machine guns. Here was the Etrepilly Road which we had often harassed. Our pride rose when we saw the effects of our work. Desolation and destruction reigned supreme: Torcy and Belleau were in ruins; the wooded areas were ploughed up with shell holes; dead Germans and dead horses were very numerous.

                After a hard pull up the German side of the valley, we halted near Etrepilly while the battery commanders went ahead to reconnoitre the ground. The German observation balloons, which had been drawn back when the advance first started, began to pop up ahead. Their presence warned us that the enemy was making a stand not so very far away. There was much uncertainty as to where the outposts of our Infantry were. The Bethune-Chateau Thierry High­ way, about three kilometers east of Etrepilly, seemed to mark our front lines, judging by the shelling it was receiving from the enemy 88's, although it was re­ ported by an Infantry runner that the Germans were making a stand one kilometer farther east on the high ground above Epieds.

                Our position was picked out in a clump of bushes near St. Robert Farm, about 1000 meters southwest of the Bethune-Chateau Thierry Highway. It evidently had been used by the Germans as a balloon base. Numerous deep trenches and open dugouts afforded good protection for our men. There our souvenir hunters got their first chance to pick up trophies. German helmets, machine gun pouches, shoes of all kinds, rifles and mess kits could be gathered up almost anywhere.

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