Tho Germnns put up a counter-bnrrngo, the machine guns were going like mad. I was standing with tho colonel on n llttlo rise of ground above tho sunken road when tho Germnns broke through nbout a mile to tho north of us. They could be plainly seen pouring over the ridge In close formntlon. Tanks Get Into Action. Then tho tanks came up, and jou should have seen them run! Just like rabbits I Tho tanks retired; tho Bodies reformed and camo at it again. They tell me thnt at certain plncos our men withstood fifteen suc cessive attacks and thnt the Germans went down In thousands. One Welsh man told me that bis gun accounted for 75 In three minutes during one wave. Mnchlne-gun bullets were nipping around me, tho shell fire was getting hotter, and oven though It was a won- dot fill sicht to wntdi I dodih'd "dis cretion was tho bettor part of valor," T something like that, and got down In in dugout. I went bark to tho advanced dress ing station through tho hottest shell tiro I ever experienced. More than onco 1 went flown on my face when a shell burst and the pieces went whiz zing over m.v head I spent the night In n mined village where the advanced dressing station was located, and nil night thc.v shelled It to blades. It was romnikablo how few casualties we had. About eleven o'clock the morning of tho third day a shell blew In the side if our post, 1 til t luckily no one was hurt. Wo stuck to It until about four In the afternoon, when we snvv our men retiring over a rldgo In front of us. keeping up a continuous machine gun nnd rltlo tiro, and we bent It back to another village and opened nnoth or post. The Begrimed Lord. About U n o'clock on the morning ot the fourth day Lord Thyme, m.v col onel when I was with tho battalion, stumbled Into tho shack whore I was sitting. Ho looked like n ghot. Ho had lost his hat. his face was covered with a four days' beard, the sweat had traced tracks in the dust from his forehead to his chin. Ills sleeve was torn and bloody and ho had a cash In his arm whore he had been struck by n piece of flying shell case. "My God, doc. are you here?" he said. "You got out Just In time. The battalion Is all gone. The sunken road Is tilled with dead mostly Huns, damn 'em. The lino broke on the right; we were surrounded, nnd nt the last we were lighting bnck and back. Only thirty of us got away." So wo know the Boche had broken through to our right and our loft, and It wns a question of how long It would bo before wo, too, were surrounded, but we wanted to stick It out ns long ns we could. But not more than nn hour later n medical officer rushed In from one of the bnttallons nnd between gasps for breath told us the Germans woie on tho odee of the village, had shot him through tho sleeve with n machine gun bullet (luckily that was all), and for us to boat it. Lot mo tell you wo did. I throw my knapsack and made the first hun dred yards In nothing tint and then settled down to u walk because I was so out of breath I couldn't run any more. The Incessant scream and crash and bang of the shells kept up and the rat-tnt-tat of the machine guns never ceased. The village Immediately be hind us was a seething mass of brick dust, smoke, flame, and bursting shells. We were told on our wny back that a stand was to be made behind this village, so we circled around It nnd took up n position about a half mile behind It nt n cross roads. Unfortunately for us, n six Inch bat tery came Into action about fifty ynrds from us and, nsldo from tho harassing effect of tho terrific noise, bnttcrles are always unpleasant neighbors, ns they Invito shell fire. We stpped bore until nbout 10 o'clock at night, when we were ordered to retire. There was no wny of getting out the wounded that we had collected, so tho stretcher bearers carried tiiern on their stretchers for six or seven miles. In fact, we all helped, and when we nrrlved nt our destination at 4 o'clock In the morning of the fifth day we were all In. I could hnrdly move, hut after two big bowls of hot tea and some hard tack I turned In on tho floor and slept like n log for four hours, when wo moved to another place and opened a dressing stntlnn. Hun Plane Crashes. On the way a German airplane came down and crashed near the road, but neither the pilot nor observer were hurt. They wore n couple of rnthor nent looking Inds about 10 years old. And so It wont for throe days more, open a dressing station, retire (some times on the run), long inarcheH, very little to oat except what wo foraged from abandoned camps and dumps, dog tired, sleeping when and where wo could, and finally the division was re lieved. We now saw our first civilians and Inst night I slept In a bed. I. wasn't much of a bed, nnd the mattrosi was full of humps, but to get my boots off my sore nnd aching foot, to stretch out, nnd know I wouldn't ho routed out In fifteen minutes well, you couldn't hnve bought that bed from mo for 5100. Did you ever read Robert W. Serv ice's description of tho rotrent from Mons? Well, that's the way I felt: Trump, tramp, ttie Brim road the road from Mons to Wipers, I've 'nmmered out tn's rtltty with me bruised nnd bleeding feet, Trnmp, tramp, the dim road We didn't "ave no pipers All bellies thnt wore "oiler was the drums we 'ad to bent. The ninth day, sitting nround tho fire In our mess nfter the best dinner we had hnd In days, the commanding officer handed me some papers and said, "Here Is something thnt will In terest you, I'ettlt. I want to say we shall be sorry to lose you." And this Is what It was: "Lieut. Itoswell T. I'ettlt. M. It. C Is relieved from duty with tho British army and will proceed to the A. K. F where he will report for duty." I leave for Paris In the morning. This 1ms been n long tale, but tho half of It hasn't been told. I hope I hnven't strung It out too much. I hnve Just been Informed thnt all my kit had to be burned to prevent It fulling Into the hands of tho enemy. I shall probably want you to send mo some things from home, but will see what I cun get here first. Your son, ROSWKLL. GENTLE BUT SEVERE REBUKE Frenchman's Words Calculated to Make Pctulcnt Woman Hang Her Head In Shame. Winn the war first stalled, one of tho Americans who wore stranded In Fran . was a well-known New York soii' woman. She was natuially dlstui',. about conditions, and being unuM ' to iimoynnoes, she grumbled and ! iplalued. sl haticcd to stop nt n small Inn. nnd Mi, ne.t morning when her luoitk fast , tauly, she called the land b'lil nn! gave lllltl a severe lecture for mK" to havo her eggs half an hour le "l.v ii If Franco and Germany nre nt w- ,o jou think, sir. Hint I nm ' golnc Mthout what 1 am nciustomod ' to ll l '" "M nn," said the old man, "wo all I have , l'o without some of the things wo ii- , to have. You for a little wbll. I forever. "I'" vou see yonder dump of trees' A ft w miles further on Is where the armli- are lighting. My three boys man I ."I away when tho war broke out First i no, thou tho second was killed And tmw, I have given tho youngest to Fr-inio. and It was only n few dnys ago tli.it his old mother nnd I beard that he too, was struck down unci Is now sin.ping somewhere beyond those trees. ' Hard Work. Ati'ln vv Carnegie hns hnd to stnnd for a lot of stoiles, so this llttlo one Minimi on him won't add but u trllle to bis onselenee: "Sp'aMng of the obstinacy of the Scot. I. ' s,,ld the Laird of Sklbo, "I once knew n Scotch minister who told mo of a parishioner who prayed ay follows- " 'Lord, oh, Lord, keep me from go ing wmng, for you know bow hard It Is to do anything with n Scot when onco bo has made up his mind." Kx change $100 Reward. $100 Catarrh Is a local dlscaso greatly lnflu- , need by constitutional conditions It . therefore requires conntttutlonnl treat ment HALL'S CATARRH MCDICINE Is taken internally nnd nets through the Dlood on tlio Mucouh Surfaces of the Sys tem. HALL'S CATARRH MEDICINE destroys tho foundation ot the dlsenio, Klvcs the patient btrcnRth by Improving tho general health nnd assists naturo In dolnu Its work. $100 00 for any cao of Catnrrh that HALL'S CATARRH MEDICINE) falls to cure. Druggists TBc. Testimonials free F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo, Ohio. Voice of Vanity. "Are you sure tho baby resembles meV asked the proud father. Absolutely. Aren't you pleased?" "Yes, I'm pleased. The only thing Is that tho youngster will get over be ing rather red faced and bald-headed nnd I probably won't." Don't Worry About Pimples. On rising and retiring gently smear the face with Cutlcuru Ointment. Wash off the Ointment In five minutes with Cutlcurn Soap and hot water. For free samples nddress, "Cutlcurn, Dept. X, Boston." At druggists and by mall. Soap 25, Ointment 25 nnd 50. Adv. Indignant Denial. "Those nre pretty looking trees over , there. Are they deciduous?" "Indeed, they're not. They're the healthiest sort we've got on the place." Dr. Pierce's Pellets are best for liver, bowels and stomnch. One little Pellet ' for a laxative, three for a cathartic. Ad. There muy be balm in Ollend, but there nre no cheap excursions to that place. Red Cross Ball Blue, made in America, therefore (he beat, delights the housewife. All good grocers. Adv. A hog ought not to be blnmed for being a hog, but n man ought. A bucket of whitewash usually goes with each political Investigation. ATTENTION! Sick To do your duty times your health consideration. 1 tell how they found health. Hellara, Ta, "I took Lydla E. Pinkham's Veg etable Compound for female troubles and a dis placement. I felt all rundown nnd wa3 very weak. 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