shells that trenches were obliterated, abris buried beyond sight save
for some timber jutting up from the torn earth, and the woods and
thickets swept as by fire. Recently captured Germans were gathering
stones to fill shell holes in the road and make it passable for the long
line of wagons, carts, ambulances, guns and caissons.

By afternoon we had reached the town of Essey, where large vegetable
gardens, stores and warehouses full of supplies, and furnished houses
showed how comfortable the enemy had been in their four years there. Now
that they were gone, a throng of black-clad refugees, old men and women,
a few girls, and little children, crowded the market square, with carts
piled high with bedding and household belongings.

In the afternoon the battery went into position in front of LaMarche,
the limbers and caissons going into woods a few hundred yards ahead. The
horses, watered in a small stream, broke the dam that held it, and
allowed the water to flow into the dry gulley below, in which the guns
were placed. By morning the second platoon was flooded out, and had to
move back a few yards to dry land. In the race between the two sections
the Third Section won Lieutenant Leprohon's prize of a keg of beer,
which, however, they were destined not to drink. There was compensation
for the labor caused, however, in the presence of water for bathing and
washing. Since we did no firing in two days we stayed here, this was of
real advantage.

The battery kitchen, in town, a few hundred yards away, put the Germans'
vegetable garden to good use, cooking the carrots, cabbage and turnips
in vessels which the Germans had abandoned--a practically complete
kitchen equipment. Fresh vegetables were so rare that they were highly
appreciated. The wounded cow--divided, according to Solomon's principle
in the dispute of the two women over the babe, in equal parts between
E and F batteries--proved to be more venerable than we thought, and
though boiled for many hours, provided only soup for our nourishment.

[Illustration: Highways Swarmed with Troops Advancing to Clear the St.
Mihiel Salient]

[Illustration: Terraced Vineyards about Dernau, Germany, where the 149th
Spent Christmas, 1918]

By the afternoon of September 14 details came to us of the clearing of
the entire St. Mihiel salient, freeing 150 square miles and yielding
15,000 prisoners, as well as considerable prestige to the American army
in its first independent e