Using the forest's undergrowth to shield them, they passed unharmed
through the bullet-swept belt which the Germans were throwing around
Hill No. 223, and reached the valley. Above them was a canopy of lead.
To the north they heard the heavy cannonading of that part of the
battle.
When they passed into the valley they found they were within the range
of another battalion of German machine guns. The Germans on the hill at
the far end of the valley were lashing the base of No. 223.
For their own protection against the bullets that came with the whip of
a wasp through the tree-tops, the detachment went boldly up the enemy's
hill before them. On the hillside they came to an old trench, which had
been used in an earlier battle of the war. They dropped into it.
Moving cautiously, stopping to get their bearings from the sounds of the
guns above them, they walked the trench in Indian file. It led to the
left, around the shoulder of the hill, and into the deep dip of a valley
in the rear.
Germans were on the hilltop across that valley. But the daring of the
Americans protected them. The Germans were guarding the valleys and the
passes and they were not looking for enemy in the shadow of the barrels
of German guns.
As the trench now led down the hill, carrying the Americans away from
the gunners they sought, the detachment came out of it and took skirmish
formation in the dense and tangled bushes.
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