The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1917-11-08


not been furnished with the respirators
and gas helmets at that time. We Sc
cured these things o on after. but all
the time I had mine | never saw an
other sign of gas.
l found out afterward that those two
officers who had been in the dugout
were both killed by the gas.
The officer who was with me at the
time of the gas attack was one of the
most remarkable men l ever met. For
several years before the wal he had
been in the British secret service in
Germany. SO he spoke German almost
as well as he did English.
One day we stopped at a hospital In
Bailleul, and one of the orderlies told
us that there we're some German
wounded there. The officer asked me
II l would like to go in and see them
! said l would like It very much, SO We
went in. There was one poor devil all
by himself among some English pa.
tients. The officer went over and sat
on the edge of his bed and began to
talk to him.
If you could have seer that pool fel
lows face when he heard himself ad
dressed in his own language! His
whole countenance lighted up, and he
began to talk. Pretty soon the tears
began to run down his cheeks, and ]
felt awfully sorry for the poor chap.
who was away from all his own PEG
pie, severely wounded.
He said that he had just been mar.
ried before the beginning Of the war.
and he and his wife had saved all they
could, and two days before he was
called up they had bought a COW. He
was as worried as he could be for fear
something had happened to the cow.
(
The bombardment Of Ypres began the
night Of the April day We experienced
the gas, and with the bombardment be-
gan the infantry attack. was up at .
little place called Rheninghlest, and !
could hear the rifles and machine guns
at It for all they were worth. I was
thanking my lucky stars that l was on
my 4 instead of q motorcycle ma.
chine gun, when an orderly rode up and
told me that l was to report at head.
quarters at nee
All the way back to camp I had the
feeling that something was going to
happen, and when l arrived there l
was told to report myself to the signal
company for duty with my motorcycle
Then l knew that l vas to carry dis
patches through the coming battle.
wish to make particular note of the
fact that at the beginning of this bat
tie, which lasted three weeks, we dis.
patch riders numbered thirty-one In all
for corps. Half an hour later we
were fully equipped and on our way to
the advanced report center, which
would be the scene Of u activities
until the fight was over.
We were about 500 yards to the rear
Of the first line of trenches and were
given an old barn to ourselves, and We
laid out our blankets and made our
beds, for it vas 1890 o'clock. The at.
tack was increasing In fury, all kinds
Of shells landing around us, and the
Germans were using their same old
tactics of hurting great masses Of
troops against our position.
Our machine guns gave the usual
good account of themselves, and the
German dead were piled up over our
wire entanglements in great heaps.
The Germans would fall back, reform
and come on again In their usual close
formation. So it went all night, and
when the morning came the dead
ground between the two lines of
trenches was a grewsome looking place.
During the day the Germans bonn.
barded our first and second line trench
es with high explosives and %schrapnel
all day, and at night they resumed
Day after day and night after night
the battle continued until we all felt
dead and numb all over.
Sometimes the Germans would pen
citrate our. lines for a few yards, and
then we would Immediately counter"
before they had a chance to strengthen
their position. We lost an awful lot of
men, but even though l don't know the
exact figures l know / am safe in say
ing that the German losses were
than double what ours were.
We dispatch riders were certainly
kept busy during this time. Our work
was to be standing by every minute of
the day and night, and the moment we
were wanted to sling the dispatch case
over our shoulder and get away for the
headquarters to the ear.
The riding at night was terrible. The
Germans were Smelling all the roads in
the vicinity, and w had to 60 dashing
along through the inky ~blackness at
breakneck pace. 1t was impossible to
see more than a yard Of two ahead,
and so 1t was a case Of ride like the
dickens and trust to luck. The road
was covered with shell holes, and the
first intimation we would get Of the
fact was when we would feel the mo-
torbike drop beneath us and feel our
selves shooting through the air like
amateur skyrockets.
We would pick ourselves up, drag
the motorbike out of the hole and, IL It