Owen "Glen" Tudor letter to Mr. Lewis - October 24, 1918
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[October 24, 1918]. Dear Mr. Lewis: I have been receiving the magazines and the papers and although I have not received a letter lately I know that it is due to you that they are being sent. I certainly thank you. I received one S.E. Post while in a rest camp enroute to the front and I solemnly swear that I read every word in it, advertisements and all. The next one I received at the front and about the third day of the battle. I regret to say that this one was "promoted" by a lad evidently suffering from "literature starvation" and I did not get to read it as thoroughly. However, what few items and stories I did read (while the Hun shells were whistling over) helped to take my mind off the work and gave my nerves a rest. The third was received while in a rest billet after we were relieved and, I read and enjoyed it as much as the first. Of course, I have passed them on and we all read them. Reading matter is very scarce now and it is a funny thing that I am noted in our Battery for always having something to read. Time after time the officers and men will come to me and ask me what I have to read- and I can usually produce something. The clippings are good and are immediately passed on to the bunch. Now, I am sure you would like to know something of what I am doing and also to receive a first hand account of what a big modern battle is like. I hope Mr. Lewis, you will not misunderstand the hurried manner in which I write, it is a case of necessity. I feel that at any moment this letter may be broken into by some "call" and then goodness knows when I would get another chance. We began our active service in the Voges Mountains, but this was a short lived affair for we were one of the later units to join the new army, and after eleven days, we were thru the preliminary "quiet sector" training and ready for action in an active sector. It was a funny thing that we were shelled the last night of our stay in the Vosges. After the shelling one of the boys said, "they can't feel me - there ain't no "quiet sector". However, there were no casualties, excepting a shell fragment in one lad's nose and we moved out next day. Three of our horses were killed. We then made a long march and went into billets in an entirely different sector. We rested here for about five days and received orders to move again. This was a heartbreaking march made in the rain and made in the night. We went into camp about 10 AM and the following day the big American offensive began. I should have said night for the barage began at 12 o'clock midnight and continued til daybreak when the Infantry went over the top. We were not needed here as all objectives were gained and we moved on again and camped in a wood for several days. Again we got orders to move and this time, it was get there "quick". We marched day and night for 5 days thru rain and cold nights with just a few hours rest when they stopped to feed the horses. 25 horses died of exhaustion on the trip in our Battery alone. At last we arrived and with a few hours rest, marched on to go into position. Well, you have heard a great deal about ruined French
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[page 2] Villages and so had we up to this time and only heard and so had we but now we saw. We passed thru a village where every building was demolished by shell fire and the wooden sheds were skeletons having been on fire and only partly saved. German long range guns were still firing on the town and all vehicles were ordered to move with an internal of 25 yards. Of course it was night but it was moonlight and we could get a fairly comprehensive idea of what was going on around us. We passed every kind of modern warfare from big tanks and whippets to machine guns and naval guns mounted on catapillars as they were lined up along the roads for miles awaiting the order to go into battle. It was a thrilling sight - one that a man who has stuck it out for a year and half is glad to see. It was a kind of reward for a lot of hard work. Well, we went on, passed by many speeding ambulances - the constant reminders of the zone of action - and at last turned off the main road. We had no more than got off the main road than the shells began a whistling over and dropping around us. This continued all the time we were going in to position. Luckily no one was injured. It is actually a marvel that a lot of amunition is expended before one man is hit. The Huns were not firing at us in particular but just firing a few here and there at the good artillery positions. Well, we camoflaged our guns and slept the remainder of the night. The next day we spend in improving our comoflage while under it for we were under observation by the enemy from some heights to our left. One thing that went hard with us was our rations. We had been given some emergency rations of hard tack and bully beef before we left our eschalon and it was two days before we got any hot rations because the Huns were shelling the road continually and our kitchen could not come within two miles of us. Well, the second morning, just before day break, a terrific barrage began - at least we thought it was a terrific barrage at that time - and again shells began raining around us. Several gas alarms were given. Two of our men were killed and two wounded. It was a very foggy day and there was a great deal of smoke from the exploding shells. After the barrage had continued for about half an hour a long line of kakai clad soldiers came straggling over the slope to our right. This looked serious and naturally it seemed even more serious when they said they had been ordered to retreat. A few minutes later there was a terrific explosion off to our left and about three kilometers to to the front. It was not long after that our captain came around from gun to gun and asked us if we were all ready. We were and, I knew then that things were serious. However stopped them before they really got anywhere and our infantry drove them back to their own trenches. It was not long before the kakia clad boys "wandered" back to their dugouts over the hill and we learned that the "retreat wasmereley an order to occupy the third line trenches which were just behind us. This is the description of a night trench raidas it appeared to an artillerman. The explosion was a mine which took a hole out of the road about 100 feet in diameter. The French operating with us, touched it off to stop the Boche whom they believed to be actually "coming".
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[ms damaged] a shot; in fact our artillery did not answer with in all - so they did not gain any knowledge locating our artillery which was being brought that they had got a hunch We were coming over the they started their raid. Well, we laid quiet night we were very active. An ammunition dump had been established near us and all night we carried ammunition and prepared for our part of what was to come. At my gun alone, we had over 700 rounds of ammunition when we were thru for the night. However, we did not know then when the fireworks were going to start - whether the following morning or in a day or two. Well, we got notice at a quarter to five that the showwould start at five thirty - at five fifteen I got my data out and at the prescribed time began to fire. The data had approximately 50 changes of range and deflection beginning with a 25 minute bombardment of the German front line and then slowly creeping along ahead of our Infantry. It was practically perfect as I learned from the boys who travelled behind it, and to whom and I have mentioned our firing. When the watch showed 5:30 it seemed that a thousand guns went off at one time - the most terrific roar that I haveever heard and for two and a half hours it was kept up. It seemed that there was a gun behind every bush and in every spot as far as you could see on the right and left where a battery could be concealed it was there throwing out its continuous flashses. That is all I realised at the time for I was busy keeping things going in the 2nd Sec. of Bat. F an I could be. The boys who were not doing active duty on the guns got a chance to stand back and look over the general situation and perhaps saw more. After the barrage was over, we went up to breakfast, - our kitchen had come up and we sat down beside the road eating our stew and drinking our black coffee and it was a fact I was so deaf that when a fellow would shout at me from a foot away from my ear, it would sound like a telephone busy signal. At about 10 o'clock that evening, we moved forward. While we were standing with the horses hooked in ready to go, an [airplane] dropped two bombs which missed us about 100 yards. We moved ahead but were held up because the roads were torn up so badly and, while we are waiting till a road was cleared they shelled us and wounded about six men - two from E Bat. and the others were Engrs. We moved and cut along the German old front line and camped for the night. The next morning we moved on again and passed thru these demolished villages. Not a house had been left standing. We passed many German dugouts and I fished out two pairs of new socks from one. They were much needed and I have one pair on now. We fired again that afternoon and then moved on thru more ruined villages. Finally welocated on the reverse side of the hill and fired for two days. I was relieved and the work went on for two more days. We had all taken a spell of sickness and are glad at the end of the second day when our Div. was relieved by a Div. of Regulars. We have nowbeen in a rest camp and are back at the front again. I began this letter when resting but was interrupted by a call up to the gun, so am nowwriting in a dugout at the front. Your friend Glen.
Details
Title | Owen "Glen" Tudor letter to Mr. Lewis - October 24, 1918 |
Creator | Tudor, Owen Glen |
Source | Tudor, Owen Glen. Letter to Mr. Lewis. 24 October 1918. Westover, John G., Collection, 1910-1946. C3733. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
Description | In this October 24, 1918, letter, Owen "Glen" Tudor wrote from the trenches, vividly describing his participation in recent battles. Tudor, a Maplewood, Missouri, native, served in the 128th Field Artillery in the 35th Division during World War I. |
Subject LCSH | United States. Army. Division, 35th; World War, 1914-1918--Artillery operations; Tanks; World War, 1914-1918--Casualties; War horses; World War, 1914-1918--Animals; World War, 1914-1918--Destruction & pillage |
Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
Site Accession Number | C3733 |
Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri: 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298. (573) 882-7083. |
Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
Date Original | October 24, 1918 |
Language | English |