The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, June 27, 1918, Page 4, Image 4
f~ SYN0PSI8.
CHAPTER I?Fired by the news of the
(linking of the Lusitania by a German
i submarine, Arthur Guy Empey, an Amerilean,
leaves his office in Jersey City and
Igoes to England where he enlists in the
! British army.
CHAPTER II?After a period of trainling,
Empey volunteers for immediate serv>'lce
and soon finds himself in rest billets
i'Somewhere in France," wnere ne nrsi
makes the acquaintance of the ever-presi?nt
"cooties."
CHAPTER III?Empey attends his first j
'church services at the front while a Geriman
Fokker circles over the congregation.
CHAPTER IV?Empey's command goes
ftnto the front-line trenches and Is under
fire for the first time.
CHAPTER V?Empey learns to adopt ;
(the motto of the Brtlsh Tommy, "If you
i are going to get it, you'll get it, so never
' worry." _ _ .. _
CHXPTER VI?Back "in rest billets, Em!pey
gets his first experience as a mess
orderly.
CHAPTER VII?Empey learns how the
'British soldiers are fed.
CHAPTER VIII?Back in the front-line
1 trench, Empey sees his first friend of the
trenches "go West."
CHAPTER IX?Empey makes his first
visit to a dugout in "Suicide Ditch."
CHAPTER X?Empey learns what constitutes
a "day's work" in the front-line ;
11?noli
CHAPTER XI?Empey goes "over
the top" for the first time in a charge
on the German trenches and is';
wounded by a bayonet thrust.
CHAPTER XII?Empey joins the!
"suicide c as the bombing squad j
is called.
CHAPTER XIII?Each Tommy
. gets an al bath.
CHAi '-_ .t XIV?Empey helps dig
an advanced trench under German
fire.
CHAPTER XV?On "listening
post" in No Man's Land.
CHAPTER XVI?Two artillerymen
"put one over" on Old Pepper,
their regimental commander.
CHAPTER XVII?Empey has narrow
escape wrhile on patrol duty in
No Man's Land.
CHAPTER XVIII?Back in rest
billets Empey writes and stages a i
farce" comedy.
CHAPTER XIX?Soldiers have i
many ways to amuse themselves while
"on their own."
Chapter XX?Empey volunteers j
for machine gun service and goes
back into the front line trenches.
CHAPTER XXI?Empty again goes j
"over the top" in a charge which j
^cost his company 17 killed and 31.
wounded.
CHAPTER XXII?Trick with a|
'machine gun silences one bothersome
Fritz.
CHAPTER XXIII?German at-!
tack preceded by gas wave, repulsed.
?CHAPTER XXIV?Empey is forced
to take part in an execution as a
member of the firing squad.
' Lloyd had gone. When the trench
\ mortars opened up, a maddening ter1
"mr seized him and he wanted to run.
? to get away from that horrible din.
< anywhere to safety. So quietly sneakI
ing around the traverse, he came to the
i entrance of a communication trench,
!and ran madly and blindly down It,
| ranning into traverses, stumbling into
| muddy holes, and falling full length j
jover trench grids.
! Groping blindly, with his arms
: stretched out in front of him, he at,
ilast came out of the trench into the
i village, or what used to be a village, !
; before the German artillery razed it
I Mixed with his fear, he had a pej
culiar sort of cunning, which whis-,
pered to him to avoid ail sentries, because
if they saw him he would be j
1 sent back to that awful destruction in
j the front line, and perhaps be killed
! or maimed. The thought made him
! shudder, the cold sweat coming out in
; beads on his face.
On his left, in the darkness, he could j
! make out the shadowy forms of trees; |
: crawling on his hands and knees, stopj
ping and crouching with fear at each
| shell-burst, he finally reached an oldj
J orchard and cowered at the base of a j
{shot-scarred apple tree.
He remained there ail night, listening
to the sound of the guns and ever
praying, praying that his useless life
would be spared.
| As dawn began to break, he could:
!'* discern little aarK oDjects proiruamg
from the ground all about him. Curiosity
mastered his fear and he crawled
to one of the objects, and there, in the
\ [uncertain light, he read on a little,
'wooden cross:
! "Pte. H. S. Wheaton, No. 1670, 1st;
(London Regt. R. F. Killed in action,;
| April 25, 1916. R. L P." (Rest In (
{Peace).
| When it dawned on him that he had j
; been hiding all night in a cemetery (
[ his reason seemed to leave him, and a
) mad desire to be free from it all made
| him rush madly away, falling over liti
tie wooden crosses, smashing some and
masfy&ossxuiBS
OUSTED StlfBI
Jggggggg
Buy Them And
Help Win The War
? hi i
mi'MM 50LWER
0 WENT * WiJYDfEY
Z <JINfiER,MG ffl FRANCE
i ?1917 BY
ARTHUR tuYPtpgY
trampling otners under nis reet.
In his flight he came to an old
French dugout, half caved in and partially
filled with slimy and filthy water.
like a fox being chased by th*
hounds, he ducked into this hole, and
threw himself on a pile of old empty
sandbags, wet and mildewed. Then?
unconsciousness.
On the next day, he came to; far
distant voices sounded in his ears.
Opening his eyes, in the entrance of
the dugout he saw a corporal and two
men with fixed bayonets.
The corporal was addressing him:
"Get up, you white-livered blighter!
Curse you and the day you ever joined
D company, spoiling their fine record!
It'll be you up against the wall,
and a good job too. Get hold of him,
men, and if he makes a break, give him
the bayonet, and send it home, the cowardly
sneak. Come on, you, move,
we've been looking for you long
enough."
Lloyd, trembling and weakened by
his long fast, tottered out. assisted by
a soldier on each side of him.
They took him before the captain,
but could get nothing out of him but;
"For God's sake, sir, don't have me
shot, don't have me shot!"
The captain, utterly disgusted with
him, sent him under escort to division
headquarters for trial by court-martial.
charged with desertion under fire.
They shoot deserters in France.
During his trial, Lloyd sat as one
dazed, and could put nothing forward
in his defense, only an occasional
"Don't have me shot!"
His sentence was passed: "To be
shot at 3:38 o'clock in the morning of
May 18, 1916." This meant that he
had only one more day to live.
He did not realize the awfulness of
his sentence; his brain seemed paralyzed.
He knew nothing of his trip,
under guard, in a motor lorry to the
sandbagged guardroom in the village,
where he was dumped on the floor and
left, while a sentry with a fixed bayonet
paced up and down in front of the
entrance.
Bully beef, water and biscuits were
left beside him for his supper.
The sentry, seeing that he ate nothing,
came inside and shook him by the
shoulder, saying in a kind voice:
"Cheero, laddie, better eat something.
You'll feel better. Don't give
up hope. You'll be pardoned before
morning. I know the way they run
these things. They're only trying to
scare you, that's all. Come now, that's
a good lad, eat something. It'll make
the world look different to you."
The good-hearted sentry knew he
was lying about the pardon. He knew
nothing short of a miracle could save
the poor lad.
Lloyd listened eagerly to his sentry's
words, and believed them. A look of
hope came into his eyes, and he ravenously
ate the meal beside him.
In about an hour's time, the chaplain
came to see him, but Lloyd would
have none of him. He wanted no parson
; he was to be pardoned.
The artillery behind the lines suddenly
opened up with everything they
had. An intense bombardment of the
enemy's lines had commenced. The
roar of the guns was deafening.
Lloyd's fears came back with a rush,
and he cowered on the earthen floor
with his hands over his face.
The sentry, seeing his position, came
in and tried to cheer him by talking to
him:
"Never mind them guns, boy, they
won't hurt you. They are ours. We
are giving the Boches a dose of their
own medicine. Our boys are going over
the top at dawa of the morning to take
their trenches. We'll give 'em a taste
of cold steel with their sausages and
beer. You just sit tight now until they
relieve you. I'll have to go now, lad,
as it's nearly time for my relief, and I
don't want them to see me a-talkin*
with you. So long, laddie, cheero."
With this, the sentry resumed the
pacing of his post. In about ten minutes'
time he was relieved, and e D
company man took his place.
Looking into the guardhouse, the
sentry noticed the cowering attitude of
Lloyd, and, with a sneer, said to him:
"Instead of whimpering in that corner,
you ought to be saying your prayers.
It's bally conscripts like you
what's spollin' our record. We've been
out her* nigh onto eighteen months,
and you're the first man to desert his
post. The whole battalion is laughia*
aod poklr/ fun at D company, bad
luck io yoc! but you won't get another
chance to disgrace us. They'll put
your lighto out in the mornin'."
After listening to this tirade, Lloyd.
In a faltering voice, asked: "They are
not going to shoot me, are they? Why,
the other sentry said they'd pardon
me. For God's sake?don't tell me I'm
to be shot I" and his voice died away in
a sob.
"Of course, they're going to shoot
you. The other sentry was jest a-ktd
I
uin you. jest use oia smitn. Always ,
a-tryin' to cheer some one. You ain't ,
got no more chance o' bein' pardoned ,
than I have of gettin' to be colonel of (
my 'batt.'" <
When the fact that all hope was <
gone finally entered Lloyd's brain, a ]
calm seemed to settle over him, and j
rising to his knees, with his arms i
etretched out to heaven, he prayed, and j
all of his soul entered into the prayer, j
"O, good and merciful God, give me j
strength to die like a man! Deliver i
me from this coward's death. Give me i
a chance to die like my mates in the :
fighting line, to die fighting for my ;
country. I ask this of thee." j ]
A peace, hitherto unknown, came to 1
Bi I
i
j
i J
I (
He Betrayed His Country. 1
??, _nd no croucnea &nu tunncu uv
more, but calmly waited the dawn, 1
ready to go to his death. The sheila
were bursting all around the guardroom,
but he hardly noticed them. 5
While waiting there, the voice of the
sentry, singing in a low tone, came to 1
him. He was singing the chorus of the
popular trench ditty:
I want to go home, I want to go home.
I don't want to go to the trenches no
more.
Where the "whizzbangs" and "sausages"
roar galore.
Tajce me over the sea, where the Allemand i
can't get at me.
Oh, my, I don't want to die! I want to go
home.
Lloyd listens to the words with a
strange interest, and wondered what
kind of a home he would go to across ;
the Great Divide. It would be the only .
home he had ever known.
Suddenly there came a great rushing
through the air, a blinding, a deafen- <
ing report, and the sandbag walls of |
the guardroom toppled over, and then
?blackness. <
When Lloyd recovered conscious- 1
ness, he was lying on his right side,
facing what used to be the entrance of j
the guardroom. Now, it was only a
jumble of rent and torn sandbags. His
head seemed bursting. He slowly rose *
nr, Ho oIKmv on/9 fr fVio on et tho
Uli *ilO uxuv>? , auu v* ?u vuv vumv vmv 1
dawn was breaking. But what was
that mangled shape lying over there
among the sandhags? Slowly dragging (
himself to it, he saw the body of the
sentry. One look was enough to know ,
that he was dead. The soldier's head
was missing. The sentry had had his j
wish gratified. He had "gone home." !.
He was safe at last from the "whizz? | <
bangs" and the Allemand. ! i
Like a flash it came to Lloyd that he <
was free. Free to go "over the top" i J
with his company. Free to die like a
\W isiiiiiil
W iliJltiillillll ^
; I i > tiii1'!' ;::r ni""'1- ? . A
1mm* ' ' ' -1
I
erne joncon ngnung ror ms Kirrg ami 1
country. A great gladness and warmth
^me over him. Carefully stepping
Dver the body of the sentry, he started I
an a mad race down the ruined street '
af the village, amid the bursting shells, I
minding them not, dodging through or ;
around hurrying platoons on their way j
to also go "over the top." Coming to
a communication trench he could not !
?et through. It was blocked with laugh- i
[ng, cheering and cursing soldiers.
Climbing out of the trench, he ran i
wildly along the top, never heeding the
rain of machine-gun bullets and shells,
not even hearing the shouts of the officers,
telling him to get back into the !
trench. He was going to join his company
who were in the front line. He
was going to fight with them. He, the
despised coward, Had come Into his ;
own.
While he was racing along, jumping
over trenches crowded with soldiers, a '
ringing cheer broke out all along the
front Hne, and his heart sank. He ?
knew he was too late. His company
had gone over. But still he ran madly, j
He would catch them. He wuuld die j
with them.
Meanwhile his company had gone
"over." They, with the other com-1
panies had taken the first and second
German trenches, and had pushed
steadily on to the third line. D com*
pany, led by their captain, the one who
had sent Lloyd to division head^uar-1
ters for trial, charged with desertion,;
had pushed steadily forward until they |
found themselves far in advance of
the rest of the attacking force. "Bombing
out" trench after trench, and using |
their bayonets, they came to a German i
communication trench, which ended in j
n Klln/^fnn nnd flinn fSo zionfoin o r-t r? _
a uuuuoap, auu iucu i.ub v?^iuiut auu ; ?
what was left of his men, knew they
were in a trap. They would not retire.
D company never retired, and!
they were D company. Right in front
of them they could see hundreds of
Germans preparing to rush them with
bomb and bayonet. They would have j
some chance if ammunition and bombs
could reach them from the rear. Their ?
supply was exhausted, and the men
realized it would be a case of dying
as bravely as possible, or making a run
for it. But D company would not!
run. It was against their traditions ,
and principles.
The Germans would have to advance !
across an open space of three to four !
hundred yards before they could get
within bombing distance of the trench,
and then it would be all their own way. i
Turning to his company, the captain j
said:
(To be continued next week)
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