nd the last
poor body buried.

A terrific cannonade had meanwhile been in progress. Our batteries had
opened along the entire front. Tons upon tons of steel were passing on
wings of thunder not three hundred feet above our heads. Little heed the
boys gave it, so occupied were they with duties near at hand.

Finally, numbed and over-powered to the point of utter exhaustion, I
sought an abandoned shack at the foot of the hill. Without removing so
much as a single garment, still wet from wading the river, with no taste
for food or drink, I threw myself on the floor and fell at once asleep.

It was dawn of the following morning, Monday, November 11, when I awoke.
If the cannonading of the evening before was terrible, that morning's
bombardment was infinitely more so. It was the first time I had heard a
full powered "Drum Head" barrage--where so many batteries and guns are
engaged that the sound of firing and subsequent explosion is continuous
and unified in volume. The hills and valleys shook under the rocking
recoiling guns as from an earthquake.

Going among the men, I found even the most seasoned of them grimly
silent. Their faces, set, as in plaster cast along cadaverous lines,
deeply furrowed and caked with dust, perspiration, and powder smoke,
made hideous appearance. Never have I seen such wan, frightful
expression in human eye. As grim automatons they handled their guns, and
moved silently about. Possibly they were too wearied to talk; for to
speak, so as to be heard, meant calling at the top of one's voice.

Not far away I met Colonel Cummings. Briefly I narrated the happenings
of the day before at our west end of the line. Most warmly he
congratulated us and then, in confidence, informed me "Foch has agreed
to an Armistice!"

He had just come from Headquarters, which was sending out orders to line
and battery commanders to cease firing, that very morning at eleven
o'clock.

Silently we gripped hands; but the hearts of both of us thrilled with
"Te Deum."

CHAPTER X

ARMISTICE DAY--GORZ

Meanwhile our entire front was advancing, following the barrage waves.
No more desperate struggle than ours could have been found at any point.
Writing of that day, the official A. E. F. newspaper, "Stars and
Stripes," under date of November 15th, declared:

"Attack Before Vigneulles

"Probably the hardest fighting being done by any Americans in
the final hour was that which engaged the troops of