El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-06-23


Land the greater part Of the night
with orders to gain any information
possible which might be Of vafue to
( battalion. brigade, division or general
headquarters They reported on the
condition of the Germans barbed wire.
the location OF machine guns and
! other little things like that which
might be Of interest to some com
handing officer. 20 miles back. Also.
they were ordered to make effort to
patrols, so that we could get informa-
ton from them
One of the interesting moments IN
this work came when a star smell
caught you out in an open spot If
YOU moved, YOU were gone I've seen
men stand on one foot for the 80 sec
Onds during which a star shell will
burn. Then, when scouts or patrols
met in No Mans Land they always
had to fight il out with bayonets- One
single shot would be the signal Tor
artillery fire and would mean the al
most instant humiliation OF the men
on both sides Of the fight Under the
necessities OF this war, many OF our
men have been killed by our own she'll
fire
The Daylight Hour.
At a little before daybreak came
stand to-" when everybody got
buttoned up and ready for business.
because, at that hour, most attacks
begin and also that was the regular
time for a dose of morning and eve
ming hate" other wise a good lively
1 5 minutes of shell fire We had some
casualties every morning and evening,
and the stretcher bearers used to get
ready for them as a regular matter
Of course. For Is minutes at dawn
and dusk, the Germans used to send
''minniewurfers'' (shells from trench
mortars) in such a generous way that
il looked as if they liked to shoot EN-
off. whether they hit anything or not
You could always hear the heavy
stuff coming, and We paid little at
tention to il as il was used in efforts
TO reach the batteries, back of our
lines. The poor old town OF Dinkie-
busch got the full benefit OF It When
a shell would shrek its way over.
some one would say: There goes the
express for Dinkiebusch." and a cou-
pie of seconds later, when some prom
inent landmark of Dinkiebusch would
disintegrate with a loud detonation.
some one else would remark:
Trains arrived
Shout at Rats for Sport.
About the only amusement we had
during our long stay in the front
trenches was to sit with our backs
against the rear wall and shoot at
the rats running along the parapet.
Poor Macfarlane. with d flash Of the
old humor which he had before the
war told a rookie" that the trench
rats were so big that he saw one of
them trying on his great coat They
used to run over our faces when we
were sleeping in our dugouts, and I've
seen them IN ravenouS sWarmS. bur-
rowing into the shallow graves of
the dead. Most of the soldiers legs
are SCARED TO the knees with bites
The one thing, Of which We con-
stantly lived in fear was gas at
tack I used 70 wake in the middle
OF the night. in a cold sweat. dream
ing that 1 heard the clatter and whiS-
tie blowing all along the line which
meant that the gas was coming And,
finally. ! really did hear the terrify-
ing sound. just at moment when II
couldn't have sounded worse. / was
in charge of the daily ration detail.
sent back about ten miles TO the point
OF nearest approach of the transport
Iorries. 10 carry in rations. ammunt-
ton and sand bags to the front
trenches
Caught at "ShrapneI Corner
We had a lot of trouble returning
with our loads Passing point which
was called ''Shrapnel Corner" because
the Germans had precise range on it, 1
We were caught in machine gun fire
and had to lie on our stomachs for
20 minutes, during which We lost one
man, wounded I sent him back and |
went on with my party only to run 1
into another machine gun shower /
half mile further on While We were
lying down TO escape this, a concealed 1
British battery of five inch guns. /
about which We knew nothing, opened I
up right over our heads It shook US
up and scared US so that some of our /
party were now worse off than the /
man WIN who had been hit and car
ried to the rear. We finally got to- |
gether and went on. When we were /
about a mile behind the reserve I
trench. stumbling in the dark through /
the last and most dangerous path 4
tie followed by a wave OF metallic |
hammering and wild footing which 4
seemed to spread over all Of Belgium I
a mile ahead of US. All any OF US |
could say was
Cas-"
Fighting the Awful Gas
All you could see in the dark was a /
collection of white and frightened /
faces. Every trembling finger seemed /
awkward as a thumb as We got out 1
Our gas masks and helmets and put /
them on, following directions as near l
y as we could. I ordered the men 1
to sit still and sent two forward to /
notify me from headquarters when 4
the gas alarm was over. They lost /
their way and were not found for two
days.
We sat there for an hour. and then
ventured TO take my mask off AS /
nothing happened. I ordered the men .
to do the same. When we got into /
the trenches with our packs. we found
that the gas alarm had been one Of