Letter from Harry S. Truman to Jay M. Lee

liy dear Ir. Lee: By your request I am writing you herewith an operations report for my organization in the Argonne: My battery vent into position 4800 motors southeast of Bourciulles at throe hour on the morning of September 23rd, as did all the other batteries of the 129th Field Artillery The 23rd was very quiet and the day was spent propering the gun positions and locating the position of the battery on the firing maps On the 24th the enemy dropped a good many shells in the noighbor- hood of the battory, but none close enough to do any damage. The same is true of the 25the Captain Allen of Battery F had his headquarters destroyed by an exploding shell He happoned to be out at the timo and wes not injured. Bat- tory E had an ammunition dump destroyed and a men killed. At 7 hour on the ovening of the 25th all of the battery commanders wore ordered to regimental hoadquartors and woro informed that on the morning of the 26th a drivo would start from the English Channel to the Vosges liount- ains and we were informed that we would propare wire outting barrages and a rolling berrago to be fired beginning at 4:20 hour and to be continued for throo hours The night WELS spent in proparing data and getting up emmunition. Lieutenant Gordon B. Jordan, ammunition officer for the Second Battalion, succeeded in gotting the full quota of ammunition for his buttaion without a single casualty, although the roads over which he had to go were be- ing constantly sholled and the ammunition dump itself was also shelled inter- mittently. Vanquois Firing startod at 4:20 hour on barbed wire entanglements in front of Boureiulles. The rolling barrage started on Vourquois hill at 3:20 hour 3 and continued until 7:45, the range being increased 100 metors every four min- utes. At 8:25 the battery was propared to novo out Major Gates, the battery commander, had ordered Battery F to lead the column, but Battory D was ready first and pulled out of position at 9 hour and took tho road through the Foret Heros de Hess to No lian's Land arriving at Boureiulles at 13 hour. The bridges across the Airo rivor having boen destroyed by the Gormans when they left, the column was hold up. Battory D wes ordered into position in a hodge just south of Bour- ciulles at a point 3309 on the Plan Directoire Verdun 5 and Captain Truman was ordored by the regimental corgander to accompany Liajor Gates dom the Route Nat- ionalo toward Verrennos, get into communication with the infantry commarder or the commandor of the Tank Corps and fire on any machine gun nest which they might desiro destroyod. The liajor and his staff went almost to Varronnes by but no infantry commander or tank commander could bo found. A licutenant from the Tank Corps informed him that there was nothing that ho could do at that tirno. At 15 hour the Major and Captain Truman roturned to the battery position and found that the regiment had moved out across No Hien's Land to the east of Bourciulles above a bend in the Aire river, so that the regiment would not have to cross the river and could still go forward toward Cheppy to the Bois de Ros- sinol. Lieutenant Householdor had beon loft in charge of Battery D and had been ordered by Colonel Klemn to tako the battery east into Nó Man's Land and join the régiment as quickly as possible. This was done aftor much difficulty on account of mud and sholl holes through whihh the battery had to go. The horses were taken from one carriage and hitched to another and every available, man was used to gush this carriage forward until it was out of the mud and then