s literally rent to atoms. Dugouts have been blown to
pieces. Hundreds of thousands of men had been killed in the earlier
battles before Verdun, and many of the bodies could not be reached
for burial, the place was so torn up."

OTHER PERSONAL GLIMPSES

Many other personal glimpses of the fighting come from officers and men.
One division was made up largely of Illinois regiments, among others the
3d Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. John V. Clinnin. The position
held by these troops was vital to the entire advance, and it required
rapid action on the first day to reach the objective at the same time as
the other units.

Menomme creek is a little stream which is not shown on maps. It runs
eastward from the village of Septsarges to the Meuse. The stream holds
vivid memories for the Illinois infantry. It was there that it met the
most severe resistance, the Germans catching our men just as they were
relieving other young soldiers. The men fought their way down to the
creek. On the other side along the highway between Septsarge and
Dannevoux the Germans had entrenched themselves and were shelling the
road which the Americans had crossed. They were also using intrenched
machine guns at the edge of the woods.

"I heard bullets whistling overhead," said a wounded soldier in
a hospital. "We were lying near the edge of the creek at the time
and knew that a machine gun was shooting at us, so I just started out
and got it."

"Our colonel was right up there with us getting into line." said Private
Hiram E. Burnett. "One night when the shells were bursting all around
and several men were wounded the colonel went over the top just like any
of us."

The Bois des Forges has been a battle ground since the war began, with
trenches in front and miles of barbed wire, machine gun nests and
concrete pillboxes inside. A frontal attack on such a stronghold
apparently meant suicide, but the Illinois men, led by Col. Sanborn and
Col. Abel Davis, took it so neatly and quickly that they bagged nearly
1,000 soldiers, fifteen officers, twenty-six guns ranging from 105s
down, 126 machine guns, twenty-one flatcars, two rolling kitchens, an
ambulance and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

"We were looking for you in front," said a captured German officer. "We
did not expect that you would come through the swamp and outflank us. We
did not think that any Yankee outfit was so foxy."

"A GREAT SHOW"

"It was a great show when w