The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-11-17
Bullets Rained Like Hail Upon
Galvanized Roof
NOT LIKE THE JOY RIDE
LadIing Out Death Like Music
From Hurdygurdy; Rattle of :
Machine Guns
UNITED Press Dispatch.l

FToTH gTt60l SdIys
London, October 26.-[By Mail. IA
young Australian soldier. wounded while
serving as one of the crew of a tank"
has just given the world the first real
story of what happens when this newest
engine of war goes into action. His diary
of a weeks work in an armored judgger-
naut follows:
Monday-Out for the first time. Strange
sensation. Bullets rained like hail on a
galvanized roof Suddenly gave a terri
Bile lurch. Lookout said we were astride
an enemy trench. ''Give 'em hell was
the order. We did The frightened Ger
mans ran like rabbits but were shot down
in punches. Machine guns started vic1-
Gus rattle on our hide" Not the least
impression. Moved on and caught an
other German detachment. Cut their
ranks to ribbons. Prisoners very curious
and stared at US wide-eyed. First days
experience not pleasant. "Tank' sick
ness is as bad as sea sickness.
Tuesday-Off for another cruise. Pep
pering began at once. Thought the old
tank was going to drown in a shower
of bullets. Silly blighters thought they
could rush the tank like fort We
fired at them point blank We spat at
them tremendously. The blessed old tub
gave a lurch. 1 thought it was goodbye
and wounded we had skidded into. Rain
of bullets sounded like hundreds of riy-
cts being driven into the tanks hide.
We got to like the regular rhythm of it.
Heavier strumming on our Keyboard
Machine-gun at 1t. There was tre-
mendous thud along about this time.
Whole outfit thought we were done for
Only some unwonted obstacles along an
enemy parapet. Some Huns tried the
rushing dodge. Their rushing days are
over.
Wednesday Early start Toughest
voyage yet Waves of fire seemed to
hra no M ma
us outside the trenches. Thought it was
the mayor and village notabies coming
to give us warm welcome Mistaken.
They let fly with machine guns. Then
they tried boarding tactics. We laughed.
Tank reception party dispersed in cloud
of smoke. Only remaining member fat
old gentleman threw himself down be-
fore us with many signs of submission.
of wrecked houses. Huns rushed out OF
cellars and dug outs One Brighter rush
ed at us with dubbed rifle Made terrible
swipe at tank. Hurt himself more than
fleeing Germans. All fat men.
Friday-Early af1oat. Usual shower of
bullets. Got right across trench. Enemy
tried to run but couldn't. Threw up
think it was fair to use such fighting
machines. We asked him if he thought
we ought to get the Kaiser's permission
to use the tanks. Didn't see the joke.
TOOK ABOUT ZO0 prisoners. Killed and
wounded as many more. Tired out
Saturday-Out before breakfast Ter
rible crash first thing Thought we had
encountered wandering world. Weathered
storm. Rare sport. Enemy preparing
for surprise attack. Our surprise came
first. We waddled into their ambush
Never saw men so frightened. Only few
chaps stayed behind. Went snorting
after them wherever we could find them
Later strong attachments tried to make
their way back. We lined up across
road and gave them hot time. Every
time they tried to rush we ripped their
ranks into bits. They finally gave up.
Sunday-Frightening Germans ,contin-
ued. Ladled out death as you might
Fritz got fits. No fight left in him,
Prisoners scared to death. Some of them
acted as though they believed we used
our tanks for making sausages out of
prisoners.