Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1917-01-05
TELLS OF WORK
IN new TANK"
Young Australian Who Served in
Machine Describes Expe-
rience in Diary.
BOLT LIKE SCARED RABBITS
mo Trailing Clouds Of Glory" When
Enemy Is Dispersed - Machine
Gun Fire Has No Effect on
Hide of Monster.

London-The daily work of tank
on the western front has been graphi-
cally described by young Australian
soldier who was wounded while serv-
ing I'm one of these new engines OF
war The description, in diary form,
appeared In the Manchester Guardian:
Monday-Out for first time. Strange
sensation. Worse than being In sub
marine. At first unable to see any
thing. but imagined lot. Bullets be-
gan to rain like hailstones on gal
vanized roof at first, then like n series
of hammer blows. We passed through
1t all unscathed.
Suddenly we gave n terrible lurch.
thought we were booked through.
Lookout said we were astride an enc
my trench. "Give them HI" was the
order. We gave them 1t. Our guns
raked and swept trenches right and
left.
Got n peep at frightened Germans.
II was grimly humorous. They tried
to bolt like scared rabbits but were
shot down In punches before getting
TO their burrows. Machine guns
brought forward. Started vicious rat
tie on our hide" MOI the least i'm
preston was made. Shells began to
burst. We moved on and overlook
some more frightened Germans. Cut
| their ranks to ribbons with our fire.
Tuesday-On for another cruise.
Peppering begun at once, Thought
| old thing was going to be drowned In
shower of bullets. Things quiet down
quickly. silly blighters thought they
could rush the tank like they would II
fort. Dashed up from all sides. We
fired at them point blank. Devilish
plucky chaps some of them, for all
their madness. The survivors had an
other try. We spat at them venom
ously. More of them went down.
| Not a Reception Committee.
Suddenly a Jolt, and our hearts JOLT
ed In our mouths In sympathy. Moth
ing doing in the mlshap line. Only
some unwonted obstacle. Heavier
"strumming" on our keyboard outside,
and more regular. Machine guns at
IL now. Straddled on as though we
liked II. A tremendous thud. The
whole outfit seemed done for. Nearly
Jumped out of my skin. Looked ut
ench other and wondered what II was.
stu roof over our heads, thank
God.
Wednesday-Early start. Roughest
voyage yet. Waves of fire seemed to
break over us. Tremendous crash,
Then another, and several others at
intervals. Silence for time. Party
of Germans came TO meet us outside
the village. Very stout old gentleman
In front. Thought 1t was the mayor
md village bigpots TO give us civic
welcome. Mistaken. They meant &c
give warm reception, but not as W,
understood the word. Let fly will
machine guns. Then tried silly board
ing tactics. We laughed. Our guns
answered theirs.
Tank reception committee dispersed
In n cloud of smoke and flame; M
trailing clouds of glory.
Thursday-Got into the village, an'
passed down between two irregular
rows of wrecked houses. Hundred
of Germans came rushing up from eel
lars and from behind ruins To see us
Some had eyes staring out of head
Looked surprised and even frightened
Friday-Early afloat, Usual show
ers of bullets and few shells on tn
way. Got right across trench. Mad
the sparks fly. Went along parape
routing out Germans everywhere, Enc
my terrified. Tried 10 run, but couldn'
keep It up under our fire. Threw n
the sponge aud surrendered in patches
Saturday--On the move befor