The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-03-25
NO SHOTS TO KILL
Phil RAIDER Tells of New Years
i'm Trenches.
Most Terrific CannOnading i'm
the Entire War.
NOT ONE MAN WAS INJURED
Neither Germans nor Allies In
tended to Do Harm.
Drank Champagne
From German Helmet.
CRv Phil Rader.)

(By Phil Rader.)
written for the United Press. Copy
right, 1915, by the United Press.)
London, March New York's New
Year eve celebration was probably al
wild and as noisy as ever.
But it couldn't have been a marker
to ours in the trenches. only won
der New York didn't hear u.s.
We spent the entire day or Decem-
Der 81 in getting ready. for our mid
night celebration. We intended TO
give the Germans a fusillade that they
| wouldn't forget. During the Christ
| mas day truce we had met most OF
| the Germans in the trenches across
the way from us and they had told US
| that even then they were getting ready
| for their New Years eve celebration.
| Victor Chapman, the Harvard man
| from New York; Eugene Jacobs, the
| Pawtucket butcher. and myself talked
about the racket that would usher IN
| the New Year in New York, San
| Francisco, my home town, and Paw
! tucket and we did everything we
could to ginger up the men of a dozen
| nationa1ities who were members OF
| the foreign Legion.
| But in fact, they didn't need much
| gfngering up. There were men who
remembered New Years celebrations
| in Athens, Lisbon, Madrid, and in fact
every capital of the world, SO our
| any stint of labor or expense in our
| "sunken city,
American SkyrOcketS.
By evening we had a huge pile of
white night lights ready to flre. IheS
were American-made, just ordinary
skyrockets. Each man had 100 extra
| cartridges and there were piles or
cartridges ready beside our four ma
chine guns. Our artillery far neh1na
our lines, was also prepared, though
we did not know it until later. And
all along the French trench, that
stretched the ESQ miles from the north
sea almost to Switzerland, everything
that could shoot was ready. France
was going to show the Germans how
to usher in the New Year. But before
the racket, we in our trench were to
have a big holiday dinner. We had
planned to have the entire machine
gun squad of 16 men at the dinner,
| but there were only IL, because four
had been killed during the week after
Christmas.
Helmet Filled With Punch.
| The first surprise of the dinner
| came when Sikorsky, Polish revolu-
| zionist, who belonged to our. legion,
entered the dugout carrying the beau
| tiful metal helmet of a German lieu
punch. We drank to the defeat of the
Germans from this odd punch bowl
| and then began at the chicken.
| Sikorsky was just getting up to re-
| cite a poem which he had written
about the allies when the second sur
prise of the evening came. think
| it was a surprise that ran along the
| whole $50 miles of trenches.
Germans Terrific Cannonading.
First we heard a blast of bugles
| from the German trenches.
Then there broke out the most ter
| rifle cannonading we had heard in the
entire war. Everything that the Ger
| mans had that could shoot was shoot
| yelling and whistling; bombs were
| breaking in the air; the sky was
| white with the German white lights;
| it was brighter than Broadway. Far
away cannon were booming; their
shells breaking behind our lines. I
| never. expect to hear such tumult
again. 1t was exhilarating. We ran
| for our guns, thinking it was all in
preparation for a charge. But no
charge came; no bullets flew around
us; the artillery shells fell at a safe
distance from us. After ten minutes
the noise died down and we could
hear the Germans shouting to US:
| Happy New Year,
| BY Berlin Time.
We'll celebrate in Paris next year. -
| ''How was that for noise?''
But you're wrong" we yelled back.
Its only II o'clock and you're cele-
brating an hour too early
I'VE go by Berlin time" they an
swered. And suddenly it dawned on
us that Paris time is an hour later
than German time.
Eyes, and all of France will be go
| ing by Berlin time, too,' shouted one
| German, who made all laugh. He
| talked like Lew Fields.
We waited until IL o'clock and then
had our celebration. 1t wasn't as
| noisy as the Germans, I must admit
| Our white lights weren't as bright
But our artillery fired noisy shells
and what our rifles and machine gun
| fire lacked in noise, the shells that
came from miles behind u.s. made up
| for.
Our racket lasted ten minutes. We
didn't try to kill anybody, and as far
| as we could learn, nobody in our dis
| tr1ct was wounded.
Celebrate Kaiser's Birthday.
When our noise ended, we yelled to
the Germans:
"All of Germany will be going by
French time when we get to Berlin"
Twenty-seven days later the Ger
| mans gave us another terrific cannon
aiding, but this time they were cele-
brating the kaiser's birthday and were
| shooting to kill.
| We didn't know it was the kaiser's
birthday and at midnight when many
OF our men were repairing trenches
with their heads above the walls, the
German bullets suddenly swept across
our trenches and killed IL of u.s.
HOXIE A CREAM CENTER.