Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-18
CAPTURED

III
At a. m, June .. 1916, I went on
duty again. Dawn was preparing tc
break. snd we al stood to in the front
line. Just before dawn was the favorite
time for the Boches to pull off a sur
prise attack, but we we're always ready
for them. We remained on guard till
II was quite daylight and then, as
trench officer. IL was my duty to issue
the rum. A little OF this fire water"
is the finest thing IN the world when
YOU are chilled through after long
night spent In your clothes. II wards
of many co. and starts the blood
circulating freely again. The only other
way this could be accomplished would
be by exercise. Any one was welcome to
10 out In No Mans Land for an early
morning run. but this alternative was
not popular, II being undoubtedly q
more or iess unhealthy form OF sport
EXPECTED THE GENERALS
When the rum issue was completed
"stand Down" was given. Everything
was running smoothly The sentries on
duty gazed steadfastly through their
periscopes and the eunners sat or lay.
always within kicking distance of the
sentry. so as 10 be able TO warn the
occupants OF that particular Are bay in
Noo' w 'l' h'Nd'Ns lHt ptntT llltn ouSltu
themselves tidying up the trenches In
preparation for the inspection by the
divisional commander. General Mercer
and our Brigadler General Williams.
which was 10 take place thai morning.
'arge party had been working ali
night repairing gap in the parapet
blown in by a Minnenwerfer. and which
we had TO pass on the run TO avoid being
sniped from lill 60. Another day party
was busy flling sandbags under cover.
In preparation for further work next
night | spent some time with my
platoon sergeant completing in my roll
book the details regarding the new men
who had been attached TO my platoon.
NICE BREAKFAST SPOILED
At o'clock went Oft u.:y. entered
the dugout slipped or my equipment.
put my steel he on the table and
settled down for an hour or two of sleep
AT $50 | was up again to see Colonel
Cssher and Captain Jack Symons. who
had come TO make a preparatory lnspec-
ion OF the trenches. AS they went away
I bade good-bN for the last time to Jacf.
who was my brother-in-law.
At a few minutes to O'Clock break.
fast was announced. and our mailman
came in from the little cookhouse in ths
duEout across the trench. bearing 4
|
! and bacon and some prunes. Hms, with
the addition of lite coffee was the
excellent meal were were Just ABOUT %
taste when-crash Hell was let loose
! Shells of all sizes came hurting through
/ .he air. raining in on MS from all sides
We slipped on our steel helmets. left tina,
lovely breakfast and rushed outside tC
see how serious the show might be. We
/ had suffered heavy borbardments be
/ fore, but we at once saw that this was
/ the biggest we had ever been in. lIarve,
Cockshutt, always thinking of the men
/ issued the order to take every one into
the front line. where he decided theSom
! bardment was not quite so heavy. In 2
/ few seconds every man was lining thu
/ fire trench. The shells continued to rair
/ In on us from every direction. The
/ Doches, as we found out later. haC
turned every gun around the fpre!
salient on the frontage occupied by thu
| Third Canadian Division. We received
almost as many shells from the real
TANKS as we did from tho front. These
| Of course. we could not always see com
ing. but wherever we looked toward tn,
| German lines we could see "Minnies'
rolling over and over in the air on thei
way to greet us These were quite cas-.
TO dodge when they came one at time
All you had to do was TO watch wher
they we're going to light and dodg
around the traverse into the next bay
You might be knocked down or evei
buried. but tho effect of the explosion o
Minnie" is very local. although
makes an awful mess of your trench
DoDGING THE "MlNNlES'
We had the men distributed eyenl,
aions the front line. In addition to tn,
sentry on duty at the pcriscope in al
most every bay, we posted further sen
tries gazing up to the front and righ
and left Watching for "Mnnles." The.
gave no alarm unless there ,-was goini
to be a direct hit In their own bay whei
every one was warned and dashed
around the traverse. Unfortunately, ow
ing to the fact that they were cor1nt
SO thick. many a man dashed arount
the traverse to escape the explosion o
one Minnewerfer and ran directly int,
that of another.
By 10 o'clock the bombardment hat
been so effective that our front line wa
virtually destroyed and a large portion
of our men were wiped out Harve,
Cockshutt sent tor me and told me Il
take about half OF the men who wer
left--amounting OF some twenty---to tn
support trench on our left. We coul'
not moe along the front line. so W
jumpeS up on the parados and made
dash rr il overland. We gained tn
trench without casualty. but found tina
It. too, was in sad state. We wer