Broke Line the Huns
Claimed Could Not Be Broken
Goldsboro, Nov. 3—It was great and we are tired, but happy.
We broke the line that all Germans claimed could not be broken, and the men
from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee did it with such dash and
determination that a Boche prisoner told me that if all American fighters were
like these that the Germans could not hold up longer. As a matter of fact, they
are not holding up anywhere, but he did not know it,” declares Lieut. Thomas
Daniel in a letter written to his parents in this city, in which he gives a
vivid description of the recent great drive and the part taken in it by
Goldsboro soldiers in France.
“At 5:50 a.m., Sept. 29, our artillery put down a creeping
barrage,” says Lieut. Daniels’ letter. “We had assembled quite a big number of
guns for this work, and it was some artillery show. To begin with, in the dawn
of the early morning light, and exactly zero hour, the men went over the top in
perfect waves and held close to the creeping barrage. Soon the barrage lifted
and we carried the first line trenches with a rush. Soon the second enemy line
and then the third. The men in the first waves fought down to the village of
B--- and soon cleared it up. An hour later, by dash, we were astraddle the
Hindenburg defense system, an hour later a second village was taken by our men,
and late in the afternoon we reached our objective, a depth of 2 ½ miles.
“This fight will go down in history and well can the people
of the three states remember and honor their sons and brothers who fought and
gloriously died on this field of battle. Never had I dreamed of such
bravery—the place was alive with machine guns—thousands of them. Many of the
men were cut off from their officers but this did not stop them, for they only
knew one thing, to kill Huns, and kill Huns they did. They rushed machine gun
nest after machine gun nest, taking them all, leaving nothing behind but dead
Huns and battered guns.
“Capt. Zeno Hollowell, from home, and his company were shut
off for three hours, were subject to a rain of machine gun bullets. When one of
his men grunted and rolled over, two of his comrades sprang up, , caught him
around the shoulders, and walked off to the aid station with him indifferent to
the regular hail of bullets. They went through without a scratch, Capt.
Hollowell’s gas mask and glasses were pierced by bullets but he was only
slightly wounded.
“One man captured 96 prisoners by himself. Others rushed and
captured machine guns by themselves. It was a stiff, hard fight for all and it
was well fought. We just received warm congratulations from our division
commander, General Lewis.
“We are back now for a rest and it’s rather like what Mark
Twain said about pulling a tight fitting shoe off a sore foot. Australian and
English officers of much experience, who passed over the field after the fight,
said that it looked impossible. This natural terrain, rolling wooded hills, a
vast net of wire and perfect trench systems, with 30 and 40 foot dug-outs,
(can’t read word) Jerry, so he thought, a line that would never be broken. And
little did he think when he provoked the United States into the war that the Yanks
would be the ones to break it. Young Roland Cox and Marion Daniel were killed
in this fight. They died bravely leading their men on. ?? Hummell Was killed
later in the day valiantly fighting in the stiffest part of the line. I was
talking to officers Cox and Hummell just before zero hour. They were happy and
jovial and looking forward to the fight with much anticipation. There were
other casualties in Goldsboro boys but I haven’t yet been able to ascertain
who.
“One of the cold-bloodedest things I observed during the
battle was that while hundreds of Boche prisoners were passing down in groups,
the Hun did not cease his artillery fire in that direction on account of this,
and I saw hundreds of his own men killed by his own artillery fire. On this
road I also saw four Boche prisoners bringing in an American wounded on a
stretcher. A German shell fell right in between them, killing all four Germans,
but by a miracle the American escaped injury.
“The most remarkable thing was the wounded. I saw men with
legs and arms off laughing and smoking, and not the least sign of pain on
their faces. One 16-year-old lad from Fayetteville, who smuggled into our
outfit, had a leg carried away. He was laughing when they brought him in, and
he said, ‘a cigarette and a drink of water is all I want.’ I was talking to the
surgeon the day after the fight. He told me that he had never seen men with
such grit—that there was not a groan from a single man. He stated also that one
man was brought in with his arm and shoulder shot away. He said, “Doctor, tell
me frankly, have I got a chance?’ The doctor answered he had a fighting chance.
The man said, ‘Oh! A fighting chance, I’ll get well then.’
“Some of the poor Huns still believe that the Kaiser and God
meet in sacred places as did Moses on the mountain Prisoners say that letters
from home state that things there are very unsettled. Some of the Huns fought
well in this battle and held out to the last, especially the machine gunners;
others yelled ’Kamerad’ pretty quick. It was real funny to see them peeping out
of a dug-out that had been bombed, yelling ‘kamerad’ like a bunch of swine and
trembling with fear.
“Taps is now blowing, the sweetest of all bugle calls, and
again I think of the ‘last taps’ for the boys who so gloriously died for our
noble cause, brave valiant lads, they knew no fear and fell with their guns in
their hands facing the enemy. They died happy.”
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