Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/299

 first intimation the 305th had that it would be relieved was brought by advance parties from General Garibaldi's Italian division. The sight of these strange faces and uniforms indicated to everyone that the regiment was going out for a well-earned rest. How deceitful that opinion was, everyone remembers; but the occasion was important and exciting. All our men of Italian parentage greeted the newcomers with joy and hospitality. There was much excited conversation. There were more interpreters than could possibly be used.

While the Italians reconnoitered the Americans packed—joyously, too. The prospect of billets, baths, and cooked food was alluring after more than two months in the line. The thought of quiet after a month of such fighting as the Vesle had developed, was frankly welcome. The movement commenced on the night of September 15-16. No one had any idea where he was going, except that it was to the rear. And the belief in billets was touchingly firm.

Down roads on which they had advanced under shell fire, the columns wound through the fragmentary and odorus remains of Fismette and Fismes, past Les Près Farm, at which some fists were shaken, through Chèry Chartreuve for the last time, and to the crossroads just beyond where the two battalions rendezvoused.

When the last man was up, the regiment took the road to the left through Dravegny where our infantry was re-