TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DAILY ARKANSAS GAZETTE OCTOBER 24, 1918 P. 4
In France, September 26, 1918.
Dear Brothers:
Have not heard from Little Rock for over six weeks. The mail service over here is as rotten as it is possible for it to be. This condition is very annoying to the boys up at the front, some of whom have received no mail for several months. We have been having a hell of a time for the past three months, and Fritz has been having double that.
This war is very different from Civil war times. We have so many more devilish inventions to contend with and Fritz seems anxious to be disagreeable all the time. During the Civil war the contending armies would arrange a scrap, fight for two or three days, then back off and think it over for several months before trying again. In this war battles are a continuous performance, no intermissions for recuperation. When a division is properly decimated, and well fed up with glory, it is taken out of the line and rested for a week or so, filled up with new recruits and sent back, but the battle goes on all the time.
I am very proud to be a part of the American forces over here, because we have delivered the goods whenever calle don. Our boys have done some wonderful work and have earned the respect of our allies. They go into a scrap light hearted and carefree, apparently, as if going to a dance; when they come out they are just the same, each one anxious to tell all about what his platoon did and saw. I have been up at the front, under shell fire, and occasional rifle fire, ever since coming over, and have had a good chance to see a lot of very interesting happenings, some so personal as to have an intense interest to myself.
We are now in the Champagne district, and wine is very cheap, in fact, we have had a lot of it given us. Some of the officers try for the three bottle (quarts) class, but very few make it gracefully. Two bottles is about the limit of most people. We have salvaged some wine that was made 40 or 50 years ago, which is claimed to be very fine. The boche gets most of it, but once in a while he has to leave in a hurry, and we get what he cannot pack away.
The country is full of large underground caves and galleries in which the wine is stored and aged. These make good fortified places for Fritz to make a stand. It is alleged that our troops fight especially well in this kind of fortifications.
This is a very interesting part of the world for a student of history. It has been fought over ever since history has been recorded and heaven knows how much longer. Near here the H uns, under Attila, were defeated in the year 451, and turned back east. We can still see plenty of old Roman ruins, also castles which date from the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries. Some of them are very well preserved, walls 15 to 20 feet thick, with long narrow slits from which they used to shoot arrows. Have seen some of these walls and towers knocked hell west and crooked by shell fire. The old-timers who built them would open their eyes at modern warfare, but from all accounts they did very well at the fighting game themselves. Of course they did not have the modern, civilized Improvements of poison gas, thousand-pound air bombs, 300 shot to the minute automatic rifles, etc., but for their times and lights they used to be able to make it disagreeable for any one who disagreed with them.
Some of these old castles have museums, filled with old armour, weapons, etc., which used to be used mainly in religious arguments, converting heretics and heathens. Think they had Billy Sunday beat in some ways.
Our regiment has been doing a lot of bridging on the recent advance; most of the bridges are stone arches and are easy for the boche to destroy. We repair them with timber and eyebeams, use some cribs, but mostly frame bent and pile work. It is very discouraging on this repair work, as Fritz always knows the exact range and knows very well how to use it. The Germans are better at long range work than they are hand to hand. They show a decided reluctance toward associating, intimately with our side, and show this aloof spirit especially toward the Americans, in fact, they have not waited much lately.
Think the heart is gone out of most Germans, and the end is in sight. There will be plenty more fighting but they have lost their overbearing conceit; have seen thousands of prisoners and they all seem very glad to be caught. Some of them are boys 15 and 16 years old; most all of them are under 20; lots of them are misfits at that, showing that the central empires are hard up for man power. If we can keep up our present gait we may get back home next year. Am anxious to see home folks, but sure do not want to miss any of this bickering while it lasts. Those of us who have the luck to get back home can always remember that our war was a man’s sized one, one from which we can date time.
We Americans have no cinch on patriotism. I think the French are as patriotic people as the world ever saw. A veteran French regiment going into action is a sight worth remembering. They are well disciplined and drilled and, above all, well led. I have failed to see anything especially emotional about them, except, perhaps, their love for singing the Marseilliase. This hymn seems to cheer them up, and really it is inspiring to hear several thousand of them singing it at one time. Our boys generally sing “What the Hell Do We Care,” or some other ribald song of that kind, but it seems to answer the same purpose for them. Our national anthem requires a cultivated voice to sing. Most anyone could sing the songs that are popular in our army.
Write me when you have time. Letters are much appreciated over here.
Remember me to all the boys around the town and up to the club.
Love to all.
A.N. Peters.
NOTES: Captain A. N. Peters of Little Rock was writing to his brothers. He was in the 14th Engineers U S. Army.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
In France, September 26, 1918.
Dear Brothers:
Have not heard from Little Rock for over six weeks. The mail service over here is as rotten as it is possible for it to be. This condition is very annoying to the boys up at the front, some of whom have received no mail for several months. We have been having a hell of a time for the past three months, and Fritz has been having double that.
This war is very different from Civil war times. We have so many more devilish inventions to contend with and Fritz seems anxious to be disagreeable all the time. During the Civil war the contending armies would arrange a scrap, fight for two or three days, then back off and think it over for several months before trying again. In this war battles are a continuous performance, no intermissions for recuperation. When a division is properly decimated, and well fed up with glory, it is taken out of the line and rested for a week or so, filled up with new recruits and sent back, but the battle goes on all the time.
I am very proud to be a part of the American forces over here, because we have delivered the goods whenever calle don. Our boys have done some wonderful work and have earned the respect of our allies. They go into a scrap light hearted and carefree, apparently, as if going to a dance; when they come out they are just the same, each one anxious to tell all about what his platoon did and saw. I have been up at the front, under shell fire, and occasional rifle fire, ever since coming over, and have had a good chance to see a lot of very interesting happenings, some so personal as to have an intense interest to myself.
We are now in the Champagne district, and wine is very cheap, in fact, we have had a lot of it given us. Some of the officers try for the three bottle (quarts) class, but very few make it gracefully. Two bottles is about the limit of most people. We have salvaged some wine that was made 40 or 50 years ago, which is claimed to be very fine. The boche gets most of it, but once in a while he has to leave in a hurry, and we get what he cannot pack away.
The country is full of large underground caves and galleries in which the wine is stored and aged. These make good fortified places for Fritz to make a stand. It is alleged that our troops fight especially well in this kind of fortifications.
This is a very interesting part of the world for a student of history. It has been fought over ever since history has been recorded and heaven knows how much longer. Near here the H uns, under Attila, were defeated in the year 451, and turned back east. We can still see plenty of old Roman ruins, also castles which date from the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries. Some of them are very well preserved, walls 15 to 20 feet thick, with long narrow slits from which they used to shoot arrows. Have seen some of these walls and towers knocked hell west and crooked by shell fire. The old-timers who built them would open their eyes at modern warfare, but from all accounts they did very well at the fighting game themselves. Of course they did not have the modern, civilized Improvements of poison gas, thousand-pound air bombs, 300 shot to the minute automatic rifles, etc., but for their times and lights they used to be able to make it disagreeable for any one who disagreed with them.
Some of these old castles have museums, filled with old armour, weapons, etc., which used to be used mainly in religious arguments, converting heretics and heathens. Think they had Billy Sunday beat in some ways.
Our regiment has been doing a lot of bridging on the recent advance; most of the bridges are stone arches and are easy for the boche to destroy. We repair them with timber and eyebeams, use some cribs, but mostly frame bent and pile work. It is very discouraging on this repair work, as Fritz always knows the exact range and knows very well how to use it. The Germans are better at long range work than they are hand to hand. They show a decided reluctance toward associating, intimately with our side, and show this aloof spirit especially toward the Americans, in fact, they have not waited much lately.
Think the heart is gone out of most Germans, and the end is in sight. There will be plenty more fighting but they have lost their overbearing conceit; have seen thousands of prisoners and they all seem very glad to be caught. Some of them are boys 15 and 16 years old; most all of them are under 20; lots of them are misfits at that, showing that the central empires are hard up for man power. If we can keep up our present gait we may get back home next year. Am anxious to see home folks, but sure do not want to miss any of this bickering while it lasts. Those of us who have the luck to get back home can always remember that our war was a man’s sized one, one from which we can date time.
We Americans have no cinch on patriotism. I think the French are as patriotic people as the world ever saw. A veteran French regiment going into action is a sight worth remembering. They are well disciplined and drilled and, above all, well led. I have failed to see anything especially emotional about them, except, perhaps, their love for singing the Marseilliase. This hymn seems to cheer them up, and really it is inspiring to hear several thousand of them singing it at one time. Our boys generally sing “What the Hell Do We Care,” or some other ribald song of that kind, but it seems to answer the same purpose for them. Our national anthem requires a cultivated voice to sing. Most anyone could sing the songs that are popular in our army.
Write me when you have time. Letters are much appreciated over here.
Remember me to all the boys around the town and up to the club.
Love to all.
A.N. Peters.
NOTES: Captain A. N. Peters of Little Rock was writing to his brothers. He was in the 14th Engineers U S. Army.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT