Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-15
DIGGING TRENCHES
BY NIGHT PER|L0US
Young British Officer Writes of
Dangers Risked Under
Fire.
in CHARGE OF ENGINEERS
Each Man First Makes Hole in
Which He Can Take
Cover.

LONDON. October l4.-Tranch dig
cling by night under fire lis tick lish
work. 1t is surprising. however. how
many shots may be sent over without
hitting any one. according to letters
from young British officer at the
front In France He writes:
1T was obvious that as much as
possible must be done during the first
night. since. once he had seen the lob.
rs he would directly daylight came, the
Boche might be relied on to make that
line tolerably uncomfortable for any
ono working near it without cover.
While We were out OF trenches that
week. our fellows were pretty busy
during the first half of each night
Carrying material up to the front line.
There was good number of miles OF
paEbed wire to go up, with hundreds
or fron-screw standards for the wire
and hundreds OF more OF stakes; quite
lot Of material altogether. and / am
bound to say l think the r. f. lRoyal
Eneineers] arranged 1t very we'll
They had all their material so put
together and 70 slowed up at the front
rs to make for the maximum Of con-
Sen!encc and the minimum of delay
when they came to handle It in the
open and under nre-as men always
must be when doing anything in
no mans land
IT was dark soon after s. and by a
quarter TO G we were moving out into
the OPEN We had drilled the whole
business very carefully into the men
themselves. as we'll rs the section COM
manders and scrgeants.
WIRE ENHANCEMENT
PUT UP BEHIND LINE
We got out on our line without n
sound. and then the o. c. [ofncer com
mandinE] made his way back to stink
Ing sap 70 report 10 Captain - of
the r. e. that we had taken on the
duty OF protection. and were all ready
for his men to go ahead. He marched
HIS carriers out then. stvinginG them
out along the whole line. and the
whole OF his company set TO work put
ting UP the screen Of wire entangle.
ments behind our line.
This whole business has given me
lot OF respect for the r. E a respect
which think is pretty generally felt
all through the service. The way they
planned and carried out that wiring
job was fine. No talk and no hnickin-
once they were In the open. Every
man knew precisely what his particu-
lar part was. and went straight q; IL,
without a word to or from any one,
NO machine gun spoke on that sec.
tor. not once. while tho wire was going
up BEFORE half-past : the q. e. came
along to me with orders to lead my
men OF to Striking sap. Tho wiring
at il, you know. and at that moment
the last OF en- was entering 'S,in.ing
SAP Casualties nil.
The q. G. marched his half-co-;-
pany round tho end Of the wire above
'Pn,ticoat Lane ard ] took mine round
the end In front OF Sinking Sap head
Then we wheeled round to the rear Of
the new wire ENHANCEMENT and
marched out again. Immediately in roar
OF II, till the O. G. and met. as VIC had
previously mot In front SO we took
up our second and final position.
When tho o. G. reported tina, NO
were in position 80 Company marched
out. half from each cnd Of Ill. line.
under their own officers. hu, with the
o. G. l.. l.. in command and his officers
helping. The" were at three yards
interval. There was peg for EVERY
man. and the first operation was for
each man to dig q hole in which he
could take cover.
NOT \ SOUND HEARD
As SOLDIERS DIG
1T all had been thought out before
hand, OF course. and every man knew
just what to do Their instructions
were to dig just as hard as ever they
Cover In our line there wasn't a
sound. and every mans eyes >wcrc
glued on his front.
at S:i5 q Bochc machine gun dead
opposite the center OF my half-com.
pany began to traverse our line-his
rcal objective, Of course, being. no,
our line. but the old Hre-trench In our
rear. know now that at that moment
the slowest Of c. diggers was under
ground. That burst of fire did not ge,
a single man: not n scratch
by 1880 confess I was feeling
deuced tired. One had been creeping
I'D and down the line for over five
hours, you know; but 1t wasn't that
I never wanted anything in my life so
much as wanted to get my haif-com-
pany through that job without casual
ties
And there was one thing I wanted
even more than that-to make abso-
lutely certain that no prowlinE Boche
patrol got through my bit Of the line
AT 2:30 the o. C. came along and
whispered to me to take my men in.
FINISHED for tonight Not one Of our
mon had a scratch. nor yet single
man OF 'C' Company. One man Of No.
3 Platoon had bullet through his
shoulder: a 'Rlighty.' and no more.
And that was our record"
Running Down Bogus "tIcrocs.' ~