New Britain herald., 1917-11-13
SIS KNOCKED DOWN
 AGAIN AND AGAIN
 BY ENEMY'S SHELLS American Lieutenant Tells Of His Experiences When the Ger mans Attack Trench TROOPS ARE BEARING
 UP WELL IN FRANCE
~t Shell Falls Into a Machine Gun Ann munition Dump and Thirty Boxes Explode, Scattering Bullets in All Directions -Mumps Send More Sol- diers to Hospital Than Germans Relates Incidents to the A. F.

With the American Army in France. > Nov. 12.-The lieutenant who was knocked down three times by shell fire during the recent German raid in the American sector today described his experiences to the Associated Press. His face is covered with scratches from flying gravel.
 When the firing began I started 4 back to the trench,' he said. '"The first thing I knew there was 8 crash. I seemed to see sparks shooting from all over my body. I started to crawl. and it seemed ages before my face hit the mud at the bottom of the trench. The same thing happened again a minute later. Then I picked myself up and started in another direction, corporal and two men joining me. A shell burst few feet from us on the parapet and lost consciousness.
 When I came to all was black, and grenades were flying in all direc- tions. had lost my shrapnel hel- met, but feeling around with my hands, I found one by the head of the man who was lying near me. l put it on and started away, stumbling over the body of the man who was g. ' corporal.
 II went on and gathered some men. We spread ourselves out, expecting 8 heavy attack. AS matter of fact, I found out later that the raid was over and that the grenades we saw were being thrown by retreating Ger mans"
 It is the opinion of all the officers v that the troops are bearing up excel lently under their first experience in the trenches. All are learning how to conduct themselves under fire, and also that shell fire, even when 1n- tense, Is not as dangerous as 1t sounds.
 So much shrapnel has fallen since the battaNons of the second contingent in the trenches have taken their posts that the men have ceased to worry about 1t. The commander of one bat talion said that since the mon had en- tered the trenches humps had caused more of them to go to the hospital than the enemy's fire. The firing II. this battalion's sector has been rather more intense than usual for several nights A heavy shell fell in a ma- chine gun ammunition dump and ex- ploded thirty boxes, bullets flying in all directions. The men nearby threw themselves on the ground, and no .A one was hurt.
 American soldiers are rapidly be- coming expert at patrol work and their officers say they "carry on" in No Mans Land as if they had been at it for years. This is explained partly by the fact that activity in IN Mans Land along the sector held by the Americans virtually is open war fare, which Is distinctively an Amer ican game.
 Already stories of the heroism o1 individual soldiers during trench raids are coming to light. Some men hesi- tate to tell what they have done but are anxious and willing to tell what | they have seen others do. The 1ates incident discovered, involved five pri yates, who rushed from their dugou as the Germans entered the trenches Standing. kneeling and lying in iron ot the entrance, they fired on thu enemy SO successfully that they pre- vented the Germans, who made sev eral attempts from entering.