Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-28
TROOPS REACH FRONT
IN MUD OF FLANDERS
Patrick Mac Gill Describes Incident
Before Great Attack at
Passchendaele.
BY PATRICK MAC GILL.
Correspondence Of The Evening Star
and Chicago Daily News.)

(Correspondence OF The Evening Star
and Chicago Daily News.)
LONDON. England. December IA
British official report says:
THE assembly of our troops for the
attack was carried out successfully"
It was about pm. when the battal-
ion left the village and made It's way
UP the crowded road toward the scene Of
war. The men had been billeted in
houses which had in some measure es-
capped the ravages of artillery fire. and
all day they lay there. waiting for the
night to fall--the night OF battle In
structions were given them as to the
work which they had to do, the OBJ
jectives to be attained, the hour in
which the attack would be launched
and the hundred and one other details
about the labor which had to be done.
The men listened atteutively while their
officers spoke to them and hung on
every word as if their very lives de-
pended on 1t.
Forward in the Darkness.
It was quite dark. with stir wind
blowing, when the battalion went out
on its journey. AS soon as the men got
OuI "a Inc NAiid9O ehOy hOtiNNo SA6I Gil
intense fire was raging ahead over the
Passchendaele ridge. It seemed as IL a
double barrage had been opened both by
the British and the Germans Progress
was not easy. The road by which the
men marched was heavy with traffic.
with the usual vast activity, which
never comes to an end In the back area
Men with heavy burdens on their backs
bulked big in the darkness as they
plodded along. carrying supplies up to
the lines. Some carried charcoal bra
along and -one-he was a small man
with great shoulders-carried bag
over his back which some guessed con-
tanned the rum jar.
Near the road. dimly seen through the
darkness, half a dozen mules were hard
at work, hauling field gun out of the
slough into which it had fallen. while
the gunners strained at the axles, help
ing the animals at their work. ALL
round pioneers. engineers and transport
men were busy with their labors In the
deep mud and filth Of the battle field OF
Flanders.
The marching men were in a gay good
humor. Not one Of them showed a trace
Of uneasiness. Jokes, laughter. stories
ness and Indifference to the danger be-
fore them. None were smoking or sing
ing, but this was because they were not
allowed 10 40 SlIHeI. Inc Germans WOULD
be on the watch from, Crest farm, which
looked down the road, and if they were
aware of the troops coming up the Ger
man gunners would open fire on them.
ing" said one. a big Iumberman from
British Columbia I'VE can come up smok-
ing in future"
well. that itself is worth fighting for"
moro CHEEKY coming up with the cigar
cites going" The men strobe through the
night, skirting the shell craters which
pitted the road. trudgfng round the shat
tered limbers, which lay here and there
and were not yet dragged out of the way.
into the slushy fields when wagons and
blocked the road and then out
again to continue the march.
Over the Shell-Torn Road.
The road at this point was torn and
Quilted with the guns of war. The shell
craters were filed to the brim with slush
and these craters showed at every few
yards of the way. The battle line was
very near. Over the heads of the march,
ing men the bullets could be heard swish
ing along through the air. Now and again
a shell burst close at hand, and the frag-
ments sang through the darkness At
each explosion the men would bend their
bodies little, but still continue march
ing. Now and again man was hit and
he would fall to the ground His mates
would bend and lift him from the muck
and place him on higher ground.
Pass the word back for stretcher bear
ers!" they would call to the read, and then
run ahead and take up their places in the
ranks
The leading company came to a halt and
a hurried consultation was held among the
officers
TT should be here" said one. There
was a wooden cross by the road-on the
left"
Here it is" said another, cropping in
the slush with his hand and pulling a piece
of wood out This is a cross. or was
one before it was hit by a splinter
Form into single f1le!" said the first
officsr, turning to his men. Wen cross
The men did as directed, and presently
q long line of shadows were making their
way across the crater land toward the
rising star shells. On the left other COM
panies went out across the crater land in
q similar manner, and farther along other
battalions were doing the same in the
darkness
Ready for the Dawn.
The Germans seemed to be on the alert
now; a thousand guns were busy. churn-
Ing up the siush of the dumb. desolate
levels: machine guns were active and star
shells rose and fell over the stricken land
But the brave men, logged and daring,
slithering or the duck boards. begging in
the slushy earth. and probing the ground
In front Of them with their rifle butts,
Tawled forward up to the positions which
they were to occupy prior to the Jump
in the morning. Men fell wounded and
lay there until the stretcher bearers found
them they sunk to their hips il the siusll
and were pulled out by their comrades.
But they got there. The assembly was
completed and at dawn thew were ready
to give battle to the enemy and chase