ely as it staggered the
Germans.

By September 13th the Americans had taken forty-seven towns and
villages, reduced the German front from forty miles to twenty, captured
the railway that connects Verdun with Commercy, opened the cities of
Nancy and Toul to the allies, and with the French and British on the
east, created a new battle front on a line running from Hattonville on
the west to Pagny on the east--Pagny being a town on the Moselle river,
at the German border.

The importance of this victory could hardly be overestimated. It opened
the way to and was followed up by the demolition of the whole German
line from the Swiss border to the North Sea, and hastened the great
German retreat. In the action itself, September 11 to 13, about 15,
Germans were taken prisoner by the Americans.

STORIES TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME

Sidelight stories of what happened in the St. Mihiel fight, mostly in
letters written home by men who were in it, go far toward showing how
completely the Germans were taken off their guard. Corp. Ray Fick of the
103d Infantry wrote home in this wise:

"We got into the woods and then kept on going until we reached a big
city where there was a brewery, but they had set fire to the whole city
before they left. We got some beer and wine just the same. It was a
little stale, but it was fine. The Huns' warehouses were all fixed for
the winter and the boys got cigars and cigarettes, but I was a little
too late to get in on it.

"The whole thing was very interesting all the way through. The Huns sure
did make themselves scarce in a hurry, but they kept many prisoners, a
troop train and an ammunition train.

"Cigarettes are scarce and we look for smokes all the time. The Red
Cross and the Salvation Army are the ones who look to our comforts. If
any one wants to give, tell them the Red Cross and the Salvation Army
are the ones to get it."

HUNS CARRY OFF CAPTIVE WOMEN

But Corporal Fick uncovers another Hun procedure that has no fun in it.
While the Huns lost no time in getting away from there, they took care
to carry off their captured women slaves.

"The women they have held captives for the last four years," he writes,
"were driven ahead of them, but they were brought back by the Americans.
Truckload after truckload passed us on the way, and they sure were happy
to be free again."

"HELL HAS CUT LOOSE"

Another soldier wrote to his father telling about the first day of
attack as he saw it:

"H