TRANSCRIBED FROM THE NEWPORT DAILY INDEPENDENT MARCH 24, 1919 P. 1
Ehrenbreltstein Fortress, Germany,
Feb. 26.
I want to tell the people back home of some of the experiences I have had in the army since I landed in France. I landed August 10, 1918, and after four days training at Camp Hunt, and six or seven days riding on a train from there, arrived at Merryville, France, and came to the E. Battery, 17th heavy artillery at a time when they were relieved and laying over on a quiet sector, but shortly afterward pulled to the front. The first battle I witnessed was on the St. Mihiel front, on the night of September 12. We pulled our pieces into firing position and got ready for action. The rain had fallen all day in a regular down pour and continued that night and the darkness was intense. All lights were strictly forbidden, of course, because of the presence of enemy airplanes, so we were compelled to work in the blackest of nights and do the best we could. We were all set and ready to execute the order to commence the barrage at 11 that night and opened fire on time and dropped the heavy shells. Hundreds and hundreds of large guns were in position and when they opened fire it seemed to me that the very earth was shaken loose at both ends and sides and trembled frightfully. The tremendous, thunderous roaring was terrific in the extreme, impossible for me to describe so the reader who has never heard the like can form anything like a true ideas of the noise. It made me feel as though I wanted to run, to get away from the deafening booming. And to add to the racket the Boches were throwing their whiz bangs every few minutes. This being my first experience I cannot tell you how well I would have liked to be out of it. We kept up the firing until about 5 o’clock in the morning when the boys went “over the top.” In about four hours they began returning in bunches, bringing with them hundreds of prisoners, and kept this up all day, taking them to cells in the rear of the lines.
I was in several firing positions on that front, but, later, Oct. 3, was on the Champagne front near Verdun, where the old Hindenberg line, established years ago, and thought by the huns to be impregnable, was shattered. After a 48-hour barrage there was little left of the boasted German stronghold. Very soon after our boys began going over they began coming back with batches of prisoners, and also with many machine guns and heavier pieces, rifles, cannon, and equipment of all description. We were shelled harder while on that front than any other, it seemed to me. It appeared to be raining shells. From that point we went to the Argonne sector and there repeated our successes. So heavy was the firing and the shells fell so thick that I don’t see how even a rabbit could have lived through it. There were shell holes for every square yard of surface, some of them large enough to bury a team and wagon. It was horrible, the destruction. Towns shot all to pieces, dwellings wiped off the face of the earth, and the very fields torn up and destroyed. It looks to me as though that section of France is totally wrecked. I wish that my friends back home could see the battlefields of France. In no other way can they form anything like a true conception of the fearful damage and devastation wrought in this country.
The German fort where we are now quartered is just across the Rhine from Coblens, which is one of the principal cities in this part of Germany, The ground under this fort is tunneled in all directions so that any part of the fort may be reached without coming to the surface. At one time, back in 1826, it is said this fort was captured by the French, but since it came into German hands was rebuilt and made stronger.
We are now having fair weather but it has been very cold and rainy with a good deal of snow.
ROY DAVIS,
Battery E, 17th F.A. A.E.F.
NOTES: This letter was written by Roy Davis.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
Ehrenbreltstein Fortress, Germany,
Feb. 26.
I want to tell the people back home of some of the experiences I have had in the army since I landed in France. I landed August 10, 1918, and after four days training at Camp Hunt, and six or seven days riding on a train from there, arrived at Merryville, France, and came to the E. Battery, 17th heavy artillery at a time when they were relieved and laying over on a quiet sector, but shortly afterward pulled to the front. The first battle I witnessed was on the St. Mihiel front, on the night of September 12. We pulled our pieces into firing position and got ready for action. The rain had fallen all day in a regular down pour and continued that night and the darkness was intense. All lights were strictly forbidden, of course, because of the presence of enemy airplanes, so we were compelled to work in the blackest of nights and do the best we could. We were all set and ready to execute the order to commence the barrage at 11 that night and opened fire on time and dropped the heavy shells. Hundreds and hundreds of large guns were in position and when they opened fire it seemed to me that the very earth was shaken loose at both ends and sides and trembled frightfully. The tremendous, thunderous roaring was terrific in the extreme, impossible for me to describe so the reader who has never heard the like can form anything like a true ideas of the noise. It made me feel as though I wanted to run, to get away from the deafening booming. And to add to the racket the Boches were throwing their whiz bangs every few minutes. This being my first experience I cannot tell you how well I would have liked to be out of it. We kept up the firing until about 5 o’clock in the morning when the boys went “over the top.” In about four hours they began returning in bunches, bringing with them hundreds of prisoners, and kept this up all day, taking them to cells in the rear of the lines.
I was in several firing positions on that front, but, later, Oct. 3, was on the Champagne front near Verdun, where the old Hindenberg line, established years ago, and thought by the huns to be impregnable, was shattered. After a 48-hour barrage there was little left of the boasted German stronghold. Very soon after our boys began going over they began coming back with batches of prisoners, and also with many machine guns and heavier pieces, rifles, cannon, and equipment of all description. We were shelled harder while on that front than any other, it seemed to me. It appeared to be raining shells. From that point we went to the Argonne sector and there repeated our successes. So heavy was the firing and the shells fell so thick that I don’t see how even a rabbit could have lived through it. There were shell holes for every square yard of surface, some of them large enough to bury a team and wagon. It was horrible, the destruction. Towns shot all to pieces, dwellings wiped off the face of the earth, and the very fields torn up and destroyed. It looks to me as though that section of France is totally wrecked. I wish that my friends back home could see the battlefields of France. In no other way can they form anything like a true conception of the fearful damage and devastation wrought in this country.
The German fort where we are now quartered is just across the Rhine from Coblens, which is one of the principal cities in this part of Germany, The ground under this fort is tunneled in all directions so that any part of the fort may be reached without coming to the surface. At one time, back in 1826, it is said this fort was captured by the French, but since it came into German hands was rebuilt and made stronger.
We are now having fair weather but it has been very cold and rainy with a good deal of snow.
ROY DAVIS,
Battery E, 17th F.A. A.E.F.
NOTES: This letter was written by Roy Davis.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS