Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-07-26

| Nv HEN we TOOK our position IN the
| w front line trenches in Belgium
we relieved the Twenty-siXth
Canadian battalion. Scouts from that
organization came back to the Villages
of Dinkicbusch and Renninghelst to
I tell MS how glad they were to see us
and to show us the way in. AS we
proceeded overland, before reaching
the communication trenches at the
front. these scouts paid us the hospita-
| bic attention due strangers-that is,
one Of them. leading q platoon, would
: say:
Next 200 yards in machine gun
range Keep quiet, don't run and he
ready 10 drop quick if you are warned
| 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 thickets
and ragged fields Every now and then
the scout would yell at us to drop.
and down we'd go on our stomachs.
while away off in the distance we
could hear the ''put-put" of machine
guns, the first sound of hostile firing
that had ever reached our ears
"lt'a 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 pla-
T! toons had all got into the front reserve
/ trenches, at about two hours after mid
night 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 Dinkiebusch The men of
the Twenty-siyth battalion spent the
rest of the night instructing us and
then left us to hold the position. We
| We're as nervous as lot of cats. and
| it 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
sllipin", such as the one that bcfell
| the Fourteenth platoon man, which 1
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 position for twenty
| six days, which is the longest period
] that any Canadian or British organiza-
ton has ever remained in front line
trench.
| In none of the stories I've read have
ever seen trench fighting as it was
carried on in Belgium adequately de-
scribed. You see. you can't get much
of an idea about thing like that max
/ i,,r al, 20 u
official direction and escort as the
newspaper and magazine writer's do
| 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 lover
there" they don't talk of peace or
even of tomorrow. They sit back and
take it.
We always held the fire trench as
| lightly as possible. because it Is q
demonstrated fact that the front ditch
/ cannot he successfully defended in q
| determined attack The thing we did
and the thihg to do is to be ready to
jump OF to 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 first rate with u.s.
During the day we had only very
few men in the fire trench If an at
tack is coming in daylight there's al.
ways plenty of time to get ready for
it AT night we kept prepared for
trouble all the time We had night
sentry on each firing step and man
sitting at his feet to watch him to see
he wasn't secretly snipel Then we
had sentry in each hay" Of the
trench to take messages
Orders didn't permit the man on the
firing step or the man watching him
| to leave post on any excuse whatever