Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-08-09

him. Within sight of the spot where
he sat wondering he later fell in action
and died. The scene which so Inn
pressed him gave us all feeling of
great awe. Great shells from thou
sand guns We're streaklng and crisis
crossing the sky. Without glasses
counted thirty-nine of our observation
balloons. Away off in the distance l
saw one German captive balloon. The
other aircraft were uncountable. They
We're everywhere, apparently in hun
dreds. There could have been no more
wonderful panorama picture Of war in
its new aspect. s+t <ah III,
Our battalion was in and out of the
town of Albert several days waiting
for orders. The battle of Courcelette
was then in progress. and the First
Second and Third Canadian divisions
were holding front positions at terri
bic cost. In the first part of October,
1916, we went in opposite the ia
nous Regina trench. The battle-ground
was just miles and miles of debris and
shell holes. Before we went to our
position the officers and non-coms
We're taken in by scouts to get the lay
of the land. These trips were called
Cooks tours On one Of them
went through the town of Poizers
twice and didn't know it, 1t had
population of 10000 before the war
On the spot where it had stood not
even whole brick was left, it seemed
Its demolition was complete. That
was an example of the condition Of the
whole country over which our forces
had blasted their way for ten miles
since the previous July There were
not even landmarks left.
The Cooks Tour"
On the night when we went in to in
spect the positions we were to hold, our
scouts, leading us through the fiat des
ert of destruction, got completely turn
ed round and took us back through
trench composed of shell holes con-
nected up until we ran into a battal-
ion of another brigade. The 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 fresh start after our blum
der, moving in single file and keeping
in touch each with the man ahead of
him. We stumbled along in the dark
ness through this awful labyrinth until
at 2 a. IN. and found that we were
halfway across No Mans land, sew
eral hundred yards beyond our front
line and likely to be utterly wiped 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 min
utes after we got there a whiz-bang. a
low explosive murderer, buried me
completely They had to dig me out
A few minutes later high explosive
shell fell in trench section where
three of our men were stationed. All
we could find after it exploded We're
vne arm and one leg, which we buried
The trenches were without trench
mats, and the mud was from six inches
to three feet deep all through them.
There were no dugouts, only merely
miserable funk holes" dug where it
was possible to dig them without I'M
covering dead men. We remained in
this position four days, from the 18th
to the 21st of October, 1916.
There were reasons, Of course. for
the difference between conditions in
Belgium and on the Sonlme. On the
Somme we We're constantly preparing
for new advance, and we were only
temporarily established on ground
which we had but recently taken after
long drumming with big guns. The
trenches We're merely shell holes con-
nected by bitches. Our old and ubiqui-
tous and variously useful friend, the
sandbag, was not present in any ca
Dacity. and therefore we had no para.