History of the 151st field artillery, Rainbow Division, by Louis L. Collins, lieutenant governor of Minnesota. Edited by Wayne E. Stevens, PH. D. Pub. by the Minnesota War records commission.

REDUCTION OF THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT

125

The 42nd Division itself had advanced nineteen kilometers
and had taken more than a thousand prisoners. It had freed
forty-two square kilometers of French territory, including seven
villages. It had, according to an official report, captured "large
dumps and stores of food, clothing, hospital supplies, munitions,
engineering and railroad materiel, lumber, coal, iron and gasolene,
and in addition, many enemy papers and documents of military
value." 12 The spoils of battle included three hundred and fifty
thousand rounds of small-arms ammunition, one hundred heavy,
and one hundred light machine guns, twenty-two cannons, twenty
thousand hand grenades, and one thousand rifles.
The following diary entries describe briefly the operation of
September 12 and 13 as seen by the commander of the 151st Field
artillery:
Thursday, September 12. At one A. M. we commenced our
Artillery preparation and continued it until five A. M., when the
Infantry went over. At noon started for Essey but the roads were
blocked so badly, had to walk through the mud. The advance
so far is a great success. The Germans are leaving much behind
and we captured whole batteries complete. The civilian population is ordered out and the roads are full of old men and women
and little children carrying what they can. The Boche have occupied these towns since the beginning of the war and they are
wonderfully organized. About 10,000 prisoners to date. They
say they could not stand our Artillery fire. Our losses in men
are light but heavy in officers.
Friday, September 13. Spent the day at Essay organizing
the advance. You can see German towns burning in all directions.
Since yesterday we have pushed in the St. Mihiel Salient and
taken the towns of Maizerais, St. Baussant, Essey, Pannes, Beney,
and St. Benoit and 14 kilometers of German trenches. The 89th
Division supported us on the right and the 1st on the left.
Fortune had indeed smiled upon the 42nd Division. Toward
noon on the first day of the attack, as the infantrymen were chasing
the Germans north of Pannes and as artillery units pushed along
the roads to new positions, a huge rainbow spanning the front had
been greeted by cheers from the entire division. It was an omen of
success.

12See section IX of the Report on Operations of the 42nd Division, September 11 to 15, 1918, on page 270.