The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1917-09-20
Hold Regina Trench at Last.

Inc heRlna trench had been taken
and lost three times by the British
We took 1t that day and held it. We
went into action with 800 men of all
ranks and came out with COO.
l have said that because we were on
tho extreme right OF the line we had
the hottest little spot in France to
hold for awhile. You see, we had to
Institute n double defensive, us we
had the Germans on our front and on
our flank, the whole length Of the
trench to the right Of us being still
held by the Germans. There we had
to form "block." maSsing our bomb
ers behind bnrricade which wns only
fifteen yards from the barricadc be-
hind which the Germans were lighting
Our flank and the German flank were
In contact as fiery as that of two live
wire ends. And meanwhile the TritZcs
tried to rush us on our front with nine
separate countcrattaCks. Only one of
them got up close to us. and we went
ont and stopped that with the bnyonet
Behind our block barricade there was
the nearest approach to an actual fight
ing hell that l had seen.
And yet n man who was In the midst
Of 1t from beginning to end came out
without n scratch. He was tall chap
named Hunter. For twenty-four hours
without interruption, he threw German
"eggshell" bombs from position at
the center OF our barricade. He never
stopped except to light cigarette or
yell for some one to bring him more
bombs from FritZ's captured store
house. He projected a regular curtain
| OF fire of his own. I've no doubt the
Germans reported he was a couple OF
platoons, working in alternate reliefs.
| He was awarded the u. &. NJ. for his
services in that fight. and, though, as
said, he was unwoundcd. half the
men around him were killed, and his
nerves finished in such condition that
he had to be sent back TO England.
The Big Blunder and What It Cost.
One of the great tragedies OF the war
resulted from bit OF carelcssness
when n couple OF days later the effort
was made to extend our grip beyond
| the spot which we took In that first
| fight. Plans had been made for the
! Forty fourth battalion OF the Tenth
! Canadian brigade to take by assault
the trench section extending to the
right from the point where we had es-
tablished the "block" on our flank The
hour for tho attack had been fixed.
Then headquarters sent out counter
manding order Something wasn't
quite ready.
The orders were sent by runners, as
all confidential orders must be- Tele-
phones are OF no avail any more, as
both our people and the Germans have
an apparatus which needs only to be
attached to a metal spike in the ground
to "pick up" every telephone message
within radius OF three miles When
telephones are used for anything I'm
portant messages are sent In code
But for any vitally important commu-
nication which might cost serious
losses. II misunderstood old style run
ners are used, just az they were In the
days when the field telephone was un-
heard OF. II II the rule to dispatch two
or three runners by different routes 80
that one at least will bc certain to mr.
rive. In the case Of the cOuntermand-
ing or the order for the Fourty-fOurth
battalion to assault the German posi-
tton on our flank some officer nt head
quarters thought that one messenger
to the lieutenant colonel commanding
the Frrty-fOurth would be sufficient.
The messenger was killed by q chance
shot, ana his message was undelivered.
The Forty-fourth, I'm ignorance OF the
! change of plan. event over" There
was no barragc fire to protect them.
and their valiant effort was simply a
wholesale suicide. Six hundred out OF
500 men were on the ground in two
! and half minutes. The battalion was
simply wiped out. Several officers
were court Tfnrtialed as u result OF
this terrible blunder.
We had gone into the German
trenches at II little after noon on Sat
urday. On Sunday night at about 1C
O'Clock we were relieved The relief
force had To- come IN overland, and
they had q good many casualties en-
route. Ihey found us as comfortable
as bugs In rug except for the infer
nal and continuous bombing at our
flank barriCade. The Germans had
| concluded that 1t was useless to try to
| drive us out About one-fourth OF the
GOO Of US who were still on their feet
| were holding the sentry posts, and the
remainder Of the 600 were having
banQucts I'm the German dugouts. which
were stocked up like delicatessen shops
| with sausages, fine canned foods, cham.
pagne and beer. II we had only had
few ladies with us we could have
had real party.
got so happily interested i'm the
spread in our particular dugout that |
forgot about my wound until some one
reminded me that orders required me
| to hunt up dressing station and yet
an anti-tetanus injection. The Tom.
mics like to take German trench, be.
cause If the Fritzcs have to move
quickly, as they usually do, we always
find sausage, beer and champagne, a
welcome change from bully beef. I
could never learn to like their bread,
however.
After this fight I was sent, with