American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-10-05

| had no pain anywhere. no thought
save to throw bomb after bomb down
there TO the left TO destroy the devilish
thing that was preparing to spring at
US again.
It's a queer thing about some OF
these new wal inventions. You feel
a concrete hatred as for a savage
beast without thinking about the men
who are really working the thing. A
bOche prisoner told me the same about
our tanks. said he entirely forgot
there were men In them and was quite
surprised 10 see our wounded crawling
out once when a big she'll hit Ose fair
and square and smashed Il. SO we
all cheered as II we'd killed the devil
Nhen a sudden deep below drowned
the banging Of the bombs and a great
round fountain Of fire told us one OF
the flame containers had exploded.
Those wretched bOchos must have died
quick, like flies In the flame Of a lamp.
for D after another three more con-
tainers burst into roaring eruption as
the fire from the first one caught
them. and by their light We saw here
and there a stray survivor plunging
headlong back 10 the German line. SO
far al least the attack had been a fail
ure.
Ny hand had begun to hurt again
~damnabiy, and ] turned TO see If our
Breton sergeant had got any oil when
was startled 10 hear him yelling as
Il for the first time in his life he was
really excited.
The mud, the mud" he shouted
"the mud will save us. Mon lieuten-
ant, the mud. the mud"
| thought he was crazy, and so, |
suppose. did the lieutenant, for he
shouted back. What the devil do
YOU mean. you fool?'
we escaped at this end" replied
the Breton more calmly. yet the
flame fell right among as. only two
Of US were burned. and they we're dry,
so II made cinders Of them. but we
others had fallen into a shell hole,
and the water and mud saved us"
AS I looked at my body and arms
could see how the mud had dried
where the flame struck It. and here
and there burnt patches where Il had
eaten It's way even int. the damp cloth.
| don't know what they use in these
ire thr0wers, but Il is devilish stuff.
Nothing Will extinguish Il; II just
flares away until it's all consumed.
The lieutenant didn't need to give
an order. With one accord we flung
ourselves forward, for we knew our
respite was short. and wallowed In the
sticky mud. %plastering 1t In handfuls
over our heads and bodies with just
a wipe al the end to clean off the
goggles OF our masks. II astonished
ma Hasl MANI ~ Tho ....
alive after that bombardment. There
seemed to be nearly forty altogether
we had massed close lnstinctively e
repel the ~attack-and there might be-
perhaps a score Of others not fatally
wounded In the abris. Unfortunately
we had only one good mitrailleuse-
the l~leutenant's seemed to have jam
med hopelessly which had beer
brought up from my abri. but before
we could get It ready to start agar
the sergeant and | had TO lift wha
was left of Our poor comrade who ha,
not been lucky enough to fall into
shell hole. His body was charre,
, black and shriyeled 10 half It's size.
One good thing, we all had lots O
bombs. especially the big egg-shapeI
ones with a cast-iron case that ar
splendid against an attack when yol
yourself are IN cover. as they burs
/ into fragments that will kill a man
hundred Yards away. And In a mud
hole they're better than the ordinar.
lemon grenades which you have &
, strike against a stone TO set the fusI
burning. because you just turn a screw
; that starts the fuse automatically ant
/ as IT'S timed for four or i've second
| YOU have time TO watch where It fall
and then duck before the bits begil
, 10 fly
by this time the sea OF flame II
front had died down. and we knew
r The boches would try again immediate
ly before Il got light enough to he'll
, us Already n could see thing
more clearly in the gray twilight, AM
+, when they did come the mitrailleus.
| worked terrible execution. But on
quick drer isn't enough for a massel
attack, and bombs make more noisl
than damage, so things o % begaI
7 20 look very ugly.
They had their flame Jets goinl
! again. but more scattered this time
2 aud thoughs we blew up one or tw'
, there was a steady rain OF IRE tina
we couldn't check or avoid.
But this mud was wonderful /
saved our lives a dozen times over
We had wrapped bandages round GU.
hands and then daubed mud on tina
SO that we were armored all over fix
t0rt0ises IA their shells. save for ouI
fingers. which caught il every nov
and then and hurt horribly as on,
threw the bombs.
Then a shower OF flame fell plumb
ON The mitrailleuse. and the cartridg,
bands blew up all together and put 4
out OF business. / don't think Their,
had been any h~and-to-hand lighting
before but when that happened the,
rushed us right away.
Luckily for me the mitrailleuse had
been shifted a bit TO the left and the
main rush came there. | was In a
she'll hole with tree or four others on
the extreme right. protected on one
2