The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-11-20
Serial s
Action at the Front

continue IN use. res, the pencil IS yell !
low too, but neither bears any signifi- |
canoe or relation to the colorful type
of journalism. But it is useless, for
lack of more refined materials for
correspondence, to offer excuse for
these, so let's hope your interest in
this letter Will be sufficient quite, to
obscure any thought of material used
in its composition. For, after all. as
the great poet wisely remarked, "the
plays the thing" So let's on with
the play
To begin with. this is to be the let
ter or kind of letter which | have
longed to write you ever since coming
to France, because it concerns action
at the front-action in which / was
personally engaged and can therefore
relate with the authority of an observ-
er. Also, since it contains news only
OF past events and places no longer
occupied, | may speak freely with lit
tie or no fear of exciting the wrath of
the censor, by violating the oath of
secrecy concerning all things military.
For we have left the scene of our last
activity and are now zen repos."
somewhere else in France, and what
| have to relate will disclose nothing
as to our or the army location, which
is the main thing to be avoided So
please remember, l speak only i'm the
past, disclosing nothing in any way
damaging to the cause of the allies
which is assuredly a thing to be avoid
ed, since their cause is now ours. And
now in supplicatiOn. all that follows
/ offer up to the eyes OF some kind
and indulgent censor. May he be len
lent
My last letter, No z, you win recall,
was written from somewhere at the
scissors front where we we're quarter
ed in a little village scarcely five miles
from the Chamn des Danes, that fa-
nous bit of roadway (hardly recog-
nizable as such now) over the pos
session of which terrible conflict
has been waging these past few months
and is still much disputed as the pa
pers have told YOU So you can real
ize from this into what an active sec
tor we were sent
This former roadway runs east and
west along a high plateau up to the
trenches and affords a very adyan-
tageous position, topping as il does
great area of surrounding country,
this commanding a view of many
miles to the north and south Here,
along this roadway two lines of
trenches extend with fighting in prog
ress all the while for complete pos
session.
And here our work took us. UP to
within four or five hundred yards Of
where were located two of our Poste
de Secours. The third, which was
more of a primary station for three
relieving cars was somewhat farther
to the rear, though we'll within range
as we came to realize when the Ger
mans, all one afternoon bombarded
with shrapnel, supposed battery po-
sitiOn scarcely a quarter of a mile dis
tant, where we could see the flash
and smoke Of the shells as they eX-
ploded on the top of the hill. the noise
from the explosions sounding as
though they were breaking in the
yard directly behind the POste. Just
how l came to be there after telling
you how duty confined me to the bar
racks, is another story AT any rate,
| went to the pOste on duty twice,
once for experience and again to re-
place another man who was unable
To go. which accounts for both trips.
l shall probably be unable to go again,
but having been and seen, the eXper-
fence is now mine, and out of this
grows the rest Of this story.
1t was just a week ago, Wednesday,
the 18th, called to the Poste, when l
set out for POste and my first adven-
ture. 1t was blustery and cool with
the sky cloudy and overcast, making
the day seem for all the world like an
early fall foot ball day at Hanover.
Having elected to visit first the poste
nearest the lines, our was the first car
to leave. There was little of interest
along the road as the night traffic had
ceased and there was scarcely evil
dence of any activity whatever, more
than the passing of a few struggling
squads of soldiers, returning, doubt
less. from their nights labor And
only when we reached a cross road
where there stood a sign reading
"Vers A." (This way to Al did
l realize that we were nearing the
front. A. is the the front and our
second poste located here long
space of the road before reaching A
is exposed to the full view of the Ger
man observation postes and at night
is usually under shell fire, because
traffic to the trenches passes this
way. So it is seldom, if ever. molested
during that part of the early morning
when our cars always went up.
Passing through A. we had just
half mile to go to the farthest poste,
r, and between A. and r
our interest in the trip quickened de-
cidedly at the sight of numerous and
fresh large shell holes lining the road
on both sides. but fortunately, and
to the discredit of the German marks
manship, none of them hit it. One
tremendous hole was pretty near, how
ever, and as our ambulance bumped
along over the large chunks of turf
which the explosion had hurled into
the middle of the road, l could not
help exchanging congratulations with
the Rodg over the fact that their ar
rival and our machine had in no way
co-incided
Arriving at F. we parked the car
as much in the protection of the hill
as possible and then l got out of the
machine to behold the ruins Frankly