The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, April 25, 1918, Page 7, Image 7
| OVER THE TOP.
(Continued from page 3, column 3.")
be holding their originar position.
*T have seen an officer who wouldn't
-aay d n for a thousand quid spend
iflve mlnntes with the old boy, and
>when he returned the flow of language
jfrom his lips would make a navvy
blush for shame.
i "What I am going to tell you is how
%wo of us put it over on the old scamp,
and got away with it. It was a risky
Ithinc. too. hecanse Old PeDDer WOUl/dn't
\ " O' - ~ ? 7 - ? ?
liave been exactly mild with us if he
mad got next to the game. j
I "Me and my mate, a lad named Harjry
jCassell, a bombardier in D 238 bat- I
^:;S^fS^^^Sr|T[)JJ"" fl
One of the Big
tery, or lance corporal, as you call It
r 4n the infantry, used to relieve the
' . .telephonists. We would do two hours
on and four off. I would be on duty
in the advanced observation post,
> while he would be at the other end of
the wire in the battery dugout signaling
station. We were supposed to send
through orders for the battery to fire
when ordered to do so by the observation
officer in the advanced post. But
very few messages were sent It was
only in case of an actual attack that '
we would get a chance to earn our
two and six' a day. You see, Old Pepper
had issued orders^ not to fire exTT*V?r>r,
fhji nrHaro r>amo frnm him
And with Old' Pepper orders is orders,
and made to obey.
"The Germans most have known j
about these orders, for even in the day
their transports and troops used to
expose themselves as If they were on i
parade. This sure got up our nose, |
sitting there day after day, with fine !
targets in front of us but unable to 1
send over a shell. We heartily cussed i
Old Pepper, his orders, the govern- !
ment, the people at home, and everything
in general. But the Boches
didn't mind cussing, and got very careless.
Blime me, they were bally insulting.
Used to, when using a certain
road, throw their caps into the air as
a taunt at our helplessness.
"Cassell had been a telegrapher in
civil life and joined up when war was
s < declared. As for me, I knew Morse,
learned It at the signalers' school back
in 1910. With an officer in the observation
post, we could not carry on the
kind of conversation that's usual between
two mates, so we used the
.Morse code. To send, one of us would
tap the transmitter with his finger
* nails, and the one on the other end
would* get it through the receiver.
Many an hour was whlled away in this
manner passing compliments back and
forth.
"In the observation post the officer
used to sit for hours with a powerful
pair of field glasses to his eyes.
Through a cleverly cbncealed loophole
he would scan the ground behind the
German trenches, looking for targets
and finding many. This officer, Capf
tain A by name, had a habit of
talking out loud to himself. Sometimes
he would vent his opinion, same
as a common private does when he's
wrought up. Once upon a time the
captain had been on Old Pepper's staff,
so he could cuss and blind in the most
approved style. Got to be sort of a
habit with him.
"About six thousand yards from us,
behind the German lines, was a road
? : in plain view of our post. For the last
< 'three days Fritz had brought companies
of troops down this road in broad
daylight. They were never shelled.
Whenever this' happened the captain
would froth at the mouth and let out
Ia volume of Old Pepper's religion
|f which used to make me love him.
"Every battery has a range chart on
which distinctive landmarks are noted,
with the range for each. These land- i
f marks are called targets, and are numbered.
On our battery's chart, that j
road was called 'Target 17, Range
6000, 3 degrees 30 minutes left.' D 238 j
battery consisted of four '4.5' howitzers,
and fired a 35-pound H. E. shell.
As you know, H. E. means 'high explosive.'
I don't like bumming up my
own battery, but we had a record in
the division for direct hits, and our
boys were just pining away for a
I . chance to exhibit their skill in the
f eyes of Fritz.
"On the afternoon of the fourth day
of Fritz' contemptuous use of the road
mentioned the captain and I were at
our posts as usual. Fritz was strafeing
us pretty rough, just like he's doing
now. The shells were playing leapfrog
all through that orchard.
"I was carrrine on a conversation
in our 4tap' code with Cassell at the J
other end. It ran something like this: !
" 'Say, Cassell, how would you like !
to be in the saloon bar of the King's j
A/rms down Rye lane with a bottle 011
Bass in front of you, and that blonde
barmaid waiting to fill 'em up again?
"Cassell had a fancy for that particular
blonde. The answer came back
in the shape of a volley of cusses. I j
changed the subject.
"After a while our talk veered
round to the way the Boches had been
exposing themselves on the road down
on the chart as Target 17. What he
said about those Boches would never
liave passed the reichstag, though I
believe it would have gone through
??1
Iliii *
Guns Barking.
our censor easily enough.
"The bursting shells were making
such* a din that I packed up talking
and took^to watching the captain. He
was fide-ptiner around on an old sand
bag with the glass to his eye. Occasionally
he would let out a grunt, and
make some remark I couldn't hear on account
of the noise, but I guessed
what it was all right. Fritz was getting
fresh again on that'road.
"Cassell had been sending in the 'tap
code' to me, but I was fed up and
didn't bother with It Then he sent
O. S., and I was all attention, for this
was a call used between us which
meant that something important was
on. I was all ears in an instant Then
Cassell turned loose. 1
'"You blankety blank dud, I have
been trying to raise you for fifteen
minutes. What's the matter, are you
asleep?' (Just as if anyone could
have slept in that infernal racket!) '
'Never mind framing a nasty answer.
Just listen.'
"'Are you game for putting something
over on the Boches and Old Pepper
all in one?'
"I answered that I was game enough
when it came to putting it over the
Boches, but confessed that I had a
weakening of the spine, even at the
mention of Old Pepper's name.
"He came back with, 'It's so absurdly
easy and simple that there is no
chance of the old heathen rumbling it.
Anyway, if we're caught, I'll take the
blame.'
"Under these condition I told him to
spit out his scheme. It was so daring
and simple that it took my breath
away. This is what he proposed:
"If the Boches should use that road
again, to send by the tap system the
target and range. I had previously
told dim aoout our captain taming out
loud as if he were sending through
orders. Well, if this happened, I was
to send the dope to Cassell and he
would transmit it to the battery commander
as officially coming through
the observation post. Then the battery
would open up. Afterwards, during
the investigation, Cassell would
swear he received it direct. They
would have to relieve him, because it
was impossible from his post in the
battery dugout to know that the road
was being used at that time by the
Germans. And also it was impossible
for him to give the target," range and
degrees. You know a battery chart is
not passed around \among the men like
a newspaper from Blighty. From him
the investigation would go to the observation
post, and the observing officer
could truthfully swear that I had
not sent the message by 'phone, and
that no orders to fire had been issued
by him. The investigators would then
be up in the air, we would be safe, the
Boches would receive a good bashing,
and we would get our own back on Old
Pepper. It was too good to be true.
I gleefully fell in with the scheme,
and told Cassell I was his meat.
"Then I waited with beating heart
and watched the captain like a hawk.
"He was beginning to fidget again r
and was drumming on the sandbags
with his feet. At last, turning to me,
he said:
" t1TTilftrv? n T*mrr ic? Q hlfinVofT
>* 11SU11, lun dl iuj 10 u uiiiuuv?.t>
blank washout. What's the use of having
artillery if it is not allowed to fire?
The government at home ought to be
hanged with some of their red tape.
It's through them that we have no
shells.'
"I answered. 'Yes, sir,' and started
sending this opinion over the wire to
Cassell, but the captain interrupted
me with:
"'Keep those infernal fingers still.
What's the matter, getting the nerves?
When I'm talking to you, pay attention.'
(To be continued next week.)
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