The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1915-09-23
EARS Of THE ARMY.
Signal Corps Get Little Credit
for Most Heroic Work.
With Shot and Shell Playing Around
Him signaIer cooIly SpIices Bro
ken Telegraph Wires - Al
ways at Danger Point. i
BY CHRIS HEALY.

: Liverpool-When the full story of
the war is written we shall know the
exact part played by the skilled
craftsmen of Great Britain. Appre-
ciative hints are given here and there
! of the work of the collier in detect
ing the enemy's mines, and boring
cOunter-mines, and of this work and
that of the navy, in building trenches,
but none of the official wal CORE
spOndents have told us of the bravery
and skill of the telegraph section of
the Royal engineers, whose work is
to organize victory by making it pos
sib1e for one line of the men to com
municate with the other by erecting
and repairing wires; in a phrase, by
acting as the ears of the British
army. The signaler is seldom the
hero of one of those great stories of
aggressiveness which makes the name
of Michael O'Leary the subject of a
thousand stories and legends, yet his
work, nevertheless, is heroic to a de-
gree.
An officer who has recently re-
turned from the region round Ypres,
Festubert, and La Bassee tells me
that the bravest feat he witnessed
during his stay at the front was that
CT a telegraph SigEaler in the midst
OF battle whose fortunes were turn
ing now on the side of the Germans,
and then on ours.
A shell came from the Prussian
side, which blew in trench and cut
telegraph line to pieces The next
moment signaler dashed through
with layer of wire in his hand, his
pincers between his teeth, and quite
an armory of other tools in his peck
cts. Then with shot and shell playing
round him he began to relay the bro
ken telegraph line, fixed it up, walked
calmly back to his original spot,
wiped from his face the mud and dust
with which it was covered, relit his
pipe, ard awaited his next job.
1t was the coolest piece of work 1
have ever SEEM said the officer He
was Judge, too, for he had seen six
Victoria crosses earned, although the
signaler in this case did not get one.
Here is sketch of the daily rou-
tine OF the signaler: He rises while
all the other soldiers are asleep. and
quietly makes his way to the place
where the new trenches are to be
made, estimates the amount of mate
rial necessary, thinks of the men he
can spare from the work of repairing,
and then goes back to make all the
preparations needed, which must be
nm q o6 I,o
given that the artillery attack has
opened.
He waits with strained nerves. so
as to be at the heels of the rush of
Infantry which is to capture the enc
mys trenches; then, as the last Ger
man is bayoneted or taken prisoner,
even before the work of the Red
Cross section has begun, he starts
laying the telephones and telegraph
wires which are to keep the field
commanders in touch with one an
other.
Night work is not only difficult but
dangerous. Apart from the discom-
tort of trudging through plowed
fields, often after heavy rain has
made them into huge quagmires, fall
ing into deep ponds made by a big
shell, and running the risk of being
drowned where cry for help may
mean wholesale death for your own
sector; lodging the star shells which
the enemy send up to take a view of
things, the signaler must always bear
in mind that the lines must De laid or
repaired, and his own life is simply
a means for that end.
II he is killed after his work is
done, then he can die happy knowing
that he has saved the lives of men.
II his work is unfinished, then death
mas a new terror, new agony. This
braces him up when a star shell lights
the sky. He promptly faces his own
trench with his back to the enemy.
The pink patch on his face would not
only make him target for a sniper.
but would also give away the posi-
ton of his regiment
So he stands still, or else throws
himself face downward, running the
risk OF getting honorable wounds, in
the back. By the time he has meas
ured the ground for the new lines.
given look for the other lines in
use, and made test or two, it is
time to return to his dugout quarters,
crawl in for an hour or two's rest, and,
perhaps, just as he has fallen COM
fortably asleep, be peremptorily
awakened by the news that the enc
my has blown in one Of our trenches.
and the wires must be repaired or re-
laid at once
Under no circumstances whatever
must the communications between
The artillery and the infantry sections
De interrupted for moment, for that
might mean disaster to the whole
army.
Bank 1eller Adnni&e Aell IL