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RAGING FORM SOLDIERS WAR STORY Private Tappenbeck in the Thick of French Battles Is Captured at End Here is a typical soldiers letter from one of Daily Racing Forms boys linotype operator Paul Tuppenbcck of Company F 129th Infantry It was written February 20 at Ettolbruck Germany After some personal gossip Private Tappenbeck goes into occurrence opinion and history in this way wayThe The soldiers feel pretty sore about the States going fdrv and say Those guys slipped one over on us while we were away awayThe The 33d Division played the 35th Division a game of football and lost 3 to 0 It was a great day for celebrities MajorGeneral Bell General Todd Colonel Jlilton Foreman and the Ducliess of Luxemburg were among the many spectators 1 wish I knew when we were coining home There are so many rumors not fronl a reliable source though and I am not placing any confidence in them But we all hope and think it will be around the latter part of April or early In May It lias been awfully cold the last few weeks The snow topped hills which surround the city make it look very beautiful But when you write of home thats when I am listening to you I read in a Chicago paper that the boys of the 33d Division were satisfied mid dont want to come home also that they sleep in castles This is not the truth We all want to come home and as as soon as we can canAVhile AVhile I am writing I may as well give you a brief history of our pArt in the war We arrived in Brest France May 24 1918 After staying there for six weeks we took a train to Brussels where we stayed for three weeks training with the British Then we hiked to Amiens near the Somnie River We stayed only a few days and marched up to the line for the first time being brigaded vith the Australians Then we went to Albert on the British sector and stayed there two weeks A short timo after that found ns in Mancois for a short period in training when we went to Verdun We occupied trendies on Dead Mans Hill Hill No 304 and Death Valley The morning of the Big Drive we held an outpost near where il began and withdrew when the barrage commenced After that our trouble started We had Merry on the run and did not stop until November 11 We stayed two weeks at Whizz Bang Hill near the Meusc River RiverUp Up to this time we had been in the trendies thirty days without relief and were nearly ex ¬ hausted from loss of sleep and gas of which we had plenty Our relief finally caino and we thought we were iii for a long rest But we were only shifted to the trenches again on another sector This time it was Consemvoye woods in the Argpunc That was our final stay in the trenches and a costly one too for we came out with about sixty men After a short rest we were on our way to the St Mihiel sector We arrived there early Monday inoruing November 11 Now we changed to open fighting and started out to find the enemy but that morning it was awful foggy We got lost in the fog from the rest of the company and ran right into one of the German trenches before we knew it The Germans immediately fired upon ns with their machine guns and grenades In a few seconds we were surrounded and captured fourteen in all being taken and ton wounded and killed Our platoon was almost wiped out It is a miracle I was not killed being so close to the machine gims I consider myself lucky indeed Our captain was also wounded and captured but he is now back in the States The Germans did not keen us more than a few days Then we returned to Verdun and the American camp sent ns back to our com ¬ pany That was an experience I shall never forget ow if we can only come home soon I will call it square Having much more to tell than I can Write when I get backi I will close with best wishes to all
