erpendicular to the enemy's front; Hughes right, Holcomb left, Sibley
support. We now began to get a few wounded; one man with ashen face came
charging to the rear with shell shock. He shook all over, foamed at the
mouth, could not speak. I put him under a tent, and he acted as if he
had a fit.

I heard Overton call to one of his friends to send a certain pin to his
mother if he should get hit.

At 8.30 we jumped off with a line of tanks in the lead. For two "kilos"
the four lines of Marines were as straight as a die, and their advance
over the open plain in the bright sunlight was a picture I shall never
forget. The fire got hotter and hotter, men fell, bullets sung, shells
whizzed-banged and the dust of battle got thick. Overton was hit by a
big piece of shell and fell. Afterwards I heard he was hit in the heart,
so his death was without pain. He was buried that night and the pin
found.

A man near me was cut in two. Others when hit would stand, it seemed, an
hour, then fall in a heap. I yelled to Wilmer that each gun in the
barrage worked from right to left, then a rabbit ran ahead and I watched
him wondering if he would get hit. Good rabbit--it took my mind off the
carnage. Looked for Hughes way over to the right; told Wilmer that I had
a hundred dollars and be sure to get it. You think all kinds of things.

About sixty Germans jumped out of a trench and tried to surrender, but
their machine guns opened up, we fired back, they ran and our left
company after them. That made a gap that had to be filled, so Sibley
advanced one of his to do the job, then a shell lit in a machine-gun
crew of ours and cleaned it out completely.

At 10.30 we dug in--the attack just died out. I found a hole or old
trench and when I was flat on my back I got some protection. Holcomb was
next to me; Wilmer some way off. We then tried to get reports. Two
companies we never could get in touch with. Lloyd came in and reported
he was holding some trenches near a mill with six men. Cates, with his
trousers blown off, said he had sixteen men of various companies;
another officer on the right reported he had and could see forty men,
all told. That, with the headquarters, was all we could find out about
the battalion of nearly 800. Of the twenty company officers who went in,
three came out, and one, Cates, was slightly wounded.

From then on to about 8 P. M. life was a chance and mighty
uncomfortable. It was hot as a furnace, no water, and they