One evening on the front a scouting party composed of ten Germans including the discharged soldier, encountered two French Negroes. In the fight which followed two of the scouting party were killed. One of the Negroes escaped the other being taken prisoner. During the fight two of the Germans left their comrades and ran to the protection of their own trenches, but these it was explained, were young soldiers and untrained. The reward of 400 marks subsequently was divided among the remaining six Germans for capturing the one French Negro. The 93rd division, which was made up of the 369th, 370th, 371st and the 372nd regiments of infantry, was put into service green, so green they did not know the use of rockets and thought a gas alarm and the tooting of sirens meant that the Germans were coming in automobiles. The New York regiment came largely from Brooklyn and the district around West 59th street in New York City, called San Juan Hill in reference to certain notable achievements of Negro troops at a place of that name in the Spanish-American war. They learned the game of war rapidly. The testimony of their officers was to the effect that it was not hard to send them into danger--the hard part being to keep them from going into it of their own accord. It was necessary to watch them like hawks to keep them from slipping off on independent raiding parties. The New York regiment had a band of 40 pieces, second to none in the American army. It is stated that the officers and men in authority in the French billeting places had difficulty in keeping the villagers from following the band away when it played plantation airs and syncopations as only Negroes can play them. On April 12, 1918, the 369th took over a sector of 5-1/2 kilometers in the Bois de Hauzy on the left of a fringe of the Argonne Forest. There they stayed until July 1st. There was no violent fighting in the sector, but many raids back and forth by the Negroes and the Germans, rifle exchanges and occasionally some artillery action. One important engagement occurred June 12th, which the soldiers called the million dollar raid, because they thought the preparatory barrage of the Germans must have cost all of that. The Germans came over, probably believing they would find the Negro outfit scared stiff. But the Negro lads let them have grenades, accurate rifle fire and a hail from some concealed machine gun nests. Sergt. Bob Collins was later given the Croix de Guerre for his disposition of the machine guns on that occasion.