The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, July 11, 1918, Page 4, Image 4
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CHAPTER XXVI. ~ J
A!! Quiet (?) on the Western Front
At brigade headquarters I happened
to overhear a conversation between our
G. O. C. (general officer commanding)
and the divisional commander. From
this conversation I learned that we
were to bombard the* German lines for
eight days, and on the first of July the
*blg push" was to commence.
In a few days orders were Issued to
that effect, and It was common property
all along the line.
On the afternoon of the eighth day of
our "strafeing," Atwell and I were sit- j
ting in the front-line trench smoking I
fags and making out our reports of the j
previous night's tour of tfce trenches,\
which we had to turn in to headquarters
the following day, when an order
was passed down the trenclvfhat Oldj
Pepper requested twenty volunteers to j
go over on a trench raid that night to j
try and get a few Gennan prisoners for'
information purposes. I immediately
volunteered for this Job, and shook!
pBsiiaifipPP
y-/: ?y':;
Over the Top
bands with Afwell, and went to th*
rear to give my name to the officers Id
charge of the raiding party.
J I was accepted, wprse Inch.
At 9:45 that night we reported to the
brigade headquarters dugout to receive
instructions from Oid Pepj.?er.
After reaching this dugout we lined
up in a semicircle around him, and he
addressed us as follows:
"All I want yon boys to do is V* go
over to the German lines tonight, surprise
them, secure ft couple of prison- j
ers, and return immediately. Our arv
tillery has bombarded that section of
the line for two days and personally I
believe that that part of the German
trench is unoccupied, so just get a conpie
of prisoners and return as quickly
as possible."
The sergeant on my right, in an undertone,
whispered to me:
"Say, Yank, how are we going to get
a couple of prisoners if the old fool
thinks *personally that that part of the i
trench is unoccupied,'?sounds kind of
fishy, doesn't it mate?"
I had a funny sinkine sensation in |
iny stomach, and my tinhat felt as if
it weighed about a ton and my enthusi-1
asm was melting away. Old Pepper
must have heard the sergeant - speak
because he turned in his direction and
iin a thundering voice asked:
"What did you say?"
The sergeant with a scarlet look on
ibis face and his knees trembling,
smartly saluted and answered:
"Nothing, sir."
Old Pepper said:
"Well, don't say it so loudly the next
time."
Then Old Pepper continued:
"In this section of the German
i trenches there are two or three maI
chine guns which our artillery, in the
{last two or three days, has been unable
to tape. These guns command the
. {sector where two of our communica;tion
trenches join the front line, and
ias the brigade is to go over the top to!
morrow morning I want to capture two
or three men from these guns' crews,
.and fmm them I may be able to obtain
'valuable information as to the exact
I location or the grins, and our artillery
.will therefore be able to demolish them
before the attack, and thus, prevent
our losing a lot of men while using
these communication trenches to bring!
;up re-enforcements."
' These were the instructions he gave j
!ns:
; "Take off your identification disks,'
I strip your uniforms of all numerals,
; insignia, etc., leave your papers with
;your captains, because I don't want the j
'Boches to know what regiments are
against them as this would be valuable
information to them in our attack tomorrow
and I don't want any of you
ito be taken alive. What I want is two |
prisoners and if I get them I have a
iway which will make them divulge
all necessary information as to their
mm soldier
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ARTHUR CUT PtPnr
funs, iou nave your cnoice or two
weapons?you may carry your 'persuaders'
or your knuckle knfves, and
each man will arm himself with four
Mills bombs, these to be used only in
case of emergency."
A persuader is Tommy's nickname
for a club carried by the bombers. It
is about two feet long, thin at one end
and very thick at the other. The thick
end is studded with sharp steel spikes,
while through the center of the clul
there is a nine-inch lead bar, to give
It weight and balance. When you get
a prisoner all you have to do is just
stick this club up in front of him, anc
believe me, the prisoner's patriotisn
for "Deutschland ueber Alles" fades
away and he very willingly obeys the
orders of his captor. If, however, the
prisoner gets high-toned and refuses tc
follow you, simply "persuade" him by
first removing his tin hat, and then?
well, the use of the lead weight is the
persuader is demonstrated, and Tom*
my looks for another prisoner.
The knuckle knife is a dagger affair,
the blade of which is about eight
inches long With r. bpavr e+onl cnio*"*
^1
x'V.:> ' ! "\ - ! 11" * S
y;sZ& V;---: -'' '* '^1
In a Charge.
over cue grip, rnis gnara is sruaaea
with steel projections. At night in at
trench, which is only about three to
four feet wide, it makes a very handy
weapon. One punch in the face generally
shatters a man's jaw and you :
can get him with the knife as he goes i
down.
Then we had what we called our :
"come-alongs." These are strands of !
barbed wire about threg> feet. long,!
made into a noose at one end; at the j
other end, the barbs are cut off and |
Tommy slips his wrist through a locp |
to get a good grip on the wire. If t?>3
prisoner wants to argue the point, why
Just place the large, loop around his
neck and no matter if Tommy wishes
to return to his trenches at the walk, i
trot, or gallop, Fritz is perfectly agree-'
able to maintain Tommy's rate of
speed.
We were ordered to black our faces j
and hands. For this reason; At night, j
the English and Germans use what!
thoiT noli ctor ehplls. a sort of rocket
affair. They are fired from a large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
is held over the sandbag parapet of the
trench, and discharged into the air.
These star shells attain a height of
about sixty feet, and a range of from
fifty to seventy-five yards. When they j
hit the ground they explode, throwing
out a strong calcium light which lights
up the ground in a circle of a radius of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have a parachute star shell which,
after reaching a height of about sixty
feet, explodes. A parachute unfolds
and slowly floats to the ground, lighting
up a large circle in No Man's Land.
The official name of the star shell is
a "Very-light" Very-lights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
th^ trenches. If a star shell falls in
front of you, or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detection,
as the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain of light
But if it falls behind you and, as Tommy
says, 4,you get in the star shell
zone," then the fun begins; you have
to lie flat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light of
the shell dies out This takes anywhere
from forty to seventy seconds.
If you haven't time to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you were in
when the light exploded; it is advisable
not to breathe, as Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When a star
1 shell is burning in Tommy's rear he I
can hold his breath for a week.
You blacken your face and hands so
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on your pale face. In a
french raid there is quite sufficient
j reason for your face to he pale. If you
don't believe me, try it just once.
I Then another reason for blackening
I your face and hands is that, after you
i have entered the German trench at
j night. "white face" means German*
i
"biacic face" English. Coming arouna
a traverse you see a white face In
front of you. With a prayer and wish*
ing Fritz "the best o* luck," you introduce
him to your "persuader" or
knuckle knife..
A little later we arrived at the communication
trench named Whisky
street which led to the fire trench at
the point we were to go over the top
and out in front
In our rear were four stretcher bearers
and a corporal of the R. A. M. C
carrying a pouch containing medicines
and first-aid appliances. Kind of a
grim reminder to us that our expedition
was not going to be exactly a picnic.
The order of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first, with the undertakers tagging
in the rear and then the insurance
man, but in our case, the under
takers were leading, witn uie aocuim
trailing behind, minus the insurance
adjuster.
The presence of the R. A. M. C. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders, because
many a joke made in an undertone,
was passed along the winding
column, as to who would be first to
take a ride on one of the stretchers.
This was generally followed by a wish
that, if you were to be the one, the
wound would be a "cushy Blighty
one."
The stretcher bearers, no doubt,
hoping that, if they did have to carry
anyone to the rear, he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked at me
when wishing, because I could feel an
uncomfortable, boring sensation between
my shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench, about every
sixty yards or so we would pass a lonely
sentry, who in a whisper would
wish us "the best o' luck, mates." We
would blind at him under our breaths;
that Jonah phrase to us sounded very
ominous.
Without any casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch, the
$ront-line trench. Previously, a wiring
party of the Royal Engineers had cut
a lane through our barbed wire to enable
us to get out into No Man's Land.
Crawling through this lane, our
party of twenty took up an extendedorder
formation about one yard apart.
We had a tap code arranged- for our
Movements while in No Man's fcand,
because for various reasons it is not
safe to carry on a heated conversation
a few yards in front of Fritz' lines.
The officer was on the right of the
line, while I was on the extreme left.
Two taps from the right would be
passed down the line until I received
them, then I would send back one tap,
The officer, in receiving this one tap,
would knew that his order had gone
down the whole line, had been understood,
and that the party was ready
to obey the two-tap signal. Two tap#
ae&ut mat we were to crawl forward
slowly?and believe me, very slowly?
for five yards, and then halt to await
further instructions. Three taps meant,
when-you arrived within striking distance
of the German trench, rush it
and inflict as many casualties as possible,
secure a couple, of prisoners, anfi
then back to your own lines with the
speed clutch open. Four taps meant,
"I have gotten you into a position from
which it is impossible for me to extricate
you, so you are on your own."
After getting Tommy into a mess on
the western front he is generally told
that he Is "on his own." This means,
"Save-your skin in any way possible."
Sommy loves to be "on his own" behind
ie lines, but not during a trench raid.
The star shells from the German
lines were falling in front of us, therefore
we were safe. After about twenty
minutes we entered the star shell
zone. A star shell from the German
lines fell about five yards in the rear
and to the right of me; we hugged the
ground and held our breath until it
burned out. The smoke from the star
shell traveled along the ground and
crossed over the middle of our link
Some /Tommy sneezed. The smoke had
gotten up his nose. We crouched on
the ground, cursing the offender nndpr
I Cooling
Re
/
These thr
I rh
iwm
JEZL
.
Sold only
insure uni
Whol<
With ]
iBbbbii^B
)
i oar oreatn, ana waitea the volley mat f
! generally ensues when the Germans |
I have heard a noise In No Man's Land,
j Nothing happened. We received two j
| taps and crawled forward slowly for
five yards; no doubt the officer be- j
! lieved what Old Pepper had said, "Perj
sonally I believe that that part of the
; German trench is unoccupied." By bej
lng careful and remaining motionless
; when the star shells fell behind us, we j
reached the German barbed wire without
mishap. Then the fun began. I
j was scared stiff as it is ticklish work
j cutting your way through wire when
j about thirty feet in front of you there j
| is a line of Boches looking out into No
1 ? - - -f/i? i
| Man's Land witn tneir ones i>iug
across the parapet, straining every
; sense to see or hear what is going on
in No Man's Land; because at night,
j Fritz never knows when a bomb with
! his name and number on it will come
hurtling through the air aimed in the
I direction of Berlin. The man on the
right, one man in the center and myself
on the extreme left were equipped
with wire cutters. These are insulated
with soft rubber not because the Geri
man wires are charged with electricity,
|-but to prevent the cutters rubbing
against the barbed wire stakes, which
are of iron, and making a noise
which may warn tne inmates or uio
i trench that someone is getting fresh
in their front yard. There is only one
way to cut a barbed wire wilthout noise
and through costly experience Tommy
has become an expert in doing this.
, You must grasp the wire about two
; inches from the stake in your right
hand and cut between the stake and
i your hand.
If you cut a wire improperly, a
| loud twang will ring out on the night
! air like the snapping of a banjo
string.' Perhaps this noise can be
heard only for fifty or seventy-five
yards, but in Tommy's mind it makes
a loud noise in Berlin.
We had cut a lane about halfwaythrough
the wire when, dosvn the center
of our line, twang! went an improperly
cut wire. We crouched down,
Receiving First Aid.
cursing under our breath, frembling all
over, our knees lacerated from the
strands of the cut barbed wire on the
ground, waiting for a challenge and
the inevitable volley of rifle fire. Nothing
happened. I suppose the fellow
who cut the barbed wire improperly
was the one who had sneezed about
half an hour previously. What we
wished him would never make his new
year a happy one.
(To be continued next week)
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BAMBERG, S. C.
HAS GROWN
*
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