The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-07-25

4
CHASTITY forerunner of the 9Th. On
the 4th the P. P.s, after having been
under shell fire throughout the second
| battle of Ypres, the gas battle" were
ordered forward to a new line to the
southeast of Ypres. To the north of
Ypres the British line had been
driven back by the concentration of
shell fire and the rolling deadly march
of the clouds of asphyxiating gas.
| The Germans were still determined
to take the town which they had show
cred with four million dollars worth
| of shells. 1t would be big news-the
| fall of Ypres as prelude to the fall
| of Prezemysl and of Lemberg. A
! wicked salient was produced in the
British line to the southeast by the
cave in to the north. 1t seems to be
the lot Of the P. P.'s to get into salients
On the 4th they lost twenty-eight men
| killed and ninety EIGHT wounded from
, a gruelling all-day shell fire and stone
walling. That night they got relief,
| and were out for two days when they
| were back in the front trenches again.
| The 5th and the 9Th were fairly quiet,
that is, what the 2. P.'s or Mr.. Thomas
Atkins would call quiet Average NOR
| tails wouldn't They would try to ap-
pear unconcerned and say they had
been under pretty heavy fire which
| means shells all over the place and
machine guns combing the psrapet
Very dull indeed. Only three men kill
ed and seventeen wounded.
Got Down to 63S Men.
| On the night of May the P. P's
had a muster of 635 men. This was
\ good deal less than half of the orig
| inal total in the battalion including
| recruits who had come out 10 fill the
/ gaps caused by death. wounds and
! sickness Bear in mind that before
this war a force was supposed to pre-
! pare for retreat with a loss of 10 per
cent and get under way to the rear
with the loss of Is per cent. and that
! with the loss of 80 per cent. ii was
supposed to have borne all that can
| be expected of the best trained SOL
diers
| The Germans were quiet that night
i-suggestively quiet. At 4:30 the pre-
! lude began; by $40 the German gun
ners had fairly warmed to their work.
| They were using every kind of shell
| they had in the locker. Every signal
/ wire the T. P.s possessed had been
| cut. The brigade comma nder could not
know what was happening to them
/ and they could not know his wishes
except that il may be taken for grant
| ed that the orders of any British bri-
/ gade commander are always to stick
| it"
/ The shell fire was as thick at the
{ P. P.'s back as in front of them. They
! were fenced in by she'll fire. And
| they were infantry taking what the
guns gave in order to put them out of
! business, that the way would be
clear for the German infantry to
charge. In theory they ought to have
been buried and mangled beyond the
power of resistance by what is called
THE artillery preparation for the in
fantry to attack
All Knew What Was Coming
Every man of the P P's knew what
was coming. There was relief in their
hearts when they saw the Germans
break from their trenches and start
| down the slope of the hill in front
Now they could take it out of the
German infantry in payment for what
the German guns were doing to them.
This was their only thought. Being
| good shots. with the instinct of the
man who is used to shooting at game
the P. P.'s shoot to kill and at in
dividual targets. The light green of
the German uniform is more visible
on the deep green background of
spring grass and foliage than against
the tints of autumn.
At two or three or four hundred
yards neither Corporal Christy, the
oiu DedT hunter lying on the pdrdpet.
! nor other marksman of the p. P.'s.
could miss their marks. They kept on
knocking down Germans: they didn't
know that men around them were
being hit: they did not know they were
being shelled except when a burst
| shook their aim or filled their eyes
with dust. In that case they wiped
| the dust out of their eyes and went
on. The first that many of them real
cd
broken was when they saw green blots
in front of the standing figures. which
were now going in the other direction.
Then the thing was to keep as many
of these as possible from getting back
over the hill. After that they could
dress the wounded and make the dying
a little more comfortable. For there
was no getting the wounded to the
rear. They had to remain there in the
trench perhaps to be wounded again,
spectators OF their comrades valor
without the preoccupation of action.
In the official war journal where
battalion keeps its records-that
precious historical document which
will be safeguarded in freproof vaults
one of those days-you may read in
cold oficial language what happened
in one section Of the British line on
the sth of May. Thus:
Seven a. m. Fire trench on right
blown in at several points. 9 a. m.
Lieuts. Martin and Triggs were hit
and came out of left communicating
trench with number of wounded >
Capt Still and Lieut. De Bay hit also
.. $40 a. m. All machine guns
were buried (by high explosive shells)
but two were dug out and mounted
again. A shell killed every man in
one section = 1880 a. m. Lieut. Ed
wards was killed Lieut.. Craw-
ford, who was most gallant. was Sc
verely wounded Capt. Adamson,
who had been handing out ammuni-
ton, was hit in the shoulder. but con-
tinued to work with ony one arm Use
full. Sergt. Maj. Frazer. who was also
handing out ammunition to support
trenches. ives killed instantly by 4
bullet in the head"
Only Four Omcers Remained.
At 1890 only four officers remained
At for action. All were lieutenants.
The ranking one of these was Niven.
in command after Gault was killed
at q. m. We have all met the Niven
type anywhere from the Gulf of Mex
leo to the Arctice Circle. thss high
strung wfry type who moves about
too fast to carry any loose flesh. and
accumulates none, because he does
move about so fast. A little man, Nj
ven. a rancher, a horseman, with q
good education and knowledge Of men.
He rather hts the old saying about
licking his weight in wild cats-wild
cats being nearer his size than lions
or tigers.
Eight months before he had not