CHAPTER XXVI
THE ADVANCE CONTINUES
A runner found Major Drew and delivered an order to dig in.
Meanwhile, darkness had blotted out all but the trees, and between thebark of the "heavies" (heavy artillery), the marines caught thedeep-throated roll of thunder. A soldier who has had two months of openwork or outdoor warfare, in which artillery had played the leading role,has to be very tired to ignore an order to dig in a scant kilometer backof the first line, the worst spot on the field.
The marines dug in.
When nature's storm broke the troops meekly rolled up in their ponchos,dropped to the ground and asleep. The closing misery of that day came inthe shape of rain. But it did not keep the tired marines awake.
Before dawn next morning, the troops were up, standing by, awaiting thebarrage. The last tanks that had found shelter in the woods thepreceding day had trundled away before dawn. Nothing was now left todivert the attention of the men from gnawing stomachs. The men tightenedtheir belts again and tried to concentrate on the work to come.
At four-thirty o'clock in the morning there was an explosion. It neverwavered. It lasted for hours without interruption. The earth shook upand down and sideways. The very foundation of the Teutonic dynastiesmust have trembled. It shook the leaves off the trees.
Forgotten were parched throats and empty stomachs. The troops fairlyrevelled in the cannonading, for they felt that they would soon have ahand in the fight.
Two hours later, the guns still thundering, the marines started up theroad on which the Frenchman had flagged Hal the night before. A hundredyards beyond where he had encountered the marines lay a dead German.Near him was a machine gun placed to command that road.
This road was a replica of other roads. If anything, the congestion wasworse than it had been the day before.
Huge trees, uprooted by giant shells, required detours while theengineers worked like beavers to clear away the massive tops. Reservetanks and artillery lined either side of the road. Ambulances now mixedwith the various wagons of war.
Weaving in and out through the traffic came the walking wounded; Germansbearing improvised stretchers and batches of from ten to twentyprisoners. The air was peopled with aeroplanes. The sharp chatter ofmachine guns occasionally rose above the rumble of the artillery.
In their first encounter of any moment with the Boche the marineslearned many things. They learned that the German infantry had a horrorof hand-to-hand fighting, and would run or surrender rather than trysuch combat. They learned that the sole protection of the Bocheartillery lay in the effectiveness of front-line machine guns and itsown accuracy. They came to believe the backbone of the German infantrywas its artillery. Such a situation in any army, they knew, must have ademoralizing effect. The infantry should be the backbone of theartillery.
Meantime the American battalion to which Hal and Chester were attachedtook up a position at the edge of the woods and awaited orders. Afterthe first excitement had passed, the attention of the troops fell backto their empty stomachs. They counted again the hours since their lastmeal. They totalled forty-two. For that many years, it seemed, they hadbeen without food, sleep and water rations, and had worked as men hadnever worked before.
Then the miracle happened. A big truck drew up by the roadside and beganto dump boxes--boxes of canned beef, tomatoes, prunes and bread. Fifteenminutes later there were a thousand happy marines in that section,ravenously gulping down a real "feed" and quenching their thirst.
But war considers no man's pleasure. In the midst of the feast came therattle and clatter of machine guns, temporarily acting as aerialdefense.
Came sweeping down from the sky four aeroplanes, directly over where Haland Chester stood conversing.
"The Iron Cross!" cried Sergeant Bowers.
Under the command of their officers, the men grabbed their rifles.
"Hold on!" cried one, as the men were about to fire at the nearestmachine. "It's a Frenchman."
It was true, but it became apparent a moment later that there stillwould be need for weapons, for in the wake of the French craft followedthree German machines.
Points in aerial battle at close range come and go too quickly forrecognition almost.
The clever Frenchman was outwitting the Boche pilot. The four planeswhirled directly over the heads of the marines, a hundred feet from theground, the Frenchman a few yards ahead and lowest. They cleared thetops of the trees and circled over a field ahead. The Boches poured leadupon the handicapped Frenchman, who desperately turned the nose of hiscraft upward. The Germans must have been looking for such a move. Theyelevated and closed in on him.
A fierce battle of machine guns; a plane dropped nose foremost. Straightdown it came, then--within twenty feet of the ground--the French pilot,with superb daring, jerked his machine to a level keel and sailed off,clipping the heads off the grain.
The German machines hovered over the spot where it seemed the Frenchpilot must meet disaster, and the marines opened fire on them with theirrifles. Each time the Germans approached closer, they were driven off,for it was certain that an American bullet sooner or later must find avital spot.
The German machines turned and made off.
Now came orders for the marines to dig in. Soon every man had a hole.Later in the day these holes were abandoned and the marines marched topositions nearer the front line.
Hal's detachment came to a crossroad and turned to the right. From therethe lad could see the broad expanse of country beyond. It was all fieldsof waving grain, streams of men, of horses and artillery.
They cut across an enormous field of wheat. On their right lay a Frenchplane, apparently none the worse for its adventure. To the left lay abig German plane. Beside it were the bodies of two men--the pilot andthe gunner.
"Here they come!" shouted Sergeant Bowers suddenly.
Hal looked ahead and saw a column of men--Germans--marching toward theAmericans four abreast.
Apparently there was no end to that column. At least twenty officerswere at the head of it. They appeared to be the happiest men in sight,and well they might be, for for them the days of war were over. Theywere prisoners.
The marines moved forward again.
They passed a line of batteries, famous French "75's," pounding,pounding. Over the country ahead, Hal counted five hangars, or what hadbeen aeroplane hangars. Now they were grotesquely twisted steelskeletons, deserted by the enemy. The troops passed through a smallvillage, into another wheat field, formed for attack, and halted.
They occupied a knoll. On the slope below was a line of queer lookingdots. In the hollow proper were three "75" batteries. Up to the leftwere still more batteries. Hal searched the landscape with his eyescarefully. Ahead he saw his target.
It was on the farthest hill. The last rays of the sun outlined itclearly. It was the long line of tanks, which the Huns had brought intothe fight as substitutes, their artillery having been captured. When Halfirst sighted them they were spitting fire from their one-pounders andthey were moving.
Half an hour later, under the fire from Americans and French, they werein ruins, and through glasses Hal and Chester saw the German infantryretiring past them. The French and American batteries rested.
"Now," said Hal to Chester, "if you ask me, here is where we shouldcontinue our advance."
Chester shrugged.
"It seems that Marshal Foch has not decided yet that the time for anoffensive is ripe," he replied. "At the same time, I am not convincedthat we should attack right now. The two divisions of marines aresomewhat scattered, as you know, and are not in position to give eachother the necessary support. Then, too, we must be greatly outnumbered."
"What difference does that make?" Hal wanted to know. "They're runningnow, aren't they? What's the matter with pushing them a little faster?"
Chester smiled.
"I'm going to recommend you as General Pershing's successor," he said.
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bsp; "Is that so?" demanded Hal. "Let me tell you that it wasn't so long agoI heard you advance ideas that you believed were better than any thathad occurred to the general staff."
Chester grinned.
"I guess we'll both make a couple of good generals some day," he said."But all joking aside, do you know just where we are now?"
"Well, about," said Hal. "This is Belleau Woods. Beyond there," and thelad pointed directly ahead, "is what is known as Chateau Thierry. A cityhas sprung up around the old chateau, but I don't know whether theGermans have left anything of it. It was rather a famous spot in itsday."
And it was to become still more famous, though neither lad knew it then.