The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-07-07

t 1t seemed. It's demolition was com
plete. That was example Of the con
dition of the whole country over which
our forces had blasted their way FOL
ten miles. since the previous July
There were not even landmarks left
The Cooks Tour"
On the night when We went in to
inspect the positions we were to hold
our scouts, leading US through the flat
desert of destruction. got completely
turned round, and took us back
through a trench composed Of shell
holes, connected up, until We ran IN
10 battalion Of another brigade. Inc
place was dreadful beyond words. The
stencil of the dead was sickening. In
many places arms and legs of dead
men stuck out of the trench walls.
We made a fresh start, after our
thunder, moving in single file and
keepins in touch with the man ahead
of him. We stumbled along in the
darkness through this awful labyrinth
until we ran into some Of our own
scouts at two a. NJ, and found that we
we're half way across No Mans Land
several hundred yards beyond our
front line and likely to be utterly wip
ed out in twenty seconds should the
Germans sight us. Fine guides we
had on this Cooks Tour" At last
we reached our proper position, and
fifteen minutes after we got there a
whiz.bang. a low explosive murderer
buried ME completely. They had tc
dig ME out. A few minutes later q
high.cxplosive shell fell In a trench
section where three Of our men were
stationed. All we could find after il
exploded were one arm and one leg
which be buried. Two trenches were
without trench mats and tho mud wa!
from six inches to three feet deep al
through them. There we're no dug
outs: only merely visible funk holes,
dug where it was possible to dig then
without uncovering dead men. we
remained in this position four days
from the 18th to the 21st Of October
1916.
! There were reasons. Of course. fol
the difference between conditions II
Belgium and on the Somme. On the
Somme, WE were constantly preparing
for a new advance. and we were onl!
temporarily established on GROUND
which we had but recently taken, after
long drumming. with big guns. The
trenches were merely shell holes con
nected by bitches. Our old and ubi
auilous and variously useful friend. thu
sand bag, was not present in any ca
pacity, and, therefore, we had no para
pets or dug-outs. The communication
trenches were all blown in and ev
erything had to come to us overland
with the result that we were never
quite sure when we would get ammu
milton, rations, or relief forces. The
most awful thing was that the sol
all about us was filled with freshly
buried men. IF We undertook to cut
trench or enlarge funk hole, oul
spades struck into human flesh, ant
the explosion of big shell along oul
line sent decomposed and dismember
ed and sickening mementos Of an ear
lier fight showering among us. We
lived in the muck and stencil Of
GLORIOUS" war; those Of US who
lived
The German Dusout-and What they
Found.
| Here and there. along this line
we're the abandoned dug-outs Of tho
Germans, and we made what use o.
them we could, but that was little.
had orders, one day, to locate dug
out and prepare it for use as battalion
headquarters. When I lead a squat