od to spare him and to have mercy
on those he was compelled to kill. When York shot, and a German soldier
fell backward or pitched forward and remained motionless, York would
call to them:

"Well! Come on down!"

It was an earnest command in which there was no spirit of exultation or
braggadocio. He was praying for their surrender, so that he might stop
killing them.

His command, "Come down!" at times, above the firing, was heard in the
German pits. They realized they were fighting one man, and could not
understand the strange demand.

When the fight began York was lying on the ground. But as the entire
line of German guns came into the fight, he raised himself to a
sitting position so that his gun would have the sweep of all of them.

When the Germans found they could not "get him" with bullets, they tried
other tactics.

Off to his left, seven Germans, led by a lieutenant, crept through the
bushes. When about twenty yards away, they broke for him with lowered
bayonets.

The clip of York's rifle was nearly empty. He dropped it and took his
automatic pistol. So calmly was he master of himself and so complete his
vision of the situation that he selected as his first mark among the
oncoming Germans the one farthest away. He knew he would not miss the
form of a man at that distance. He wanted the rear men to fall first so
the others would keep coming at him and not stop in panic when they saw
their companions falling, and fire a volley at him. He felt that in such
a volley his only danger lay. They kept coming, and fell as he shot. The
foremost man, and the last to topple, did not get ten yards from where
he started. Their bodies formed a line down the hillside.

York resumed the battle with the machine guns. The German fire had
"eased up" while the bayonet charge was on. The gunners paused to watch
the grim struggle below them.

The major, from among the prisoners crawled to York with an offer to
order the surrender of the machine gunners.

"Do it!" was his laconic acceptance. But his vigilance did not lessen.

To the right a German had crawled nearby. He arose and hurled a
hand-grenade. It missed its objective and wounded one of the prisoners.
The American rifle swung quickly and the grenade-thrower pitched forward
with the grunt of a man struck heavily in the stomach pit.

The German major blew his whistle.

Out of their gun-pits the Germans came--around from behind trees--up
from the brush on either s