El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-06-23

for bravery, wounded invaded home,
and now is returning to accept a commits
sion This is the second article in the
series In the first article. he described
his training up to the point where he
reached the front line trenches
5HEN We took our position in
NA/ the front trenches in Bel
GUM, we relieved the 26th
Canadian battalion. Scouts from that
organization came back to the vii
lagos Of Dinkiebusch and Renning-
helst. to tell US how glad they were
to see US and to show the way in. As
we proceeded overland, before reach
ing the communication trenches at the
front. those scouts paid US the hos
pitable attentions due strangers. That
is, one Of them leading a platoon
would say:
Next zoo yards in machine gun
range. Keep quiet, don't run. and be
ready to drop quick If you are
There was one scout to each platoon.
and we followed him, single file. most
of the time along roads or well worn
paths. but sometimes through thick
cts and ragged fields. Every now and
then the scout would yell at US to
drop, and down we'd go on our stom-
achs while, away off in the distance
we could hear the ''put-put" of ma
chine guns-the first sound Of hostile
firing that had ever reached our ears
Firing on Suspicion
It's all right" said the scout They
haven't seen US or got track Of US.
They're just firing on suspicion"
Nevertheless, when our various
platoons had all got into the front
reserve trenches, at about two hours
after midnight, we learned that the
first blood of our battalion had been
spilled Two men had been wounded,
though neither fatally Our own
stretcher bearers took our wounded
back TO the field hospital at Dinkie-
busch The men OF the 18th battalion
spent the rest Of the night instructing
us and then left US to hold the posi-
ton We were as nervous as lot
Of cats. and il seemed to me that the
Germans must certainly know that
they could come over and walk right
through US. but. outside of a few
casualties from sniping. such as the
one that befell the 14th platoon man,
which I have told about, nothing very
alarming happened the first day and
night. and by that time we had got
steady on our job. We held the posi-
ton for IS days, which is the longest
period that any Canadian or British
organization has ever remained in a
front line trench
Real Trench Fighting.
In none of the stories I've read.
have ever seen trench fighting. as il
was then carried on in Belgium, ade-
Quately described You see, you can't
get much of an idea about a thing
like that, making a quick tour Of the
trenches under official direction and
escort. as the newspaper and maya
zine writers do I couldn't undertake
to tell ANYTHING worth while about
the big issues OF the war, but can
describe how soldiers have to learn
to fight in the trenches-and ] think
a good many of our young Fellows
have that to learn, now over there,
tomorrow. They just sit back and
We always held the fire trench as
lightly as possible. because il is
demonstrated fact that the front ditch
cannot be successfully defended in
determined attack The thing we did
and the thing to do is 10 be ready TO
Jump onto the enemy as soon as he
has got into your front trench and IS
fighting on ground that you know and
he doesn't, and knock so many kinds
of tar out OF him that he'll have to
pull his load for a spot that isn't so
warm That system worked firstrate
with US
Always Ready at Night.
During the day, we had only very
few men in the fire trench. II an at
tack is coming in daylight. there's
always plenty of time to get ready
for it At night. we kept prepared for
trouble all the time We had q night
sentry on each firing step and man
sitting at his feet to watch him TO see
he wasn't secretly sniped. Then We
had a sentry in each bay OF the
trench TO take messages.
Orders didn't permit the man on the
firing step Or the man watching him
to leave poS on any excuse whatever.
during their two hour spell" of duty
Hanging on a string. at the elbow Of
each sentry on the firestep was
siren whistle or an empty shell case
and a bit of iron with which 10 ham
mer on it. This-whichever IL might
be-was for the purpose of spreading
the alarm in case of a gas attack
Also we had sentries in listening
posts" at various points from 20 to
so yards out in NO Mans Land"
These men blackened their faces be-
fore they went over the top" and
then Law in shell holes or natural hol-
lows. There were always two of them
a bayonet man and a bomber. From
the listening post a wire ran back to
the fire trench to be used in signaling
In the trench. a man sat with this
wire wrapped around his hand One
pull meant AL o. k" two pulls. I'm
coming in" three pulls, Enemy in
sight and four pulls. Sound gas
alarm" The fire step in a trench is
shelf on which soldiers stand to look
out and shoot between the sand bags
on top.
IN addition to these men. we had