The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-10-15
SERGEANT 0'CONNER'S STORY
 OF THRILLING FIGHT AT VIMY
Fierce Battle for German Stronghold Described by Man < Who Was Blown from Shell Hole to Shell Hole
(F'rom the International News
 Bureau)
twritten by sergt. John o'connoro

(F'rom the International News
 Bureau)
 tWritten by Sergt. John O'Connor) Believe me or not, the quiet of the ward comes like a shock after the, din of the battlefield. The doc, ' could explain it scientifically, no doubt. I'm only stating the fact! For weeks I'd heard nothing but guns, and guns, and guns Then came darkness-that was when was struck ---and then I sort of wakened into thisl Its bit trying sometimes.
 JuEf after Nvimy Ridge all my ad- veXe6res seemed to come together, Ike the proverbial chapter of acci- 1eptn.
 Up to that time I'd seen a good deal of the ordinary, every day scrap pipg. trench-raiding, machine gun on- slaughts. sniping. and so on; turn nt all and any. of them; but through than all I came without a scratch. ana even weathered the first storm of Vimys itself. So that was beginning to consider myself one of the lucky bliEhters. Pride goes before fall. That's d true saying. s
 My fall came beyond Vimy. That was terrible time we had there. The Germans seemed exasperated to the pitch of insanity at our triumph i'm topping the Ridge, and they were out to knock us back again if shells and shrapnel And machine gun bullets could do It. But we'd fixed our teeth in. and were not going to give way for all the Fritzies who ever breathed.
 No. sir.
 It was a battle of shell-holes pure and simple: you never saw the, like. Every pock-mark on the earth around wns fort. and we were into them and out of them like rabbits on sand dune
 It was greatl
 But not always did we leave them of our own accord, and that was how my chapter of accidents begana-
 Heres an adventure for you, if you like.
 A bevy of us were lying snug in a sl1alloH crater. The German shells were coming pretty thick and fast. but we knew that the Hun gunners were firing blindly-our aeroplanes had seen to that-so we were settling ddwn nicely to await the signal for tho next spring forward, when all of a sudden came a most appalling bang.
 And the next thing knewIwas that M was looking up at the smoking sky from another part of the Ridge al- <o8ether. What had happened?
 simply this:
 A big shell had burst right in front of the hole we were in, and the con cussion was so great that had been lifted bodily and deposited in another she1l-hole several yards away. About the breadth of this ward I'd been flung and not a bit the worse for it, except that felt shaken up a bit My chums had stuck to the original hole a1l right How they took my quick departure. don't know. I was soon tpo busAatq Wo orry. The order, had come for the race forward.
 That was some race. We were out and away amid such a shower ot flakes and bullets as ever' bothered an attacking squad. How many of us escaped at all seems a perfect marvel now. but most of us got through, and, just as if curtain had lifted, we found ourselves right atop of per- feet nest of machine gunners and Hun Nnfantry They'd been preparing te attack us, evidently. and that blast from the machine guns was by way o1 clearing the path for them
 It all finished as the rest had fin ished--in glorious round up.
 How many prisoners we got don't Ixnpw. but do know that, as we were .taking them back, they started the same old yarn about being starved and hungry. call 1t 'sthe same oli tyarn.~ because in their case at least fhekr appearance belied their words lTheU were all. or nearly all, quite fai and s1eok looking, although naturally dixty and tired, but they did not ap tpsaxr to be starved by any means Int lfn1e had been sprung to gain sympa thy, suppose. He's pretty obvious ish,&kmsr. Is Fritz. when he's dowl and out
 There was on exception to the sniv @7z{nx lot, though. He was an office ioz the real Prussian type, I reckon f1rom his seIf-sufficient style Behav e1 as if really, to be captured by tn Er1tfsh, was a downright absurdity and that. at any rate. Hindenburl taMo him back
 He vas a supercflfous humbug. am mo mistake No end of a gas-ba eithsr.
 Xs he was being pi1oted farther an farther to- the rear. and no signs Q s"Hfndey coming to the rescue, h got more and moro annoyed, and ou igrfns utterly exagperated him. sIt took q lot of ships to bring yo' Brff3shera here" he burst out at las as we were closing him into the cage but a very small one will take yo back"
 We only grinned again for answer but as I looked at the huge colony C dismal brethren he had just joined, said to myself; All right. Mister Prus sian. ff'n fake a jolly sight more shtr to oart back the bunch of you blight 4 rern we've got in this push. anyway
 Go much for the sarcastic Prussia1 hope the same thought struck hil as struck me, He'd have bit calculating to do when he started, an by night he'd have had some nor for they continued to come in durin Kenknzu,zse -.s---sr ssse9.- ENr Nx sNr