Bisbee daily review., 1917-12-16

Gifted our wounded comrades The
Prussians did this They are the
worst OF the lot. The Saxons and the
! Rhinelanders and Bavarians are not
so bad Why, once. when we were
4 facing a Saxon regiment onl- so or
~ yards away across the shel. holes
and the barbed wire. they called
I out to US one evening and said. The
! Fourth Prussian guards are coming to
relieve US tomorrow; give them hell
We did.
Fighting Fools
There were some wonderful meB
among those British officers on the
Somme We Canadians were pretty
proud of our officers and our regi-
ments, but the finest thing l saw on
the Somme was the colonel of the Mid
dlesex regiment charging across No
Mans Land at the head of his men
and dribbling a football before him.
Fact, And he kicked it right into the
Hun trenches and followed after and
got the ball. Those Middlesexers are
/ devils. And the Scotch, Say, they
are fighters. They are hard, They
never quit; never give way;
never lose. You can't kill them. A
Scotchman win march right on into a
trench with a balr in his body and
kill three Boches before he keels over.
And the Irish want 20 tell you that
they fought~on the Somme in way
that the Huns will never forget. They
/ took Guillemont, ] think il was, with
the bayonet and they made the PTus-
slams look like children in Inat
melee. and then after fighting all day
against the Dutch they fought with
each other in camp that night They
are fighting fools
Returns With Gun
The bravest single piece OF work l
saw in the Somme campaign was by 4
boy OF my own battalion He was my
corporal We had taken an advanced
trench and were being raked by ma
chine gun in pilIbox little ways off,
and this corporal wanted me TO -usn
the gun. But wouldn't do il / was
in charge of that detachment and | did
not want to get raked over the Goals
for losing men. You have - account
for every man you have. you KNOW.
But the corporal wanted that gun and
he was sore because il had raked our
line and taken heavy toll. So he
climbed over the top and disappeared
in the direction of the pilboX.
never expected TO see him again, but
pretty soon he came back carrying
that gun with him / asked him how
he took il and he merely said there
were three Germans working if and
that he had surprised them and shot
one and bayOneted the other two
The government sent that gun
back to the boys home town in Van
couver, as trophy, and it is there
now.
Close 20 the Ground
Trench raids and patrol work in Nc
Mans Land are more dangerous than
an ordinary battle. They have a hun
dred DEVILS contraptions to kill and
main you with. shall always remem-
ber one English officer that led US on
a raid one time. He was as brave and
cool and fine man - ever set foot in
France II was on the 29th OF Janu-
ary and We had 29 men from the 29th
battalion. We took a string OF dugouts
and this officer walked along ahead OF
US carrying a small -one in his hand. l
He would walk up TO the door or q
dugout and poke the canvas or bed |
quilt door aside and call for bomber
and direct him to drop a little high |
explosive in there for luck You would |
have thought he was poking out rab- |
bits.
Another time when We were under |
heavy fire this same officer stood up |
Nhnr Aad IN
with a little smile He was a big !
man. Near him lay little fellow. Tne !
officer asked the little man why he /
laid so close to the ground. You're I
smaller than / am he said, and IL /
they can't hit me they can't hit you
"Oh, yes, there's another thing |
want to speak about The French. |
They are fighting magnificently. I
have seen them at work If anything. /
they are too impetuous. When they i
like their officers and are well led /
they can fight rings around the best !
men the kaiser ever sent to the front. /
Kid them along and they will storm the 4
Hindenburg line like it was a picket /
fence. But they get discouraged 4
easily If they are badly handled.
Like the Canadians
81 hear it pretty straight from the
boys that have come back lately that |
your Americans have made a fine i'm |
preston over there. Your folks will /
fight like the Canadians, / believe, and |
could not give you any higher praise
than that" And Sergeant Bilnman. /
hero of the great war. laughed again |
like a boy and walked away with
erect carriage and jaunty step, in
spite Of the fact that he is carrying |
fair sized chunk of German lead in
his body.
If he stays in Bisbee he will have
q good Christmas this year.