s removed from
highways, and shell holes filled in so that traffic could go on almost
uninterruptedly. This made it possible for all necessary munitions to
move forward.

One thing that was annoying to our advance was the German "pill boxes"
in which machine gunners were placed. These pill boxes were of
concrete. They were round and flat, a few square, and took their name
because of their resemblance to a pill box. They had slits about six
inches wide and eighteen inches long in the concrete through which the
Huns fired their machine guns at our troops. Our most effective weapon
against these pill boxes was our one pounders. They fired a small
shell directly at the box and continued to fire until they got the
range of the slit. The shells would then penetrate the slit and hit
the other side of the box, exploding when they did so, and killing or
wounding the occupants. Once the range was obtained, our gunners kept
pouring in these shells until there was no longer any fear that the
Fritz soldiers in that box would harm any more Americans. Our boys put
many of these pill boxes out of commission with big loss to the enemy.
They made duty in a pill box certain death for the Huns when any
Americans were around.

We spent a rather restless night after our first day's advance. Though
we had marched many miles and were mentally and physically fatigued,
it was not easy to sleep. We were in constant danger of counter attack
and of being shelled by the enemy, and the sensation was not pleasant.

Early in the morning of September 13th, the second day of the drive,
we advanced again in the gray of the early dawn. It was between 8 and
9 o'clock on this morning that I saw a great aerial fight in which
probably thirty-five and perhaps forty machines participated. We had
advanced so far the first day that the Germans sent their aircraft out
in numbers on the second day to look at the territory that had been
lost. Our men were ready for them. It was the most thrilling sight I
ever witnessed, and I cannot imagine anything more sensational. At
first these machines were very high in the air, perhaps ten thousand
feet, for they were mere specks in the sky to the natural vision. It
was wonderful to see them manoeuvering for positions of advantage.
They twisted, turned, looped and dove. At times two or three would be
very close together and then again they would separate. Little white
puffs of smoke told the tale that the machine guns were i