wed effort and to the glory of American arms."

All of the German prisoners captured by the Marines in the Bois de
Belleau could express only surprise over the fighting capacity of their
captors. Prisoners' statements are not entirely trustworthy, but here is
one that was not intended for American consumption. It was written by a
German soldier, who was killed in the Bois de Belleau before he had an
opportunity to mail it. It was removed from his body. It reads:

"France, June 21, 1918.

"We are now in the battle zone and canteens dare not come to us on
account of the enemy, for the Americans are bombarding the villages
fifteen kilometres behind the present front with long-range guns,
and you will know that the canteen outfit and the others who are
lying in reserve do not venture very far, for it is not 'pleasant to
eat cherries' with the Americans. The reason for that is that they
have not yet had much experience. The American divisions are still
too fiery. They are the first divisions that the French have
entered.... We will also show the Americans how good we are, for the
day before yesterday we bombarded them heavily with our gas. About
400 of us are lying around here. We have one corner of the woods and
the American has the other corner. That is not nice, for all of a
sudden he rushes forward and one does not know it beforehand.
Therefore, one must shoot at every little noise, for one cannot
trust them. Here always two men have dug a hold for themselves. Here
one lies day and night without a blanket, only with a coat and a
shelter-half. One freezes at night like a tailor, for the nights are
fiercely cold. I hope that I will be lucky enough to escape from
this horrible mess, for up to now I have always been lucky. Many of
my comrades are already buried here. The enemy sweeps every evening
the whole countryside with machine gun and rifle fire, and then
artillery fire. But we in front line are safer than in the support
position. At present our food is miserable. We are now fed upon
dried vegetables and marmalade and when at night we obtain more food
it is unpalatable. It is half sour and all cold. In the daytime we
receive nothing."

But it might be wise to support this statement from a German soldier in
the ranks by excerpts from an official German army report which was
captured July 7th on a German officer. The document w