ered from his daze, and that at a time most fatal to A Battery, for our Battalion received orders to move forward that same night.

                The Caisson Co. of the 101st Ammunition Train that was detailed to move our ammunition forward arrived at our old position around 11.30. Six caissons were loaded from the piles beside the road. Mean­ while the gun crews were putting the four pieces in march order to be ready for our limbers, due at any minute. Heavy black clouds moved across the sky, allowing short periods of the clearing moonlight. The air was cold. By midnight the guns were ready and on the road behind the loaded caissons, moving slowly up the ravine. The park-wagon loaded with kitchen­ ware and personal equipment was placed in rear of the last caisson. The progress of the column was not steady. Each delay caused us the keenest anxiety. During our stay in "Death Valley" we had learned to dread and expect the sudden bursts of fire directed against any portion of the road or valley at irregular intervals during both day and night.

                About one kilometer ahead there was a point where the hill climbed abruptly up from the road on the left, a steep bank at its base. On the right was a shallow ditch and then a held, cut by wire entanglements, which sloped gradually upward from the road. Our position had been chosen in the center of this held, astride a tract of wire. Here the head of the column halted. The caisson drivers drew over against the ditch, dismounted, and started to unload their shells, piling them rapidly along the roadside.

                It seemed to us unusual that the German batteries

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