The Lancaster news. (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, April 23, 1918, Page PAGE TWO, Image 2
PAGE TWO
I "Over the Top"
J By An American Soldier
Who Went
ARTBDR GUY EMPEY
Machine Gunner Serving In France
U-'opj right, 11'17. by Arthur Un; Huipe;)
CHAPTER XX.
"Chats With Fritz."
"We were swimming in money, from
the receipts of our theatrical venture,
and had forgotten nil about the war,
when an order came through that our
brigade would again take over their
sector of the line.
The day that these orders were Issued,
our captain assembled the company
nnd asked for volunteers to go to
the Machine Gun school at St. Omar.
I volunteered and wus accepted. 11
Sixteen men from our brigade left
for the course In machine gunnery. 11
This course lasted two weeks and we j:
rejoined our unit nnd were assigned to j
the brigade machine gun company. It
almost broke my heart to leave my 11
company mates. j1
The gun we used was the Vlckers,
Light .303, water cooled.
I was still a member of the Suicide 1
club, having jumped from the frying '
pan Into the fire. I was assigned to {
section 1, gun No. 2, and the first time 1
fin" took position In the front-line '
trench. j '
During: the day our gun would he 1
dismounted on the Are step ready for
Instnnt use. We shared u dugout with
the Lewis Runners. At "stand to" we
would mount our pun on the parapet
and ro on watch beside It until "stand
down" In the mornlnp. Then the Run
would be dismounted and again placed
In readiness on the fire step.
We did eipht days In the front-line
trench without anything unusual happening
outside of the ordinary trench
routine. On the night that we were to
carry out." a bombing raid against the
German lines was pulled off. This raiding
party consisted of sixty company
men, sixteen bombers, and four Lewis
machine guns with their crews.
The raid took the Roches by surprise
and was a complete success, the party
bringing back twenty-one prisoners. (
The Germans must hnve been awfully
sore, because they turned loose a
barrage of shrapnel, with a few "Minnies"
and "whizz bangs" Intermixed. !
The shells were dropping into our front
line like hailstones.
To get even, we could hnve left the
prisoners in the Are trench, in charge
of the men on guard and let them click i
Fritz's strnfelng but Tommy does not
treat prisoners that way.
Five of them were brought Into my
dugout and turned over to me so that
they would be safe from the German
u,e' I ]
In the candlelight, they looked very
much shaken, nerves gone and chalky ,
faces, with the exception of one, a
great l>ig fellow. lie looked very much ^
at ease. I liked him from the start.
I got out the rum jar and gave each
a nip and passed around some fags,
the old reliable Woodbines. The other
prisoners looked their gratitude, but
the big fellow said in English, "Thank
you, sir, the rum Is excellent and I appreciate
it, also your kindness."
He told me his name was Carl
Schmidt, of the Sixty-sixth Ravarlun
light infantry; that he had lived six
years in New York (knew the city bet- ,
ter than I did), had been to Coney
islnnd and many of our ball games. He
was a regular fan. I couldn't make him ]
'believe that Hans Wagner wasn't the i
best ball player in the world.
From New York he had gone to London,
where he worked as a waiter In
t^ie Hotel Russell. Just before the war
be went home to Germany to see his
parents, the war came und lie was conscripted.
He told me he was very sorry to
llfMir thnt T nnfl/?n in
tlx* Zeppoli.i raids. I could not con-!
vince him otherwise, for hadn't he seen
moving pictures in one of the German i
cities of St. Paul's cathedral in ndns. I
I changed the subject because he!
was so stubborn In his belief. It was (
iny Intention to try and pump him for
{information as to the methods of the
German snipers, who had been causing
us trouble in the last few da/8.
I broached the subject and he shut
up like a clam. After a few minutes
he very innocently suid:
"flermnn snipers get paid rewards
for killing the English."
I eagerly asked, "What are they?"
He answered:
"For killing or wounding an English
prlvnte, the sniper gets one mark. For
killing or wounding an English officer
he gets five marks, hut If he kills n Ited
Cap or English general, the sniper gets
twenty-one days tied to the wheel of a
limber us punishment for his careless- !
BOSS." I
Then he paused, waiting for me to
bite, I suppose.
I bit all right and asked him why the |
Buiycr wu? |iuiusiM>n ror Killing nn
English general. With a smile he re- '
plied:
"Well, yon see. If nil the English generals
were killed, there would he no
one left to make costly mistakes." 1
I shut him up, he was getting too '
fresh for a prisoner. After a while he
winked at me and I winked hark, then
the escort came to take the prisoners 1
to the rear. I shook hands nnd wished
him "The hest of luck and a safe Jour- '
ney to Blighty."
I liked that prisoner, he was a fine r
fellow, had an Iron Cross. Jpq, J ad
vised "him to keep It out of sight, or 1
some Tommy would be sending It home (
to his girl iu IMighty as a souvenir. *
One dark and rainy night while on
guard we were looking over the top c
from the fire step of our front-lino 1
trench, when we heard a noise Imine- f
dlately In front of our barbed wire. 1
The sentry next to me challenged, *
"Halt, who comes there?" and brought
his ritle to the aim. Ills challenge was '
answered In Herman. A captain in the v
next traverse climbed upon the saml- '
bagged parapet to Investigate?a brave c
but foolhardy deed?"Crack" went a ^
bullet and he tumbled back Into the
trench with a hole through his stomach t1
and died a few minutes later. A lance c
corporal In the next platoon was so en- 0
ray I'd at the captain's death that he |
chucked a Mills bomb In the direction n
of the noise with the shouted warning li
to us: "Puck your nappers, my lucky t
lads." A sharp dynamite report, a flare C
in front of us, and then silence. I
We immediately sent up two star
shells, and in their light could see two t
dark forms lying on the ground close e
to our wire. A sergennt and four r
stretcher-bearers went out in front and o
soon returned, carrying two limp
bodies. Down in the dugout, in the r
flickering light of three candles, we ti
snw that they were *wo German ofll- 1
cers, one* a captain and the other an 1
"unteroftlzlcr," a rank one grade higher
than a sergeant general, but below the o
grade of lieutenant. u
The captain's face had been almost a
completely torn away by the bomb's t
explosion. The unterofflzler was alive, n
breathing with dltllculty. In a few minutes
he opened his eyes and blinked in e
the glare of the candles. v
The pair had evidently been drink- v
Ing heavily, for the alcohol fumes were w
sickening and completely pervaded the v
iugont. I turned away In disgust, "
bating to see n man cross the Great Divide
full of booze. c
cme or our omeers could spenk Ger- a
nan nnd he questioned the dying num.
In a faint voice, interrupted by fro- fo
juent hiccoughs, the unterolllzler told Sl
His story. tl
There had been n drinking bout hi
imong the officers in one of the Ger- v
nan dugouts, the main beverage being ?
champagne. With a drunken leer he n
nfor rued us tlmt champagne was plen- s]
tiful on their side aivl that it did not ti
'ost them anything either. About seven ^
that night the conversation had turned
to the "contemptible" English, nnd the, ,]
-nptain had made a wager that lie ^
ivould hang his cap on the English | n
barbed wire to show his contempt for
the English sentries. The wager was "
accepted. At eight o'clock the captain *
ind he had crept out into No Man's }
Land to carry out tills wager.
They had gotten about halfway j \
icross when the drink took effect and I 3
the captain fell asleep. After about i
two hours of vain attempts the unter- j E
offizier had at last succeeded in wak- I
>ng the captain, reminded him of ids i
bet. and warned him that he would be 1
the laughing stock of the officers' mess j
If he did not accomplish his object, bin <
the captain was trembling all over and
Insisted on returning to the German >
lines. In the darkness they lost their ' j
bearings and crawled toward the English
?t*.mithM Th?t. ??-- v 1 ? I
............ i t'limvu iiic iiariiiMi
wire and were suddenly challenged by
our sentry. Itcing too drunk to realize !
that the challenge was in English, the j
captain refused to crawl back. Finally !
the untcrollizlcr convinced his superior
that they were In front of the English
wire. Realizing this too late, the captain
drew his revolver and with a mut- j
tcred curse fired blindly toward our j
trench. His bullet no doubt killed our
captain.
Then the bomb came over and there "
he was. dying?and a good Job too. we 1
thought. The captain dead? Well, his j
men wouldn't weep at the news. j \
Without giving us any further lnfor- | t
tr.a'.ion the tin: r <Uiz' -r died J x
We searched the bodies for identill- J
cation disks hut they had left every- I
thing behind before starting on their
foolhardy errand. f
Next afternoon we buried them In t
our little cemetery apart from tin i 1
graves of the Tommies. If you ever I
go Into that cemetery you will see two I c
little wooden crosses In the corner of t
the cemetery set away from the rest.
They rend: t
Captain *
German Army i I
Died ? 1010 1
Unknown j i
It. I. P.
! 1
Unterofflzler
German Army j
Died ? 1010 i t
Unknown , ,
i i|
I f
j'T " CHAPTER XXI. ?
?< It
About Turn. ! 1
The next evening we wore relieved !
hy the ?th brigade. and once again (
returned to rest billets. Upon arriving 8
at these billets we were given twentyTour
hours In wtiieh to clean up. I had t
hist finished getting the mud from my t
uniform when the orderly sergeant In
formed me that my name was in orders
to leave, and that I was to report to *
the orderly roflm In the morning for or
tiers, transportation and rations. f
i nearly had a fit, hustled about '
packing up, filling my pack with sou- *
renlrs sOch ns shell heads, dud bombs, j *
aose caps, shrapnel balls, and a Prussian
guardsman's helmet. In fact, be- c
Tore I turned In thnt night, I had every- t
thing ready to report at the orderly fi
room at nine the next morning.
I was the envy of the whole section. "
wanking around, tolling of the good 8
Imp I whs going to have, the places I 8
would visit, and the real, old English '
>eer I Intended to ffuzzlj*, Sort of |
O
o\
?MSM??w?' ' " " ?
THE LANCASTER 1
nibbed ft Into them, because they nil
lo it, and now that It was my turn, 1
;ook pains to get my own back.
At nine I reported to the captuin, reviving
my trnvel order and pass. He
isked mc how much money I wanted
o draw. I glibly answered, "Three
imidred francs, sir;" he Just as glibly
landed me one hundred.
Reporting at brigade headquarters,
vith i.iy puck weighing a ton, I waited,
vlth forly others, for the adjutant to
nspect us. After an hour's wait, he
tame out; must have beeu sore because
le wasn't going with us.
The quartermaster sergeant Issued
is two days' rations. In a little white
anvas rution bug, which we tied to
ur belts.
Then two motor lorries cume along
ml we piled In, laughing. Joking, and
n me nest or spirits. We even loved *
he Germans, we^rere feeling so hapfiy.
)ur journey to seven days' bliss In
Mighty had commenced.
The ride In the lorry lasted about
?vo hours; by this time we were eovred
with fine, white dust from the
oad, but didn't mind, even If we were
eurly choking.
At the railroad station at F we
eported to an officer, who had n white
and around his arm, which read "It.
\ O." (Royal Transportation Officer). '
?o us this officer was Suntu Claus.
The sergeant in charge showed him !
ur orders; he glanced through them
nd said: "Make yourselves comfortble
on the platform and don't leave;
he train Is liable to be along In bve
ilnutes?or five hours." I
It came In five hours, a string of
leven match boxes on big, high
rheel8, drawn by a dinky little engine
rlth the "con." These match boxes
ere catile cars, on the sides of which
ras painted the old familiar algn.
Homines 40, Chevaux 8." I
The It. T. O. stuck us all Into one
ar. We didn't care; It was us good s
s a Pullman to us. i ^
I '
Two duys we spen^ on that train, j
umplng. stopping. Jerking ahead, and
mnetlmes sliding back. At three stn- ,
Ions we stopped long enough to make
tune tea, hut were unable to wash, so '
then we arrived nt B , where we I
'ere to embark for Blighty, we were j
s black as Turcos and, with our un- j
haven faces, we looked like a lot of
ramps. Though tired out, we were
kppy. I
NVe had packed up, preparatory to
etraining, when a 11. T. (). held up his
and for us to stop where we were
nd came over. This Is what he said: j
^ ^ ^ ^ '
Dead Bodies Everywhere.
'Roys, I'm sorry, hut orders have Just 1
icon received cancelling all leave. If1 f
ou had been three hours earlier you e
vould have gotten away. Just stay In >
hat train, as it Is going hack. Rations 1
v'M he Issued to you for your return' c
ourney to your respective stations, p
ienstly rotten, I know." Then he left. I
A dend silence resulted. Then men ti
itarted to curse, threw their rltles on f
he floor of the car; otheVs said noth- s
ng, seemed to he stupefied, while some j
tail the tears running down their v
hecks. It was a hitter disappointment t
o all. a
How we hllnded at the engineer of
hat train; It was all his fault (so we p
easoned) ; why hadn't he speeded up a n
Ittle or been on time, then we would v
lave gotten off before the order ar- j 1
lved? Now it wus no Rllghty for us. t
That return Journey was misery to j fi
is; I just can't describe It. a
When we got hack to rest billets, we v
|
ootid that oar brigade was In the 1
Tenches (another agreeable surprise) '
ind that an attack was contemplated. "
Seventeen of the forty-one will never ?
?et another chance to go on leave; '
Jiey were killed in the attack. Just c
ntnk If that train had been on time, .
hose seventeen .vould still he alive.
I hnte to tell you how " was kidded 8
y the hoys when I got hack, hut It was 8
:ood and plenty. 0
Our machine gun compnny took over *
hetr T-.firt nf thn 1 i r,of .......... ..1 ....1.
he night after I returned from my '
tear leave.
At 3:30 the Allowing morning three *
raves went over and captured the first *
ind second German trenches. The
nachlne gunners went over with the fl
ourth wave to consolidate the cap- f
tired line or "dig In," as Tommy calls
t ?
Crossing No Man's Land without *
illcklng any casualties, we curne to
he German trench and mounted our f
runs on the parados of same. "
1 never saw such a mess In my life
?bunches of twisted barbed wire lying
tbout, shell hol?s everywhere, trench
til bashed In, parapets gone, and dead
todies, why, that ditch was full of '
hem, theirs and ours. It was a_regu- .
1
NEWS, LANCASTER, S. C.
ar morgue. Some were mangled liCT Ibly
from our shell Are, while others
were wholly or partly burled lu the
nua, the result of shell explosions cavng
In the walls of the trench. One
lead German was lying on his back,
ivlth a rlile sticking straight up In the
ilr, the bayonet of which was burled
Co the hilt in his chest. Across his feet
ay a dead English soldier with a billet
hole In his forehead. This Toninij
mist have been killed Just as he rau
lis bayonet through the German.
Miles and equipment were scattered
ibout, and occasionally a steel helmet
could be seen sticking out of the mud,
At one point, Just In the entrance to
1 communication trench, was a stretcher.
On this stretcher a German was
ying with a white bandage around his
iuee, near to him lay one of the
itrctcher-bearers, the red cross on his
irm covered with mud and his helmet
Itled with blood and bruins. Close by,
sitting up against the wall of the
rench, with head resting on his chest,
ivas the other sfretcher-liearer. He
leemed to he alive, the posture was so
intural and easy; but when I got
closer I could see a large, jagged hole
n his temple. The three must hove
>een killed by the same shell-burst.
The dugouts were all smashed In and
mocked about, big square-cut timbers
ipllntered Into bits, walls caved In and
mtrnnces choked.
Tnmmv. 11ffpr tnlllnor o fInnrna
o his sorrow thnt the hardest part of
he work Is to hold It.
In our case this proved to be so.
The Qernian artillery and machine
runs hnd us taped (ranged) for fair;
t was worth your life to expose yourie)f
an lnstunt.
Don't think for a minute that the
Jermnns were the only sufferers; we
vere clicking casualties so fast that
rou needed an adding ninchtne to keep
rack of them.
Did you ever see one of the steam
hovels at work on the Panama canal?
Veil, It would look like a hen scratchng
alongside of a Tommy "digging In"
vhlle under fire. You couldn't see daylght
through the clouds of dirt from
ds shovel.
After losing three out of six men of
tur crew we mnnaged to set up our
nnchlne gun. One of the legs of the
ripod was resting on the chest of a
lalf-burled body. When the gun was
Irlng, it gave the impression thnt the
lody was breathing. This was caused
>y the excessive vibration.
Three or four feet down the trench,
ilwilit (hron f rnni fho ?
oot wns protruding from the earth.
Ye knew It was a German by the black
enther boot. One of our crew used
hut foot to hang extra bandoliers ol
imcnunltion on. This man always was
i handy fellow; made use of little
joints thut the ordlnnry person would
jverlook.
The Germans made three counterytacks,
which we repulsed, but not
vithout heavy loss on our side. The>
ilso suffered severely from our shel
iikI machine-gun lire. The ground wu
potted with their dead and dying.
The next day things were somewhat
pileter, but not quiet enough to bury
he dend.
We lived, ate and slept In that trench
vith rtie unburled dend for six days,
t was awful to \v%U-h their faces be:ome
swollen and discolored. Towards
he last the stench was fierce.
What got on my nerves tin- most was
hat foot sticking out of the dirt. It
iceined to me, at night. In the moonIght,
to be trying to twist around,
several times this Impression was so
(trong that I went to It and grasped It
n both hands, to see If I could feel a
uovement.
1 told this to the man who hnd used
t for a hatrack Just before I lay down
or a little nap, us things were quiet,
ind I needed u rest pretty badly.
Yhen I woke up the foot was gone.
Je had cut It off with our chain saw
?ut of the spare parts' hox. and hnd
Mastered the stu o^er with mud.
During the nexi two or three duys,
icfore we were relieved, I missed that
oot dreadfully; seemed as If I had
uddenly lost a chum.
I think the worst thing of all was to
vatch the rats, at night, and some
Imes Id the day, run over and play
bout among the dead.
Near our gun, right across the pura>et,
could be seen the hotly of a Gernun
lieutenant, the head and arms of
vhich were hanging Into our trench.
Che man who had cut off the foot used
o sit and cnrry on a one-sided converatlon
with this ofllcer, used to nrgue
ind point out why Germany was In the
prong. During ail of this monologue
never heard him say anything out of
he way?anything that would have
lurt the officer's feelings had he been
illve. He was square all right;
vouldn't even take advantage of a
lend mar. in an argument.
To civilians this must seem dreadtil*
bat out here one gets so used to
iwful sights that It makes no Impresilon.
In passing a butcher shop you
Iffi rmt khnnlrml he oool?w? ?
^ - ..?v..? v? m VIH^ n urau IUI"
cey hanging from a hook. Well, In
'ranee, a dead body la looked upon
'roro the same angle.
But, nevertheless, vhen our alz days
vera up. we were tickled to death to
>e relieved.
Our mnchlne gun company lost
eventeen killed and thirty-one wound d
In that little local affair of
'straightening the line," while the
ither companies clicked It worse thun
ve did.
After the attack we went into reterve
billets for six days, and on the
leventh once aguln we were In rest fillets.
CHAPTER XXII.
'unlahments and Machine-Qun Stunt*.
_8oon after my nrrlval In France; In
I -v? ??x. .. - *
I fact, Tfoni my pnnsrmrm. I Tina roun<
i ' that In the British army discipline i:
11 very strict. One has to be very care
| ful In order to stay on the narrow patl
> of government virtue.
, I There ure about seven million way:
i! of breaking the king's regulations; t<
I j keep one you have to break another.
.' The worst punishment Is death by i
' I firing squad, or "up against the wall,'
1 us Tommy calls It.
i This Is for desertion, cowardice, rau
tiny, giving Information to the enemj
1 looting, rape, robbing the dead, forclni
ft flftftHTlinrfl o uimnslna
Then conies the punishment of sixty
i four days In the front-Une trench with
| out relief. During this time you hnv<
i to engage In all raids, working purtle
i In No Man's Land, and every hazardou
undertaking that comes along. If yoi
i live througli the sixty-four days yoi
are Indeed lucky.
This punishment is awarded wher
! there is a doubt as to the willful gull
of a man who has committed an of
i; fence punishable by death,
i! Then comes the famous field pur
lshment No. 1. Tommy has nickname*
It "crucifixion." It means tlmt fsmui
Is spread-eagled on a Umber wheel
| t\?o hours a day for twenty-one days
During this time he only gets water
11 bully beef and biscuits for his chow
You get "crucified" for repeated tnlno
! offenses.
Next In order Is field punlshmen
, No. 2.
This Is confinement In the "clink,1
I without blankets, getting wuter, bull;
beef and biscuits for rations and dolni
all the dirty work that can be found
This may be for twenty-four hours o:
twenty days, according to the grnvlt;
of the offense.
Then comes "pack drill" or default
era' parade. This consists of drilling
mostly at the double, for two hour
f?lt T>
I *???.? lull \\(UI 1'illCUl. Xl'IIIUiy IIUII'I
this, became It Is hard work. Some
times he fills his pack with straw t<
1 lighten It, and sometimes he geti
| caught. If he gets caught, he grousei
at everything In general for twenty
one days, from the vantage point of t
' limber wheel.
Next comes "C. B." meaning "con
fined to bnrrneks." This consists o
staying In billets or barracks for twen
ty-four hours to seven days. You uls<
get an occasional defaulters' parade
und dirty Jobs around the quarters.
The sergennt major keeps what li
known as the crime sheet. When t
man commits nn offense, he b
"crimed." that Is, his name, numhci
i and offense Is entered on the crlnn
sheet. Next day at 0 a. m. he goes t?
the "orderly room" before the captain
who either punishes him with "C. It.'
or sends him before the O. C. (office:
commanding battalion). The cnptali
of the company cun only award "P. B.'
Tommy many a time has thnnke<
the king for making thut provision li
his regulations.
To gain the title of a "smart soldier,'
Tommy has to keep clenr of the crlnv
sheet, and you have to be darned smur
to do It.
I have been on It a few times, most
ly for "Yankee Impudence."
During our stay of two weeks li
rest billets our.captain put us througl
a course of machine-gun drills, trylnj
out new stunts and theories.
After parades were over, our guns
crews got together and also tried on
some theories of their own In reference
to handling guns. These courses line
notlllnir to do with tlio ndvMiiw>,? >,,n< ..
i the war, consisted mostly of causlnj
tricky Jams In the trun, and then tin
rest of the crew would endeavor to lo
cate as quickly as possible the caus<
1 of the stoppage. This amused then
for a few days und then things came t<
a standstill.
One of the boys on my ;run clalmet
that he could pluy a tune while tin
gun was actually firing, and demon
strated this fuct one day on the targei
range. We were very enthusiastic anc
decided to become musicians.
After constant practice I hecanu
quite expert In the tune entitled "A1
Conductors Have Big Feet."
When I had mastered this tune, oui
two weeks' rest came to an end, an<l
1 once again we went up the line ami
took over the sector In front of O
| wood.
At this point the Oermnn trenche*
ran around the hnse of a hill, on tin
top of which was u dense wood. Thb
wood was lufested with machine guns
which used to traverse our lines al
will, and sweep the streets of a lltth
1 village, where we were billeted while
In reserve.
There was one gun In partlculni
which used to get our goats, It had thr
exact range of our "elephant" dugout
! entrance, and every morning, about thr
I nun* rmions were oeing Drought up, Its
I bullets would knock up the dust on the
j road; more than one Tommy went
West or mighty by running lntc
, them.
This gun got our nerves on edge,
and Fritz seemed to know It, because
he never gave us an hour's rest. Oui
1 reputation as machine gunners was a
stake; we tried various ruses to locnti
and put this gun out of action, bu
each one proved to be a failure, am
Fritz became a worse nuisance thai
ever. lie was getting fresher and mori
careless every day, took all kinds 01
| liberties with us?thought he was In
vincible.
Then one of our crew got a hrtlllan
1 Idea and we were all enthusiastic t<
put It to the test.
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun, I was to plaj
my tune, and Frits, no doubt, wouh
fall for It, try to Imitate me as at
added Insult. This gunner and tw<
others would try, by the sound, to lo
cate Frftz and his gun. After havlni
got the location, they would moan
two machine guns Jn trees, In a lltth
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 19ia
i ciirrtrp nr wooarw meiert or mrrcenres
tory, and while Fritz was In the middle
> of his lesson, would open up and trust
ti to luck. By our calculations. It would
I take at least a week to pull off the
s stunt.
? If Frits refused to swallow our bait,
I It would be Impossible to locate his
a. special jjun, and that's the one we were
* after, because they oil sound alike, a
! slow pup-pup-pup.
i- Our prestige was hanging by a
r. thread. In the battalion we hud to eng
dure all kinds of Insults nnd fresh re|
marks as to our ability In silencing
- Fritz. Even to the battalion that Ger- M
l- man gun was a sore spot,
e i Next day, Ffltz opened up as usual,
s I let him Are away for a while and
s then hutted In with my "pup-pup-pup11
, pup-pup-pup." I kept this up quite a
i while, used two belts of ammunition.
I Fritz had stopped firing to listen. Then
8 he started in; sure enough, he had
t fallen for our gnme, his gun was trying
to imitate mine, hut, at first he made a
horrible mess of that tune. Again 1
butted In with n few bars and stopped.
<1 Then he tried to copy what I had
a played. He was a good sport ail right,
' : because his bullets were galng awtty
' over our heads, must have been firing
' Into the air. I commenced to feel
friendly towurd'hlm.
r This duet went on for five days.
Fritz was a good pupil and learned
* rapidly. In fact, got better than his
teacher. I commenced to feel Jealous. ^
When he had completely mastered the
f tune, he started sweeping the road
< ngaln and we clicked it worse than
1. ! DV0P Hilt V? n o I .... iwl Kin /Inn * V. ... n .... wt
uv oi^ucu mo uraia nunuui
by doing so, because my friendship
turned to hate. Every time he flred he
played that tune and we danced.
The boy? In the battalion gave us
the "Ha! Ha 1" They weren't In on
our little framenp.
The originator of the ruse and the
other two gunners had Fritz's location
taped to the minute; they mounted
their two guns, and also gave me the
range. The neat afternoon was set for
the grand finale.
Our three guns, with different elevations,
had their fire so arranged, that,
opening up together, their bullets
would suddenly drop on Fritz nice a
hailstorm.
About three the next day, Fritz started
"pup-pupping" that tune. I blew a
sharp blast on a whistle, It was the signal
agreed upon; we turned loose and
Fritz's gun suddenly stopped In the
middle of a bar. We had cooked his
goose, and our ruse had worked. After
firing two helts ench, to make sure of
our Job, we hurriedly dismounted our
guns and took cover In the dugout. We
knew what to expect soon. We didn't
have to wait long, three salvos of
j "whizz-bangs" came over from Fritz's
I artillery, a further confirmation that
we had sent that musical tnhchlne-gun or
on his Westward-bound Journey.
That gun never bothered us again.
We were the heroes of the hftttallon,
our captain congratulated us, said It
was a neat piece of work, und, consequently,
we were all puffed up over the
stunt.
mi. * ?
j lu-rt- ure several ways tommy uses
1 to disguise the location of his machine
1 gun and get his range. Some of the
? most commonly used stunts ure as follows
:
At nlgl>t, when he mounts his gun
t over the top of his trench and wants
B to get the range of Fritz's trench he
' adopts the method of what he terms
t "getting the sparks." This consists of
t firing hursts from his gun until the Y
s bullets hit the German barbed wire.
He can tell when they are cutting the
* wire, because a bullet when It hits a
i wire throws out a blue electric spark.
y Machine-gun tire Is very damaging to
wire and causes many a wiring party
1 to go out at night when It Is quiet to
s repulr the dnmnge.
To disguise the flare of his gun at
1 night when firing, Tommy uses what Is
' called a flare protector. This Is a stovepipe
arrangement which fits over the
* barrel casing of the gun and screens
' the sparks from the right and left, but
not from the front. So Tommy, always
f resourceful, adopts this scheme: About
I three feet or less In front of the gun he
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: y:i\
/ ! \
/ I \
: / I \
|?S too voi iooydj
juhcuw OiCHTluir
Showing How Fritz Is Fooled.
0
i drives two Rtakes Into the ground,
> abou? five feet npnrt. Across tbeso
stokes he Rtretches a curtain made out
? of empty snndhngs ripped open. II?
RonkM this curtain In water and Area
, through it. The water prevents It
catching Are and effectively screens
i the flare of the tiring sv.o from th?
t enemy.
, sound Is a vnltinhTe asset m locating
t a machine gun. hut Tommy surmounts
, this ohstacle by placing two machine
, guns about one hundred to one hun,
dred and flftv vanis ti?
_ null
f on the right to cover with Its tire the
_ sector of the left gun mitl the gun on
the left to cover that of the right
^ gun. This makes their fire cross; they
> are fired simultaneously.
Ky this method It sounds like one
gun firing and gives the Germans the 4L
1 Impression that the gun Is firing from
j a jtolnt midway between the guns
j which are actually firing, und they acj
cordlngly shell that particular spot.
_ The machine gunners chuckle and say,
. "Fritz. is a brainy boy, not 'ulf he
t ain't"
(To be Continued.) j
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t