The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, October 20, 1917, Image 2
?UHOIANT MoCLINTOCK.
No. 3. ^vertheTop
andfiive'EmBelir
By Serfesat Alexander McCllntock,
D. C. at, 87th Overseas Batt.,
Canadian Oreo. Guards.
Copyright. 1917. by the Dell Syn?
dicate, Inc.
H>rgeant McCUnto* k, ir/io has seen
?eri'Ire in France, naif thcomtcd for
brn>cry, uaumlcl, inAilhled home and
is now endeavoring to pet a commission
11 < nr army. A commimion in the Ca?
nadian army atrai*a him if he returns
to join hia old command. In tho first
and second articles he graphically (ft*
ecribrs his training, his trip to France
and the itt preparations made
for i bomb raid on the German trench .?.
AS we climl>ed out of the shelter
"f our trenches for iny tlrst?aud,
I ? i liaps, my last, I thought?ad?
venture in No Man's I^and the word
Was passed .
"< \er tho top and give 'em hell:"
That Is the Hrltlsh Tommies* battle
cry as they c linr^e the enemy, and It
has often sounded up and down those
loaf Hues iu western Frame as the
1'iit sli, Canadian and Australian sol
diem go out to the tight aud the death.
w ? wen MM inr.> si\ pai Ii?"< of
ten men. each party having separate
dutM to perform. We crmuhed for?
ward, moving slowly in slmrle tile,
stumbling into shell boles and over
dead men?some very |sjjsj dead?and
managlug to keep in toueh with each
"C*er th? top and give 'em h?ll!"
other latoogtj the machine gin bullet i
began to * 11? *; i.. ? n a I moat imiuMlintc
ly. On.,, ur \\<ie sfarfe-l We Were
Hehler jeajfaj in r rattled. We had
Wen drilled so h ug and so carefully
that each man knew just what be \mm
to do, uml be kept right ou doing It
unless he got hit. To me it seemed
the ground was nue lug hack under
Die Tie tp-t ten >ards were tho
toughest. The thing was perfectly ot
gnnl/. ?1 Our llrst party of ten win
eompo^td of si-nalers. They were pay?
ing out wire* ami carrying telephones
to Ik* u>ed darin.: the Ikftecu minutes
of our stay In the (ierinan tum he*
In eo nmniilejit'ug with our battalion
hetubjuatt? ? n. A telephone code had
?aejg ,.i gatai Ihe eaaaei ?-f mir
conimandini; oftVers as syminds. "Hex
foi l l" meant "First prisoners Irehig
sent back;" "Itcxford V.'' meaut "Our
first w ?umlcd being fent over;" "llex
f ?r l 3" meant "We have entered Oer
tuun I task h."' The pods was rarsr eoaa
plete. and the siu'nalcts bad been drill?
ed In It for a week. In case the tele
phone wiics weir ?uf. the signalers
Were to send m??ssaKes back by tile
ase of rifle grenade**. These are rltlc
pr??j? I leg which carry little nictai
fyttnden to contain written sseeaasjei
and \\ liich burst bit ? tlnin * w hen the\
stnki the earth, so that they tag be
ee>lly f und ut night. The OtBcef In
cliar^o of the si rnalers was to remain
at tli' i-oint of entrance, with his c.tes
on h!s watcb. It was bis duty to sound
a Warning ?Ignal five minutes before
the end of our time in tho (ierinan
tren? bes.
The leader of every pnrty of ten a No
had a whNtlc with which to re,II at
the warning aaaat and thoal tin- MN?
blas? wli.'u ea? h man was to d.o,?
ever> thing and get back of our artil?
lery fire. We were not to leave any
deud or wounded In tin- Oermun In m h
em a'- onnf of the Information which
the Ocrmans might thus obtain. Be
fore starting on the raid we had re
nioved ?II markt from our pggasjra*. In
cludMnf even our Identification dl'+ks.
Ktrcp* f<?r the signalers, ea< h party of
ten ass similarly organised. First,
there were two bayonet men. ea< !i
with an ele tri?- t'Hshlkht attic lied to
his rifle, so ss to give light for the dl
TR THERE
Thrill and the Hell of
i Trenches, Described
y an American Boy.
pant Alexander McClintock of Lex
Ky , and the Canadian Army Has
ig Tale That Every American Will
For He Tells the Facts?Unadorn
rounded, a Distinguished Conduot
Man, He Was Invalided Home,
Going "Out There" Again to Fight
tele Spm and His Allies. An In
, Interesting, Personal Narrative,
the Spirit and Atmosphere of the
cs.
ro? tlon of a bayonet thrust and con
tfolled by a button at the left hand
grasp of the rltle. Resides h's rifle, all
of these men carried six or right Mills
No. I hand grenades, weighing from a
pound and (Ivo ounces to a pound and
?freu onnces each.
The Lineup.
They are the same shape as a turkey
egg and a little larger. Upon with?
drawing the tiring pin a lever sets a
four second fuse going. One of those
grenades will clean out anything liv?
ing In a ten foot trench section. It
will also kill the man who Is throwing
It If ho holds It more than four sec?
onds after he has pulled the pin. The
third man of each ten was on expert
bomb thrower, equipped ns lightly as
psjsjsJbtj to give him freedom of ac?
tion. He carried a few bombs himself, j
but the main supply was carried by
tho fourth man, who was not to throw !
any unless the th'rd man became a
casualty, in which case No. 4 was to
take his place. The third man also
carried a knob kerrie. a heavy bludgeon
to be used In whacking an enemy over
the head. Ours were made by fasten?
ing heavy steel nuts on a stout stick
of wood, a very juslnessllke contri?
vance. The fourth man, or bomb enr
r;'T. besides having a large supply of
Mills grenades, had smoko bombs, to
l>e uscc\ in smoking tho Germans out
of dugotltl and later, if necessary. In
covering our retreat, and also fumife
bombs. The latter are very dangerous i
to bundle. They contain a mixture of j
petrol and phosphorous aid weigh
three pounds each. On exploding they
release a liquid Are which will burn
through steel.
The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth
In line were called utility men. They j
were to take the places of any of the i
first four who might becomo casual-1
ties. In addition they carried two
Stokes gun bombs each. These weigh
nine ]>oimds apiece, have six second
fuses snd csn be used in wrecking
dugouts. The ninth and tenth men
were sappers, carrying slabs of gun
cotton and several hundred yards of
instantaneous fuse. This explosive Is
used In demolishing machine gun em
plueoincnts and mine saps. The sap
ptn were to lay their charges while
wo wen? at work in the trenches and
explode them ns soon as our party was
far enough out on the return Journey
to be safe from this danger. In addi?
tion to these parties of ton there were
three of us who carried bombs and had
Ofden to keep near the three officers,
to take the place of any one of them
that might go down and meanwhile to
net our own judgment about helping
the Jolly old party along. I was as
signed one of the three.
In addition to the raiding party
proper there Wal I relay cull aCTOOl
JCo Mum s Land at ten paces Interval,
making ? chain to show us our way
back, to nssl<t the wounded and. In
case of opportunity or necessity, to re
enforce us. They were ordered not to
leave their positions when we began
to come back until the last man of our
party had beta accounted for. The
final section of our entourage was com?
posed of twelve stretcher bearers, who
had been specially trained with us, so
that they would be familiar with the
treu? h so? tlon which we were to raid.
The Raid and Its Result.
There were two things which made
it possible for our raiding party to gel
st?rt?sl across No Man's Land. One |
was tho momentary quickening of the
blood whirl follows u big and unac?
customed doM Of rum. and the OthOf
Ws Were Crawling About on All Fourt.
irai ? sort of ?nbconseioni, mechanical
COOfldetl I In our undertaking, which
Uns a result of the scores of times we
had gone through every prearranged
tnoNcmcnt in our practice duplicate
German trenches behind our lines.
Without either of those Infhteii es wo
?Imply could not have left the shelter
and fa- ed u hat w as I efofO III
An intensified bombardment from
Ott guns began Just as s. on jis we
hud i limbed "OVCf the lOpH Rltd Weft
lining "i? fOf the Joltruoj iCIOaaV "Uli
ing ui/' is not jhiat ?'. sulii bio term.
We were crawling tit tout oil all fouri
Just far enough out in No Man s Land
to be under the edge <?r tho Qerman
shell lire and taking what shelter we
could in shell holes while our leaders
picked the way to start across. The
extra heavy bombardment had warned
the Germans that something was about
to happou. They sent tip star shells
and "S O S" signals until there was
a glare over the torn earth like that
which you see at the grand finish of a
rain's fireworks display, and mean?
while they sprayed No Man's Laud
with streams of machine gun lire. In
the face of that we started.
It WOUld be absurd to say that we
were not frightened. Thinking men
could not help but be afraid. If we
were pallid, Which undoubtedly we
were, the black upon our faces hid it.
but our fear struck voices were not
disguised. They trembled and our
teeth chattered.
We sneaked out single file, making
our way from shell hole to shell hole,
nearly all toe time on all fours, crawl?
ing quickly over the tint places between
this small shelter. The Germans had
not sighted us, but they were squirting
machine gun bullets all over the place
promiscuously, like a man watering a
lawn with ii garden hose, and they
were bound to get some of us. Behlud
me I beard cries of pain and groans,
but It made little impression on my
benumbed intelligence from the mere
fact that whatever had happened had
happened to one of the other sections
of ten and not to my own. It seemed,
some way or other, no affair to con?
cern me. Then a man in front of me
doubled up suddenly and rolled into a
shell hole. That simply made me re?
member very clearly that I was not
to stop on account of it. It was some
It Seemed That the Whole Earth Be?
hind Me Rosa In the Air.
one else's business to pick that man
up. Next, according to the queer psy?
chology of battle, 1 began to lose my
sensation of fear and nervousness.
After I saw a second man go down 1
gave my attention principally to a con?
sideration of the irregularities of the
German parapet ahead of us, picking
out the spot where we were to enter
the trench. It seems silly to say It,
but I seemed to get some sort of satis?
faction out of the realisation that we
had lost the percentage which we
might be expected to lose going over.
Now, it seemed, the rest of us were
safe until we should reach the next
phase of our undertaking. I heard di?
rections given, and I gave some my?
self. My voice was firm. It surprised
ate, and I fell almost calm. Our ar?
tillery had so torn up the German barb
Wire that it gave us no trouble at all.
We walked through it with only a few
scratches. When WO reached tho low.
sandbag parapet of the enemy trench
we tossed in a few bombs and follow?
ed then right over as soon as they had
exploded. There wasn't a German in
sight. They were all in their dugouts.
But we knew pretty well where every
dUgOQt was located, aud we rushed for
the entrances With our bombs. Every?
thing seemed to be going just as we
hud expected it to go. Two Germans
ran plump Into me as I was rounding
a ditch angle with a bomb in my hand.
They had their hands up, and each of
them yelled:
"Mercy, kamerad!"
I passed them back, to bo sent to the
rear, and the man who received them
from me chuckled and told them to
move lively. The German trenches
were practically Just as we had ex?
pected to find them, according to our
sample. They were so nearly similar
to the duplicate section in which we
had practiced that we had no trouble
Unding our way in them. I was Just
thinking that really tho only tough
part of the job remaining would be
getting back across No Man's Land
when it seemed that the whole earth
behind me rose in the ulr. Tor a mo?
ment I was stunned and half blinded
by dirt blown Into my face. When I
was able to see 1 discovered that all
which lay behind mo was a mass of
upturned earth and rock, with here
and there n man shaking himself or
scrambling out of it or lying still.
Just two minutes after we went Into
their trench the Germans hud explod?
ed a mtno under their parapet. I have
always believed that in some way or
mother they had learned what, spot
we were to raid and had prepared for
us. Whether that's true or not, one
Illing Ii certain that mine blew our
organization, as we would say In Ken?
tucky, "plumb to h 1." And it killed,
or disabled more than half of our
party.
Orcfit Confusion.
There was much confusion among
those of us who remained on our feet.
Some one gave nn order lo retire, and
some one countermanded it. More
Nermniis came on! of their dugouts,
but Instead of surrendering as per our
orlglunl schedule I hoy Ihrew bombs
among ua. it lie amo ?pfutreiit thai
we would be killed or captured If we
stuck there and that we wouldn't get
any more prisoners. I looked at my
wrist watch and saw that there re?
mained but five minutes more of tho
time which had been allotted for our
stay in the trench, so I blew my whis?
tle and started back, I had seen Pri?
vate Green (No. 177 250) knocked down
j by a bomb in the next section, and I
I picked him up and carried bim out
over the wrecked parapet. I took shel?
ter with him in the ?rst shell hole, but
i I found that he was dead and left him
? there. A few yards farther back to?
ward our Una I found Lance Corporal
Olass In a shell hole with part of his
hip shot away. He said he thought he
j could get back if I helped him, and I
! started with him. Private Hunter,
I who had been in a neighboring shell
! hole, came to our assistance, and be
i tween us Hunter and I got Glass to
i our front trench.
We found them lining up the surviv?
ors of our party for a roll call. That
showed so many missing that Major
Lewis, formerly of the Montreal Star,
called for volunteers to go out in No
? Man's I^nnd and try to find some of
our men. Corporal Chnrleson, Privat?
Saunders and 1 went out. We brought
in^two wounded, and we saw a number
of dead, but on account of their black,
ened faces were unable to recognize
them. The scouts later brought in sev?
eral bodies.
Of the sixty odd men who bad start?
ed hi our party forty-three were found
to be casualties?killed, wounded or
missing. The missing list was the
longest. The names of those men were
! marked "m. b. k." (missing; believed
j killed) on our rolls. I have learned
I since that some few of them have been
i reported through Switzerland as pris
j oners of war in Germany, but most of
tbeui are now officially listed as dead.
All of the survivors of the raiding
party were sent twenty miles to the
rear at 7 o'clock, and the noncommis?
sioned officers were ordered to make
reports in writing concerning the en?
tire raid. I never slept more than an
hour at a time for several days and
nights. I would doze off from sheer
I exhaustion aud then suddenly mid my.
j self sitting straight up, scared half to
j death all over again.
There may be soldiers who won't
get scared when they know they are
in danger or even when people are be?
ing killed right around them, but I'm
not one of them. And I've never met
any of them yet. 1 know a boy who
won the military cross in the battle of
the Somme, and 1 saw him on his
knees before his platoon commander,
shamelessly crying be was a coward
and begging to be left behind, Just
when the order to advance was given.
In this war in every offensive, big
or small, the man who bas been train?
ed to throw a bomb thirty yards is
busier and more Important than the
fellow with the modern rifle, which
will shoot a mile and a half and make
a bole through a house. In a good
many surprising ways this war has
carried us back to first principles. I
remember a crusader's mace which I
ouce saw in the British museum that!
would make a bang up knob kerrle,
much better than the kind with which
they arm our Xo. 4 men in a raiding
section. It had a round iron head,
with spikes all over lt. I wonder that
they haven't started a factory to turn
them out.
Tricks of Bombing.
When the Canadians first introduced
bombing the bombs were improvised
out of mess tins, the fuses were cut
according to the taste and judgment
of the individual bomber, and Just
when the bomb would explode was
more or less problematical. Frequent?
ly the Germans have tossed our bombs
back into our trenches before they
went off. That was dangerous and ir?
ritating. They can't do that with a
Mills grenade or any of the improved
factory made bombs, because the meu
know Just how they are timed and are
trained to know Just how to throw
them. Then the Germans used to
work a little bomb trick of their own.
They learned that our scouts and raid?
ers were all anxious to get a German
helmet as a souvenir. They'd put hel?
mets on the ground In No Man's Land
or In an advanced trench with bombs
under them. In several cases men
looking for souvenirs suddenly became
mere memories themselves.
In several rails when bombing was
new the Canadians worked a trick on
tho Germans with extensively fatal ef?
fect. They tossed bombs Into the
German trenches with six Inch fuses
attached. To the German! they looked
Just ilke the other bombs we had been
using, and, in fact, the.v were?all but
the fuses. Instead of having failed
to continue burning, as the Germans
thought, those fuses had never been
lighted. They were instantaneous fuses.
The ignition spark will travel through
an instantaneous fuse at the rate of
thirty yards a second. A German would
pick up one of these bombs, select the
spot where he intended to blow up a
few of us with our own ammonal and
' then light the fuse. After that there
had to be a new man in his place.
The bomb would explode instantly the
long fuse was ignited.
The next day when I got up after
this disastrous raid my bunkle said:
"Something sure raised h? with our
calculations.''
"As those automatic self cocking
revolvers did With a Kentucky wed?
ding when some one made a remark
reflecting on the bride," I replied.
The fourth article of this remarkable
personal narrative will appear soon. It
is entitled:
No. 4.?Shifted to the Somme.
?ergennl McCllntoek takes part In the
greatest <>r all battles and t.dls of the
hell ot it. "The front In Belgium was
really a rest sector In comparison with
it," Iis says, The sxtenalvs preparations
of the aili.-H for open warfare afterward
abandoned l?e< nine of the f.iiluie of e\
peated del slopinenta
Some Polities.
looking at the situation from one
standpoint, Tillman has the whiphan.1.
He ran force support of himself by
many who would much prefer that h?
shoud not he his own successor In
the United States senate. And you.'
Uncle Benjamin is not the kind of
man to overlook any I,eta when
comes to playing the game of poli?
tics. The fact can neither be denied
nor ignored that if he enters the pii
mary there are mnay thousands of
voters who will cast their ballots for
him in preference to any other candi?
date. Those of whom he is the first
j choice are not a majority of the voters
jof South Carolina, but the probabil
t Ity is that they are a majority of those
I who want Blease defeated at any
I cost. At any rate, they are so large
a proportion of that latter class that
much respect must be paid to their
wishes by those who will engineer the
campaign to deefat Blease.
It is improbable, for instance, that
Lever could be induced to run for the
senate if Tillman allowed himself to
be "conscripted" to make that cam?
paign. Lever has a re.'tl regard for
Tillman. Moreover, he would have to
draw water from the same well as
Tillman, since many of his strongest
supporters are ardent admirers of the
.senior senator. There are others in
I the same boat with Le^er.
Running in a South Carolina pri
! mary is no joke. It costs considerable
! money. But, in addition, it is hard
work. To go all over this State in
summer, especially into the lower
counties, is a real task. A man has
to sacrifice his own business Interests
for months in order to make a cam?
paign. There are few politicians wil?
ling to do what Jennings and Pollock
did in 1914, make a race for certain
defeat merely to help out their own
j side. No one likes to be defeated, and
a defeat, no matter whan the circum?
stances, is a handicap of a politician's
future aspirations.
So, some candidates who could put
up a mighty good race against Blease
if Tillman were out of the running
will not be candidates If Tillman as?
serts that he has been "conscripted"
.and shies his campaign castor into
I the political ring. That's the situa?
tion?and it is giving those who are
most anxious for the defeat of Blease
a great deal of concern.
It reminds the writer of 1912.
Blese had made such an unusual gov?
ernor and a majority of the newspa?
pers had madS such a hue and cry
against his administration that there
seemed a general belief among those
opposed to him that any good man
running against him coulci defeat him.
What added strength to this feeling
was the prevalent idea among those
opposed to Blease that his election as
governor in 1910 was a political acci?
dent, due rather to a peculiar and ac?
cidental concatenation of fortuitous
circumstances than to his own inher?
ent strength among the Democratic
voters.
Late in 1912 Chief Justice Ira B.
Jones announced that he would op?
pose Blease for re-election as govern?
or. He was an early bird, but he
did not get tho worm, the proverb to
the contrary notwithstanding. Wheth?
er or not he thought he had a sure
thing of it, with an open road through
the governor's mansion to a place In
the United States senate, he pre?
empted the field by bis early an?
nouncement. There were those op?
posed to Blease who thought that a
man to run against him should have
been picked by those upon whom
would fall the burden of he fight to
elect him, but it was the talk around
Columbia at the time of the May con?
vention of 1912 that Jones would not
hear to that kind of talk but planted
himself firmly upon the position that
his priority of announcement entitled
him to a clear field so far as candi?
dates from the antt-Bleae* side was
concerned.
There were not a few who thought
that Jones was not the man to make
that race, but his insistence on stay?
ing in regardless of who else might
I run forced acceptance of situation.
jHe was accepted as the candidate of
the anti-Bleaseites and the effort
made to elect him, with what results
we all know.
If Tillman insists that there are
enough people asking him to run to
justify belief on his part that he Is
I being conscripted and announce for
re-election, he may force those op?
posed to Blease to do what they can
to clear the track for him of all can?
didates from that side of the house
And yet, judging by the utterances of
newspapers adhering to that faction,
he is not generally regarded as really
representative of it nor as the strong?
est man it can back to beat Blease
But, In the way pointed out above, he
'has the whipband and probably can
i forCS support Of his candidacy by
many who would rathe.- have another
make the raco for the senate r?s its
representative,
It is very pretty politic? and The
Piedmont, whieh is tied to neither Cue
lion, is wntchlne, developments with
1 much interest, ilreenvllle Piedmont.
GOV. MANNING ?PEAK?.
Says No Division in South Oimrtna
When it Comes to Americanism.
New York, Oct. 15.?Four govern?
ors were speakers tonight at the Gov?
ernors' conference held in connec?
tion with the Southern Commeiciai
Congress. ?iov. Manning, of South
Carolina, presided at the conference.
Which was also addressed by Gov.
Harrington, of Maryland; MillUen,
of Maine, and Edge, of New Jersey,
and John Barrett, director general of
the Pan-American Union.
G )v. Manning declared that the
South stands squarely behind the gov?
ernment in the prosecution of the mm*
and is supporting the second liberty
loan to the limit. In South Carolin i.
he said, there is no division when it
conies to real Americanism, less th in
1 per cent, of the population being
foreigners.
Gov. Milliken said in part.
"There were those who feared the
soul of America was dead, slowly
atrophied through the money grab?
bing years and then drowned utterly
beneath a flood of foreign gold. New
England's response to the world emer?
gency, serves notice on mankind that
the ancient spirit of America still
lives, that her sons are still willing to
do and dare and suffer in a righteous
cause."
Gov. Harrington declared:
"The people of Maryland are whole?
heartedly behind the president. Here?
after there must be only one kind of
Americans* from one end of America
to the other."
Modification of the former National
Guard oath of service to meet war?
time requirements for a new StUe
militia was advocated by Governor
Edge. He pointed out that if the oath
were to remain the same, every man
who enlists in the State militia would
be pledging himself to service any?
where in the United States and
abroad.
It would be difficult to get men for
the new militia under such conditions,
he said, because many branches of
the military service are far more at?
tractive than the State militia
John Barrett, director general of
the Pan-American Union declared
when the war is concluded there will
come- a realization that it has accom?
plished more than all the diplomatic
notes of a century to make the Mon?
roe Doctrine an unquestioned princi?
ple In the relationship of nations
"The new Pan-Americanism which
will follow the war," yr.id Mr. Bar?
rett, "will be so powerful in their
own inherent strength and backing
that never again can a new menace
from the old world assert itself."
Bulletin on Bermuda Grass.,
At last we have a distinct recog?
nition from the National Depart?
ment of Agriculture that Bermuda
grass is not a weed to be avoided.
Farmers' Bulletin No. 814, by Prof.
S. M. Tracy, a recognized authority
on Southern forage plants, is an ac?
curate discussion of Bermuda grass
and should be in the hands of every
Southern farmer. As Prof. Tracy says
ir. th.3 opening sentence of the bulle?
tin: "Bermuda grass is the most
common and most valuable pasture
plant In all the Southern States, being
of the same relative importance in
that region that Kentucky bluegrsss
is In more northern States."
It is still feared by many Southern
farmers, because of the misinforma?
tion which has been given out by
thoes who were unfamiliar with its
true value. There are thousands of
acres which are being washed a'ld
gullied and rendered valueless
throughout the rolling sections of the
South which Bermuda grass will
save and at the same time furnish
grazing for thousands of cattle aid
sheep.?The Progressive Farmer.
glasses perfectly. Let us work
for you.
We hare all prescriptions
on die. Broken lenses replac?
ed promptly. Graduate Opto
mStraw and Optician in charge. ;
I W. A. Thompson,!
|| JEWELER & OPTOMETRIST, ?
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