[Page]find out which way our outfit went. I found machine gun companies, artillery and everything excepting the 110th Infantry. I went over to the road and jumped on an ambulance going forward and ^soon arrived at Villette. There was heavy shelling all along the river and machine gun fire at intervals. I went into a cellar where I found the advanced post of Division Headquarters. I got ^what information I could. It was not [now] about 2 a.m. and the 110th had crossed the river driving the Germans across the hills toward the Aisne River. It was very dark outside. I waited for a returning ambulance to take me back. These ambulance drivers are a busy lot during {time} like these. They rush up to the first aid station and ⁱⁿ a jiffy have their load and off they go to the rear to a field hospital. It was no long before one ^{of them} took me back. At dawn, I [took] may convoy forward down the hill into Villette and drew up behind a stone wall. We could go no further. The bridge {across river} had been demolished and the engineers were rebuilding it. I went down to the see how soon the bridge might be finished when the Germans began firing shells at short range. I lay down along the railroad tracks until the firing subsided. Machine gunners were anxiously awaiting the bridge to get their mules and carts across. They crossed before the bridge was completed. The firing across the hill [Page]was intense and continuous. At about noon the engineers had finished their job. I rode over and [^to] find a road clear to take us up to the village of Baslieux at the top of the hill. Here I planned to unload my ammunition. I came back and led them across and up a steep hill and unloaded alongside of a⟨n⟩ ^unoccupied house and informed battalion headquarters where they might find it. They were very urgent that we get out, since we were so close to the lines, and the shelling was unmerciful at intervals. We got away down the hill across bridge when we were spotted. Shells dropped everywhere, it seemed. We were now on a main road going toward Fismes. The air was black with smoke and dust from exploding shells. We kept going with the horses at a gallop when a wheel horse of one of the limbers dropped. I helped the driver unhitch him and ordered him to hurry on with three. Shells still came and how we got away as we did is hard to tell. When we came to Fismes I stopped them behind some buildings to wait for the shelling to stop subside. The driver who had lost the horse ^{of his own accord} hopped on an ambulance going back in that direction to see if his horse was really dead. When he got there the horse was on his feet and he brought him back. The animal was uninjured but had[Page]been stunned by the concussion of a bursting shell. Again we had come out of a tough spot.