[Page]attack upon the enemy was ordered north of Courmont. Advances were made but soon our men, confronted by a heavily fortified wood on top of a long hill known as Grimpette Woods, could move no farther. We lost heavily from machine guns. On the third day a determined assault by our men carried the woods. We of the Supply Co. were to follow as closely as possible. The woodland road was almost impassable. The wagons and carts sank to the hub. We often had to lift and push to help the exhausted horses move the vehicles. I as sergeant was now in sole charge⟨of⟩ the 3rd battalion supply train (as sergeant). No officers were with us. One night, in the Fere forest, I received a not to bring the supply train up to the La Motte farm. I had no idea where this was, and to move there the mud and darkness would have been next to impossible. I decided to wait for further orders. ? Serg't.Byrnes Wurtz with his train moved up in the morning only to receive terrific shelling making the place untenable. So he came back with his outfit. Each night we took up food and ammunition as far as we were allowed to go. ⟨From there it had to be carried.⟩ One morning a young infantry man came running back shouting that snipers are still in these woods and showed a bleeding thumb on his right hand. We hardly believed him, but I lined up the supply men and and with rifles and pistols we searched[Page]the woods in a skirmish line and found no snipers. ⟨At 1st aid station⟩, this kid was tagged S.I.W.(self inflicted wound). The third evening here I took food up to Courmont where. I met a company of the 42nd Div. They were my old buddies at the Mexican Border. I had coached them in football, and they had lost but one game that season. We were very glad to see each other, but shelling was so heavy that the reunion was short.
⟨Bombs.⟩ After having stormed Grimpette Woods our infantry came back for brief rest in a wooded ravine at Le Charmel. We hurried hot food to them. This was the first real meal most of them had for three days. The woods were damp and wet, but all were tired and went to sleep early. This rest was disturbed in a most awful manner. At midnight a big German plane came over and {drop} 4 bombs in midst of our sleeping men killing and wounding more than one hundred. I lay within about 30 ft of the place where the first one exploded. Some-one yelled "gas." I put one my mask. It was pitch dark. None of my pals around were injured. I fell asleep and woke up at dawn with the mask still on. The havoc of the bombs was terrible. Pieces of clothing, blankets, and tents were hanging high up in the trees. Great holes were torn[Page]in the earth. One bomb failed to explode. It stuck in the ground about five feet deep. The wounded were removed during the night and the dead buried in the morning.
On to the Vesle River. The next evening we moved out of these ill-fated woods to Courmont where a few days before our men had fought so fiercely and lost so heavily. Most of the next day was spent in identifying and burying the dead. The hill leading to the Bois les Grimpettes[?] was dotted with bodies, most of them from the 110th, attesting to the fearful fighting. Toward evening we moved foreward through Cierges and Sergy. The Germans retreated rapidly, burning ammunition dumps etc. after them. After leaving Sergy we encountered a heavy thunderstorm. It was hard to tell thunder and lightning from gun fire. As we approached Coulonges we found the town subjected to intense shelling from the Germans. Our lines halted until the shelling abated. The men fell out of line to rest and find shelter from the downpour. Shelter was scarce. The ground everywhere was mud. I started to rest leaning against a wagon. As I was about asleep my knees gave way under me and I dropped down into the mud. I decided that spot was as good as any other and slept there. I woke up at dawn drenched[Page]to the skin. The men were assembled to fall in. We moved through Coulonges to a field nearby. here the men were told to dry their clothing as the sun came out. We may have been the forerunners of the "nudists" that morning. At any rate, it was fortunate that the enemy did not attack us just then. Perhaps, they were in the same predicament. Toward evening we moved on several kilometers and bivouaced for the night on the reverse slope of the hill. We dug in taking no chances. On the next day we passed through Cohan and Dravegny. At Cohan we passed the grave marked very carefully ⟨"Lt.⟩Lt. Quentin Roosevelt." He was the son of ⟨Ex-⟩President Theodore Roosevelt. We had seen an air battle about July 17 far behind the German lines in which an allied plane fell down like a dead leaf from a tree. Later the Germans reported that they had shot down young Roosevelt. Our battalion was ordered into a small low copse-like wood. Here we remained for almost a week. Ar first it was very quiet. here. I slept under an ammunition limber, a fine place to be in case of shells. We received replacements (men to fill in our depleted ranks) and started to drill in an open field. This was too much