Bridgeton pioneer., 1916-08-31

SiNco go ehS 6HSiISn Openeu tHSlT
Offensive-Artiliery Work a Marvel
Of Exactness-Praise German Brav-
cry.
London is now being thrilled by the
stories Of the push on the Somme,
which the wounded soldiers have
brought back. Sorely wounded as
many are, and after a journey which
all the care made barely endurable,
the men still tingle with the thrill of
the charge, and their talk is all of the
rush.
"We went over in grand STYLE" said
a sergeant recalling the assault on
Montauban, land found the place in
an awful mess. Most Of the houses
had been knocked head over heels-the
only ones 1 saw standing were a cou-
pie Of cafes. AS we came on we saw
lots Of Germans running out of the
back Of the village, but there were
plenty Of them monkeying about the
ruins. We divided the company up
into groups of six, but as we neared
the village we Joined up again. My
five pals and myself saw some in a
ground floor room, so we dropped q
Mills bomb through the window and
didn't wait for an answer.
LAS We turned the corner we saw a
German lying round the end of wall.
He'd got machine gun and had made
little emplacement with bricks. He
turned the blamed thing on me and
got me in the foot. It didn't stop me,
though, and when l was getting near
to him felt two kicks over the heart.
l didn't wait to see what happened,
but simply went at him and bayoneted
him. l couldn't go on much farther, so
l sat down to see what was the damage.
Book Stopped Bullets.
MY foot was pretty bad, but when
looked at my left hand breast pocket
saw two holes in it. opened my pock-
ct and found that two bullets had gone
through my metal shaving mirror,
through my pocket case and had nosed
their way into book l was carrying.
F'unnily enough, earlier in the morning
my officer gave me the book and said
could read it when got into the Ger
man trenches, so put it in my pocket,
little thinking that should be able to
read bit of it on hospital ship coming
back. The two bullets after piercing
the mirror and case had met and fused
into one lump Of metal,
Il saw three Germans come I'D to
two of our fellows and throw down
their rifles. So our boys chucked down
theirs, too, and went out for them with
their fists, and they didn't half give
them dusting.
"As we were going into Montauban
we saw German machine gunner up
a tree. He'd got the neatest little plat
form you ever saw painted so that it
was almost invisible. We shot him.
1.-The spirit of our boys was splendid.
They simply loved the fun. One Of
them got blown up by a shell. He
seemed pretty dazed, but he picked
himself up and came along. All he
said was, oh, there must be war on
after all, suppose
I'VE had carried the first two lines
and on getting into the third we saw
the Germans coming up from the two
exits of a deep dugout and pairing off
down the trench. Our platoon COM
mander got into the trench and picked
them off as they came out He had
the mouth of the dugout on either
side CT him, say fifteen yards away.
he was as cool as cucumber. He
simply turned from right to left and
fired just as if he was in a shooting
gallery. 1t was the best bit of fancy
shooting I've SEEM
Artillery Called Magnificent.
A sergeant major of the Middlesex
speaking Of the work Of English artil-
lery, said: "They were simply magnifi-
cent, and as we advanced they lifted
trench by trench. The battalion went
over and on in fine style. 1t was just
like a parade, and the men felt con-
fident, as they knew that large re-
serves were behind them. We soon
got into the German front trench. I
saw very few living, but in the Sec
ond and third lines we found few.
At the bottom of the deep trenches
were plenty Of dead and in the dug
outs too"
A corporal in the Northumberland
fusiliers gave picture of the pre-
cision with which the assault was car
ried out.
Just on time," he said, "the first
lines went away, not hurrying a bit,
just taking it easy. Then came the
second line. OF course there We're gaps,
but these We're soon filled. Then went
the third line, and / followed up with
the supports. Everything was going
A l.
"The artillery was lifting from
trench to trench, and we were follow
ing on step by step. 1t was just like
field day. The carriers with bombs
and ammunition kept on coming along
as cheerful as anything, and then later
In the day l got moved back into our
own front lines and on to the dress
ing station
One man who had been at NTamatz