The Camden chronicle. (Camden, S.C.) 1888-1981, December 21, 1917, Image 8
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WOUNDED IN
ACTION
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ftp StnjMOt Akiuuukr PfcCIUitock.
D. Clr, 57th Ov??ma Bait
^^^CinadUii Oreo- Guards
Copyright, IWf# fcjr U?c ii?U flawdioftt*, loo.
Sergeant McClintock, an American
boy of Lexington, Ky., hat teen tervice
in France, tout decorated for bravery,
wounded ami invalided home. He it
telling hie ttory, a thrilling one, and
thit it the fifth article of the teriet. In
the preceding onet he dttirribed how
he reached the front, fighting in Hel
gium, and then the great preparaltont
for the Homme battle. In thit install
ment he tellt of condUiont and de
tcribet fir at hand the fighting in that
greatetl of all battlet.
OUll high command apparently
meant to make a sure thing of
the general assault u|M>ri the Ko
glna trench. In which we were to par
ticipate. Three times the order to "go
over the top" wan countermanded. The
assault wan first planned for Oct. 10.
Then the date wan changed to the 20th.
Finally, at 12:10 noon of Oct. 21, we
went. It wa? the first general assault
we had taken part In, and we were In
a highly nervous state. 1*11 admit
that.
It seemed almost certain death to
start over In broad daylight, yet, a?
It turned out, the crossing of No Mau't*
Land was accomplished rather more
easily than In our ulght raids. Our
battalion was on the extreme right of
the line, and that added materially to |
our difficulties, first by compelling us
to advance through mud so deep that
Home of our men smik to their hips In j
It and, second, hy giving us the hottest
little spot In France to hold later.
I was In charge of the second
"wave," or assault line. This Is called
the "mopping up" wave, because the
business of the men composing It Is
thoroughly^ to bomb out a position
crossed by the first wave, to capture
or kill all of the enemy remaining and
to put the trench in a condition to be
defended against a counterattack by
reversing the fire steps and throwing
up par pets.
Our artillery had given the Germans
such a battering and the curtain fire
which our guns dropped Just thirty to
forty yards ahead of us was so pow
erful that wo lost comparatively few
men going over ? only those who were
[knocked down by shells which the Ger
mans landed among us through our
.barrage. They never caught us with
their machine gun sweeping until wo
neared their trenches. Then a good
jmany of our men began to drop, but
'we were In their front trench before
'they could cut us up anywhere near
'completely, doing over I was struck
;by shell fragments on the hand and
.leg, but the wounds were i>ot severe
enough to stop me. In fact. I did not
know that I bad been wounded until
It Seemed Almost Certain Death to
Start Over In Daylight.
I felt 1>Io<mI running Into my shoe.
Then I discovered Hit* cut In my le>:.
but saw that it wns ?inlte shallow and
thnt no nrii ry <>i' Importance bad born
damaged. So I w? lit on.
1 bad Ibf f.-iiaMfrir fooIln_* ?>l nervous
ness and phy^b al -brinkiit^ and namea
at the bi^'hmiuj: of' this fi^ht. but by
tin* time wo were halfway acros'i No
Mud's Land I bar! my norvo back.
Alter I had herd hit I remember feel
ing r? (?'.?:! that i hadn't been b 1 1 ?? J
unouirb >?? ? m ' ie from iroinj; ??n \>i!h
the iiu'ii. I ; .? : ?{ trying t<> make my
self ont :> 1 > I'm tr.\inir to tell
yon hou' :>:i or.l'.n\ry man's mind
works undrr ? r- . - . fi-liiinc and
the danirer < ;' ? i!i. There
are some ?,u. ? , n i. : * i , il.o psyrhol
opy of b;i 1 1 1 ??. ! "r I r:>ta':> ?*, wlwn we
bad trot Into tbo f.t runri tr-n-a and
were holding it npln?t the most .
, vigorous counterattacks the thought!
which wns persistently uppermost In
my mind was thr.t I bad lo*.t the ad
dress of n girl Iq London nlon*,' with
some papers which I had thrown nwny j
Just before we started over and which
ll should certainly never be nble to find
again.
Hold Regina T ranch at Last.
Tho Bcglna trench had been taken
,an<1 lost three tlmaa by the British.
We took It that day and held It. We
mart into actio* with Wimb et all
ranks aud came out with ?hh>.
^ I have mold that bNMN we wer# on
the eatroaio right of th# lino wo bod
the hottest Uftlo opot I? franca t?
| hold for awhile. .*ou mi, wo bod to
! institute' a doubJo defeonlro, aa wo
had tho Oermsn* on oar front snd on
oar flank, tho whale langtb of 4fco
trench to tbq right of us being atlll
held by the Germans. Thero wo bad
to form ft "block," maturing our bomb
er* behind a barricade wblch waa only
fifteen yards froiu tho burrlcado be
hind which the Germans were fighting.
Our flunk huU the German fiauk were
lu contact ah fiery as that of two live
wire ends. Aud meanwhile tbo Frltsos
tried to rush' us on our front with nine
xeparate counterattacks. Only one of
them got up close to us, snd we went
out and stopped that with the bayonet.
Hehlnd our bloCk barricade there waa
the nearest approach to an actual fight
ing hell that I had seen.
Aud yet a man who wan In the midst
of It from beginning to end came out
without a scfgtch. Ho wan a tall chap
named Hunter. For twenty-four hours,
without Interruption, be threw Ueriuan
"eggshell" bombs from a |>oaltloi? at
tho center of our barricade. He never
Stopped except to light a cigarette or
yell for some one to bring him more
bombs from Fritas's captured store- 1
house, lie projected a regular curtain
of Are of his own. I've no doubt the
Oermans reported he was a couple of
platoons, Working In alternato reliefs.
Ifo was awarded tho D. C. M. for his
services In that tight, and, though, as
I said, he was unwounded, half the !
men around him were killed, and his j
nerves finished In such condition that j
he had to be sent back to Bngland.
The Big Blunder snd What It Coat. j
One of the great tragedies of the war !
resulted from a bit of carelessness
when a couple of days later the effort !
was made to extend our grip beyond
the spot which we took In that, first,
fight. Plans had been made for the |
Forty-fourth battalion of tho Tenth |
Canadian brigade to take by assault
the trench section extending to the
right from tho point where we had es
tablished the "block" on our*flank, The
hour for the attack had been fixed.
Then headquarters bent out a counter
manding order. Something wasn't
qulto ready.
The orders were sent by runners, as
all confidential orders must be. Tele
phones are of no avail any more, as
both our people and the Germans have
an apparatus which needs only to be
attached to a metal spike In tho ground
to 'pick up" every telephone message
within a radius of three miles. When
telephones are used for anything Im
portant messages are sent In code.
But for any vitally Important commu
nication which might cost serious j
losses, If misunderstood, old style run- j
ners are used, just ns they were in the'
days when the field telephone was tin- ;
heard of. It Is the rule to dispatch two
or three runners by different routes so
that one at least will be certain to nr
rive. In the case of the countermand
ing of the order for the Forty-fourth
battalion to assault the German posi
tion on our flank some officer at head
quarters thought that one messenger
to the lieutenant colonel commanding
the Forty-fourth would be sufficient. I
The messenger was killed by a chance
shot, and his message was undelivered,
Tbo Forty- fourth, In Ignorance of the
change of plan, "wont over." There
was no barrage fire to protect them,
and their valiant effort was simply a
wholesale suicide. Six hundred of
*00 men were on the ground In two
and a half minutes. The battalion was
simply wiped out. Several officers
were court martlaled as n result of
this (crrlble blunder.
Wo had gone Into tho German
trenches at a little after noon on-'Sat
urday. On Sunday night at about 10
o'clock we were relieved. The relief
force had to come in overland, and
they had a good many casualties en
route. They found us as comfortable
as bugs In a rug except for the Infer
nal and continuous bombing at our
flank barricade. Tho Germans had
concluded that It was useless to try to
drive us out. About one-fourth of the
iwm) of ns who were still on their feet
were holding the sentry posts, and the
remainder of the (100 wore havlntr
banquets In the German dugouts, which
were stocked up like delicatessen shops
' with sausages, fine canned foods, chain
patfiio and beer. If we had only had
a few ladles with us we could have
had a rial party.
T trot so happily interested In the
spread In our particular dugout that 1
! forgot about my wound until some imo
reminded me that orders required me
to hunt up :> dressing station and
? an antitetanus Injection. The Tom
! inics ltko to hike a ("Jernmn trench. be
I caiiso If the Prifres have to move
quickly, as they usually d<>. we always
? tlnd sausage, beer and ehampagne, a
w?*i?*ome qhnnge from bully beef. I
could never learn to like ?h<?ir bnv i
hiuvincr,
Afli-r thN fiirht I was- wit!
o:i,i-r slightly wounded men. f? ?r >i
w "s at the casualty station :::
Cnrray. T n-Joined my ba'miinn
?he i nd ef l tn? week. From Oct. .1 t
Nov. is we \\?re in nnd out of the
front tren< hes v ral times fi>r da!\
tours of fortyw :_'hf hours each, but
were in no important action. At <>:lo
the morning of Nov. IS, n?hlt
ter cold day. we "went over" to take
the Desire and also the Desire support
trenches. These were the names given
these trenched We started from the
left of our oM position, and our ad
i vance wns between Tbiepval and i
Porien s. opposite Orondecourt.
j There was the nsuat artillery prep- ;
aration and careful organization for
the attack. I was ngnln In charge of
the 4,mo7?plng up" wave, numbering
200 men nnd consisting mostly of
bombers. It may seem strange to yon
sometime* lu this war private# have,
been In charge of <vmpanle? number
In# 280 n?eo. Mid I know of. a caae
wliertj a Ignce corporal W|i temporarl
ly In command oi an entire battalion.
It happened oQ this day thak wbUa 1
wan tn charge of the aecoud wave, I
did not go over with them. At the last
moment I wdu g Iveu a special duty by
Major John Lewla, formerly manag
ing editor of the Montreal Star and
one of the bravest soldier* I ever j
knew, a* well aa tho beat beloved iuuu i
In our battalion.
The Troubleee*f*e Maohlne Qun.
"McCHutock," aald he, MI don't wish
to aend you to any special hazard, and,
ao far aa that goea, we're all going to
get more or less of a dusting1, but 1
want to put that machine gun which
haa been giving na ao much trouble
out of action."
I knew very well the machine gun
he meant. It waa In a concrete em
placement, walled and roofed, and the
devlla In charge of It aeemed to be de
scendants of William Tell And the
prophet iNnltih. They always know
what wuh coming and had their mud
accurately trained on It before It came.
"If you are willing." Mid Major
Lewis, "I wish you to select twenty
tlve from tho company and go after
that gun the mlnuto the order comes
to advance. Use your own Judgment
ubout the inen and the plan for taking
the gun position. Will you go?"
"I sure will," I answered. "I'll go
and pick out the men right away. I
think we can mako thoae fellows shut
up shop over there." ,
"Good boy !" he said. "You'll try, all
right."
I started away. He called me back.
"Thts ts going to be a bit hot, Mc
Olintock," he said, taking my hand.
"I wish you luck, old fellow ? you and
the ,rest of them," In the trenches
they always wish yon the best of luck
when they hand you a particularly
tough Job.
I thanked him and wished him the
same. I never saw him again. He
was killed In action wlthlh two hours
"This Is Going to Be a Bit Hot, Mc
Cllntock."
after our conversation. Both he and
uiy pal McFarland were shot down
(lend that morning.
When they called for volunteers to
go with me In discharge of Major Lew
is' order the entire company resuonded.
I picked out twenty-five men, twelve
bayonet men and thirteen bombers.
They agreed to my plan, which was
to get within twenty-five yards of the
gun emplacement before attacking, to
place no dependence on rifle fire, but
to bomb them out and take the posi
tlou with the bayonet. We followed
that plan and took the emplacement
quicker thnn we had expected to do,
but there wer^ only two of us left
when we got there ? Private Godsall, '
No. 177,003, and myself. A1J the rest
of the twenty-five were dead or down, i
The emplacement was held by eleven
Germans. Two only were left stand- :
Ing when we got in.
When we saw the gun had been si- '
lenced and the crew disabled Godsall
and I worked round to the riulit about
ten yards from the shell hole where
we had sheltered ourselves while
throwing bombs Into the emplacement
and scaled the German parapet. We
rushed the gun position. Thf officer
who had been In charge was standing
with his back to us, firing with his re
volver down the trench at out* men
who were coming over at another
point. I reached him before Godsall
? and bayoneted him. The other Ger
man -who had survived our bombing
threw up his hands and mouthed the
Teutonic slogan of surrender ? "Mercy,
kamerad !'* My bayonet bad broken'*
*>fi" in the encounter with the German
ofileer, so I pi ck CM#L?an?^1fi0f:
with a bayonet tewtfrf! arttf*
1 worked on down the trench.
The German who had surrendered
>t<-.od with his hands held hiirh above
I < bead, waiting for us to 'ell him
wb?t to do. lie never took his eyes
i of us even to look at hi** < :Mcer. ly
!r.^' at bis feet- As we mo\ ? d down
' .:?? trench he followed us, <- * i 1 1 hold- j
! ?*- b's hands up and repeating "Mercy, :
k nni-rad!" At the next trexi. h aiigle ?
we took five more prisoners, and ns ;
G(*d?Mtl bad been slightly wounded In ;
the arm I turned the captives over to
him and ordered him to take them to J
the rear, Just then the men of our
second wave came over the parapet
like a lot of hurdlers. In five minutes
we hnd taken the rest of the Germans
in the trench section prisoners, had re
versed the fire steps and had turned
their own machine gnn against those ;
of their retreating companies that we
could catch sight of.
As we could do nothing more here*
I gave orders to Advance and re-ea*
*?? *? Oat w t?*
'mmm a n?idSrow?i with *e? hoiej
,535BM; W| buratln# abeUa. Not
? nma heaitated. Wt went wiuulug.
That wm ill wt kofir or cared to
know. We wanted to make It a cer
tainty for ear fellow who bad gone
the tiermen reserve treuel! I """ j0!'1
of our men. apparently unwounded, ,\y
l?g in ? shell hole. I "topped to ask
them what they were doing there. An
t spoke I neld my German r'"? ?"'!
bayonet at the position of "guard, the
tip of the bayonet advanced, about
XuHl,v high. I didn't ]
swer, for before they could reply 1
felt a sensation as If some one tu
thrown a lump of hard clay ?ud struck
,ne on the hip, and forthwith I turn
bled In on top of the four a mo"
plunging my bayonet Into one of them,
a private named Williams.
McCllntock Badly Wounded.
??Well, now you know what s th
,?atter with us," said Williams. "We
didn't fall In, but we crawled in.
They had all been slightly wounded,
I had twenty-two pieces of shrapnel
and some shell fragments imbedded lu
mv left leg between the hip and the
knee. I followed the usual custom o
the soldier who has "got It." The first
thing I did was to light a "fag (clga
rette), and the next thing was to In
vestlgate, and determine If I was In
danger of bleeding to death. There
wasn't much doubt about that. Ar
terial blood was spurting from two o
the ...wounds, which were revealed
when the other men in the hole helped
me to cut off my breeches. With their
aid I managed to stop the hemorrhage
by improvising tourniquets with raga
and bayonets. One I placed as high
up as possible on the thigh and the
other Just below the knee. Then we
all smoked another "fag" and lay there
listening to the big shells going over
and the shrapnel bursting near us. It
was quite a concert too. We discussed
what we ought to do, 'and finally 1
said:
"Here, you fellows can walk, and 1
can't. Furthermore, you're not able to
rarry me because you've got about all
any of you can do to navigate alone,
it. doesn't look as if it's going to be
any better here very soon. You all
proceed to the rear, and If you can get
some one to come after me 1 11 be
obliged to you." j
They accepted the proposition be
cause it was good advice, and, besides,
It was orders. I was their superior
officer. / And what happened right
after that confirmed me forever In my
early, Kentucky-bred conviction that
there Is ft great deal In luck. They
couldn't have traveled more than fifty
yards from the shell hole when the
shriek of a high explosive seemed to
come right down out of the sky into
iny ears, and the detonation which in'
stantly followed shook tli6 slanting
aides of the shell hole until dirt In lit- j
tie dusty rivulets came trickling down ,
upon me. Wounded as I was, I drag
ged myself up to the edge of tho hole. I
There was no trace anywhere of the J
four men who had Just left me. They j
have never been heard of since. Their >
bodies were never found. The big
shell must have fallen right among j
them and simply blown them to bits. (
It was about a quarter to seven in the j
morning whon I was hit. I lay In the ^
shell hole until two In the afternoon, j
sufTerlng inoro from thirst and cold and .
hunger thah from pain. I only hoped ;
the Germans wouldn't drive our men
back over me. At two o'clock a batch of ;
sixty prisoners came along under es- j
cort. They were being taken to the
"MR* jfiuUr 'fire.' The artillery bora- 1
. f??r<hhe!it was still practically undl- j
mlnlsh^d. I asked for four of the
prisoners and made one of them get }
out his rubber ground sheet, carried
around his waist. Th*?y responded j
willingly and seemrd most ready to;
help me. I had a revolTor (<ffhpty) and
some bombs in my pockets, but I had j
no need to threaten them. They half
dragged me toward the roar..
Carried to the Rear. ^
It was a. trip which was not without
incident. Every now and then we
would hear the shriek of tin approach
ing '*coal box." and then my prisoner
stretcher bearers and I would tumble In
one Indiscriminate group Into the near
est shell hole. If we did that once we
did it a half dofcen times. After each
dire the four would patiently reorgan
ise and arrange the improvised stretch
er again, and we would proceed. Fol
lowing every tumble, however, I would
have to tighten my tourniquets, and,
P (Continued on Last Page)
eti In two place* wh?a
an lcjr taut Tin
! ombrmeeii lz *
stttloiw reppe^ent^ *SSJJ'
<*tt wow?/' S5SJP*
of tm
. . i h * fW *
Enterprise Building & Loan Stod
Will be U?ued January 1, 1918.
Subscription* received now by calling^
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?Vv
Conserve Your
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i
m
By Coming to This Store to Buy Y,
Christmas Gifts
At this time it is necessary that all of us use jt
ment in the buying of Christmas Gifts, and you .cam*
find anywhere a more complete line than we are ghoi
ing this season, and at prices that will please.
gifts For young and 01
You can , find practically anything you want in on
showing of holidays goods. Gifts for any member .<
the family ? young and old, and we invite you to
and inspect them whether you intend to buy or not
ZEMP & DePAi
10
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138
Christmas Caiii
A complete line of the famous Peter Kern's Che
lates and Bon Bons will be found at this store. The
is no better candv made, and we want to supply
for Christmas.
Also a large assortment of cigars, tobacco and cigar
ettes. v
G. W.
Help the Operators Serve
You Better
lelephone subscribers are urged t6 c^l br
number and not by name. In a community
of this size the operators cannot possibly re
member the names of all subscribers; when
you call by name you delay yptir^ service and
hamper its efficiency.
All telephones are known to the operators:
by numbers which are on the switchboard di
rectly in front of them. The directory is your -
index to the switchboard and should be conv.
suited before making a call.
Call by number and help the operator
serve you better.
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AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY
J. A. HOUGH , MANAGER.