machine guns with gas and H. E., blind their O. P.'s with smoke shell, cut off the objectives from reinforcements, and lay down a protective barrage in front of the advancing infantry. Battery A was one of the batteries assigned to fire this "rolling barrage," the most difficult of all. Errors of any kind may mean death to the doughboys following behind the barrage. All watches were carefully synchronized beforehand, that no accidents might occur through differences in time. The raiding party was composed of French infantrymen and volunteers from the 101st Infantry.

We were all up and ready that morning well before the barrage was to start. As we waited in the darkness for the word to fire, the only sounds were the low voices of the men talking in the gun pits and the occasional click of shell against shell as the ammunition was cleaned and greased. A moment of silence, the command to fire rang out, and a score of batteries fired as one. The crash of the guns shook the dugouts and sent gravel rattling down the walls of the trenches. Brilliant flashes lit up the position as our guns fired. Wherever one looked, short, sharp flashes marked other batteries firing in the raid. Through the noise of the guns, one could occasionally hear the snap of the breech closing, and the clanging of the empty shell cases tossed out of the way. Some­ times it became almost quiet. Then suddenly a dozen flashes broke out of the darkness, a dozen reports followed, and so the barrage continued. Over our heads, rumbled the shells from the heavy batteries behind us.

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