| Flare—Front Line, Champagne |
Frontispiece |
|
PAGE |
| The Leathernecks, the Old Timers |
Facing page x |
| “They looked fine, coming in there ... through those little tired Frenchmen” |
Facing page xiv |
| Occasional wounded Frenchmen drifted back |
3 |
| Sketches from Captain Thomason’s note-book |
Facing page 6 |
| Platoon column in support, Champagne, 1918 |
Facing page 10 |
| “Catch some alive——” |
Facing page 14 |
| The 2d Engineers |
Facing page 20 |
| A tortured area ... lit by flares and gun-flashes |
Facing page 24 |
| The hill blazed into action—not all the rifle-fire had gone astray |
Facing page 28 |
| Pencil sketches made on scraps of paper, in Belleau Wood |
Facing page 32 |
| Combat patrol |
Facing page 36 |
| A sprinkling of old-time Marines |
Facing page 40 |
| Some of them had been this way before |
47 |
| Boche grenadier |
Facing page 48 |
| So many chaps were not with the brigade very long |
51 |
| The Boche had out his pistol |
Facing page 52 |
| Certain designated individuals watched |
57 |
| Men fought in its corpse-choked thickets. |
59 |
| Bringing in German prisoners at St. Mihiel |
Facing page 60 |
| Ration parties always sweated mightily and anticipated exciting incidents |
63 |
| “Bang away, Lulu——” |
Facing page 68 |
| The automatic-rifle men |
Facing page 78 |
| Prussians from Von Boehn’s divisions in and around the Bois de Belleau |
Facing page 82 |
| “Keep on to the left until you meet the Moroccans, and go forward....” 4.30 A. M., July 18, 1918 |
Facing page 90 |
| Listening-post rushed by Senegalese |
Facing page 94 |
| A fighting swirl of Senegalese |
Facing page 98 |
| Fighting from tree to tree in the woods south of Soissons |
Facing page 102 |
| With reason the Boche feared them worse than anything living |
Facing page 106 |
| The fighting in the woods at Soissons was close and savage |
Facing page 110 |
| A lieutenant of Marines and a German major, hand to hand |
Facing page 114 |
| Sketches made by Captain Thomason at Soissons on scraps of paper taken from a feldwebel’s note-book |
Facing page 118 |
| Fighting north of Blanc Mont, Champagne |
124 |
| “Carry me back to Ole Virginny” |
Facing page 126 |
| French grenadier—Blanc Mont |
Facing page 136 |
| Those sawed-off shotguns they gave us at St. Mihiel |
Facing page 142 |
| The shells began to drop into the trench |
149 |
| A flare during shelling in the front-line trenches |
Facing page 150 |
| In the Essen trench—a runner |
Facing page 154 |
| The morning of October 3d came gray and misty—a patrol |
Facing page 158 |
| “Lordy, ain’t we ever goin’ to get outa this dam’ place an’ get at ’em—?” |
161 |
| Others lay on the ground over which the battalion passed |
163 |
| “Oh, Lordy! They’ve got us bracketed!” |
Facing page 164 |
| Before zero hour |
Facing page 168 |
| Flanking fire |
Facing page 172 |
| The hush still hung around them as they moved out of the flat and began to ascend the long gray slope ahead |
175 |
| The first shell came screaming down the line from the right |
Facing page 176 |
| “Here comes a battalion runner—what’s up anyway?” |
Facing page 180 |
| A few iron-souled Prussians—the Boche had such men—stood up to meet bayonet with bayonet, and died that way |
Facing page 184 |
| The last few men are always the most difficult to kill |
187 |
| A machine-gunner, Champagne |
189 |
| “Mademoiselle from Armentières” |
Facing page 194 |
| “Hey, yuh dog-robbin’ battalion runner, you—what’s up!” |
Facing page 200 |
| “He takes the war too serious” |
Facing page 204 |
| The scout officer and the sergeant got him back some way, both filled with admiration at his language |
Facing page 212 |
| “War—sure—is—hell” |
Facing page 216 |
| “Sweet Ad-o-line” |
Facing page 222 |
| The cooks issued corn-bill hash and dared any man to growl |
Facing page 228 |
| A nice day for a hike |
231 |
| Men walked silent, remembering the old dead |
Facing page 232 |
| One thick-bodied Boche ... His face in a cast of hate |
Facing page 236 |
| They stood in stolid groups, wooden-faced |
Facing page 240 |
| “I tell you, these Boche are dangerous! They have too many children.” |
Facing page 243 |
| The 1st Battalion of the Rhine—5th Marines took the road |
245 |
| “Long Boy” |
Facing page 248 |
