Norwich bulletin., 1916-07-06

after a long sleep they had wondered
why they We're alive and started TO
play baseball to pass the time till they
should go into the trenches again.
They had been in the thick Of it from
80 a. m. till 100 p. m on June End,
right in the apex of the Ypres salient,
that bend in the line which had stuck
out as invitingly to the Germans as
the Verdun salient for more than a
year.
The Germans could arrange their
guns in a fan-shape around it as they
could at Verdun; and they did. When
their guns began to speak the British
guns spoke back; and even the old in
habitants of the Ypres salient agreed
that it was the worst ever. Nobody
on the spot ever supposed that there
were so many guns in either the Ger
man or the British army.
But the officer inside the farmhouse
sitting at the farmers dining room
table could tell all about this small
part of it. He and his men had been
in and out Of the trenches on their
shifts till they were quite used to the
mOnOtOny of the trench life and the
daily wastage. The morning OF June
End was very quiet A general who
making an inspection. An occasional
crack Of a bullet over head and an oc
casiOnal shot in answer! AT $50 the
inferno broke without any more warn
ing than a boiler explosion, They al
ways do British, or French, or Ger
man.
Five point mines" Chat new SO
inch German shelD, 'whiZ-bangs,
trenCh-nOrtar shells and Silent Liz
zies'' "a naval gun shell Of high Veloc-
ity which is not heard coming until it
burSts).
Il knew what we were in for" said
the officer.
Anybody with any experience at the
front would know. At any time either
side wants to concentrate It's artillery
on q certain frontage Of trench that
frontage is bound to go down; and the
attacking side can rush its infantry
in and take the debris. The difficulty
is to hold it. This time the shells were
coming from the front and both sides.
According to the usual system they
we're laid on both the front and the
support trenches with a curtain Of fire
between the two.
You know the kind of country it
is" this quiet young officer from To-
rOntO went on.
Nature as well as the shells is
against the soldier. If he digs q
trench water fills it. Mostly he must
depend on ndbags-rOOfs and walls
Of sandbags. He cannot dig cellars
twenty feet under the earth and crawl
into them when the 'cloudburst Of
hell desCends as in billy and noun
q good word to say about the Ypres
salient except the peasants. The soil
is rich.
we had no orders to CO." said the
officer. I'VE stuck"
They could not fire back at those
suns thousands Of yarGs away with
their rifles. No one was showing his
/ head in the German trench opposite.
If q man leaned over q section Of par
apot remaining to fire he and it might
be blown away by another she'll The
only thing to do was for each man to
find any kind of cover he could in a
fresh sheIl-hoIe if no parapet re-
NAMED and wait. Messengers in such
instances, be it the British or Ger
man side, have one chance of five in
surviving if they try to go or come
from the rear.
five hours of this! Then at $50
in the afternoon orders to retreat did
arrive.
That officer from Toronto gathered
the remnants Of his command under
the showers of shrapneI bullets and in
TIE midst Of geysers from the high eX-
plosives. Just as he was starting the
| tornado suddenly ceased. This meant
| the German infantry charge. AS the
Canadians started taking what cover
they could in q half ObIiterated COM
nunicatiOn trench they had a. glimpse
over their shoulders of the Germans
arriving. German rife and machine
gun H1e followed them on their way
back . the support trenches, taking
| a final toll; then the British guns
turned their tornado on the Germans
in their new positions and the support
{ trenches blazed their rifle fire into
! German charges.
Another officer in another farmhouse
tins one from British Columbia. He
| is pleased with the coat he wore when
/ he went through a curtain of fire A
piece Of shell had cut a big rent under
| the arm without evening penetrating
through his undershirt.
Some luck, chi" he said. 81 had a
| bunch that I would come through al
right when I started"
His orders were to go up in rein
| fOrcement- He went. One shell
| struck in the midst of a platoon and
got only one man. That was some
/ luck too. Men fell but the command
went on to the counter attack.
Those who are in the thick of it
| certainly get it hot" said another Of
| hcer. Each company in the thick of
| it thinks for the time being that it is
| fighting the whole war. Its casualty
| list looks pretty bad. But when you
| take the losses of a division as q whole
| you are surprised at the small per
/ cent age"