The French and Americans were jubilant. There were mutual handshakings, then silence, and in came a grimy, sweaty, but happy soldier, the first of the men who'd been over the top into Cantigny. He saluted punctiliously: "Sir, I have brought back twenty prisoners." PEN READY FOR PRISONERS Sure enough, there they were outside, about to be herded into a detention pen that was already prepared for them. They were dull-looking men, still half stunned, in dirt-gray uniforms, looking like slugs or earthworms, sullen and angry at being captured by Americans. The officer said 120 had been counted up above already, and added: "Hope we get enough to even up for Seicheprey." The soldier was triumphant. "I went with the first wave," he said. "We got to a sort of trench, and all of a sudden the boches jumped right up in front of us and started to throw grenades. We went at 'em with grenades, bayonets, rifles, pistols, whatever came handy. I spitted one big fellow on my bayonet, but the bayonet stuck. So I pulled out my trench knife and went for another, but he yelled 'Kamerad!' so I grabbed his gun and hit a third over the head with it. There were grenades busting all around, but I could hear our fellows shouting 'Go to it, Yanks!' the same as they did all the way over No Man's Land. "Pretty quick all the boches were yelling 'Kamerad!' and putting up their hands. The Captain told me to herd these together and get them down quick so they could be questioned. There's about a hundred more up in the woods cut off by the barrage." A little later the wounded began coming back to the dressing stations which had been specially prepared. The wounded were all cheerful, saying, "We went right through 'em--nothing to it--go back and do it again tomorrow." Every man asked only two things: "How many boches did we get?" and "Have you got a cigarette?" These are the real victors of Cantigny. When all's said and done, the staff may plan, guns may fire, tanks may crawl, but the common infantry soldier is the real hero of all. Americans' Defense of Château-Thierry United States troops, mostly inexperienced in actual warfare, on June 1 played a brilliant part in the defense of Château-Thierry. By their prompt and resolute support to the French they assisted in driving the Germans from the south bank of the Marne at that vital point, and were largely responsible for blocking the enemy's determined advance across the river toward Paris, thus preventing the development of a most serious situation for the Allies. The French official report of the incident was as follows: American troops checked German advanced forces which were seeking to penetrate Neuilly Wood, and by a magnificent counterattack hurled back the Germans north of this wood.