Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-08-16


After had been hit remember feel
Ing relieved that l hadn't been hurt
enough to keep me from going on with
the men. I'm not trying to make my.
self out hero. I'm just trying to tell
you how an ordinary mans mind
works under the stress of fighting and
the danger of sudden death. There
are some queer things in the psycholo.
gy OF battle. For instance, when we
had got into the German trench and
were holding it against the most
vigorous counterattacks the thought
which was persistently uppermost In
my mind was that I had lost the nd
oress of a girl In London along with
some papers which had thrown away
Just before we started over and which
I should certainly never be able to find
again.
Hold Regina Trench at Last.
The Regina trench had been taken
and lost three times by the British.
We took it that day and held it. We
went into action with 1900 men of nil
ranks and came out with GOO.
l have said that because we were OH
me extreme right of the line we had
the hottest little spot in France TO
hold for awhile. You see, we had to
institute double defensive, as 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
efs behind barricade which was only
fifteen yards from the barricade be-
hind which the Germans were fighting
Our flank and the German flank were
IN contact as fiery as that of two live
Wfre ends. And meanwhile the Fritzes
tried to rush us on our front with nine
separate counterattacks. Only one of
them got up close to us, and we went
ont and stopped that with the bayonet.
Behind our block barricade there was
the nearest approach to an actual fight
ing hell that had seen.
And yet man who was In the midst
of 1t from beginning to end came out
without scratch. He was tall chap
named Hunter. For twenty-four hours,
without interruption, he threw German
saggshell' bombs from position at
tie center Of our barricade. He never
stopped except to light cigarette OF
yaal 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 couple Of
platoons, working In alternate reliefs.
Hs was awarded the d. G. NJ. for his
services in that fight, and, though, as
I said, he was unwounded, half the
men around him were killed, and his
narves 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 a bit of carelessness
when a 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 the attack had been fixed.
Then headquarters sent out counter
handing 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 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 vitality important commu-
hicatfon which might cost serious
losses, If misunderstood, old style run
ners are used, just as they were in the
days when the field telephone was un-
heard OF. 1t is the rule to dispatch two
or three runners by different routes 80
that one at least will be certain to ar
rive. In the case Of the countermand-
Ing Of the order for the Fourty fourth
battalion to assault the German posi-
ton on our flank some officer at head
quarters thought that one messenger
to the lieutenant colonel commanding
the BOrty-fourth would be sufficient.
The messenger was killed by chance
shot, and his message was undelivered.
The Borty-fourth, in ignorance of the
change of plan, went over" There
was no barrage fire to protect them,
and their valiant effort was simply
wholesale suicide. Six hundred out of
500 men were on the ground in two
and a half minutes The battalion was
simply wiped out. Several officers