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.

142 HISTORY OF THE 151ST FIELD ARTILLERY

Americans and Germans everywhere. Dead horses along every road.
Every building and tree destroyed and the ground one mass of
muddy shell holes."
The night of the tenth was another of incessant activity.
From dusk till dawn the guns blazed away at objectives behind
the enemy lines. On the morning of the eleventh, the infantry
of the 32nd Division, by this time much reduced in numbers and
exhausted by continuous fighting, again attempted to push forward
behind the rolling barrage. In spite of many hours of desperate
fighting, they succeeded in advancing their lines only about 340
yards. At the close of the day the regiment received orders to
rejoin the 42nd Division, which was about to relieve the 1st; the
latter, it will be recalled, had been fighting in the sector of the
32nd Division.10
The news of the relief was gratefully received by the men
of the 151st. During the recent fighting, they had had no sleep,
except what they could snatch at the gun positions during the infrequent intervals between fire. They now looked forward to at
least one night's rest in some more peaceful place along the route
of march. On the evening of the eleventh, shortly after the orders
for relief had been received, the battery positions were taken over
by the 117th Field Artillery and the guns were hauled back to the
echelon near Avocourt.
But there was to be only one night's rest for the regiment and
the morning of the twelfth found the Supply Company headed
northwestward, closely followed by the batteries. The day's march
took the regiment through the ruined villages of Cheppy, Very,
Charpentry, Baulny, and Exermont, over a country which had been
the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the first phase of the
Argonne battle. On the battlefield north of Exermont, where the
Germans had very recently made a stand, were evidences of the
struggle. Within a small radius were five wrecked American
l0The 42nd Division as a unit relieved the 1st on the night of October 11,
although some elements apparently did not get into position until the next
night. The 1st Field Artillery Brigade and the 1st Ammunition Train remained
to support the 42nd Division. Society of the First Division, History of the First
Division during the World War, i9r7-r199, p. 212 (Philadelphia, 1922); Wolf,
Rainbow Division, 45.