The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-06-30

end Of our time in the German trench
eS.
The leader of every party OF ten
also had a whistle with which TO re-
peat the warning blast and then the
final blast, when each man was 10
drop everything and get back or our
artillery fire. We were not TO leave
any dead or wounded in the. German
trench, on account uf the information
which the Germans might thus obtain.
Before starting on the raid, we had
removed all marks from our persons,
including even our Identification discs.
Except for the signallers. each party
Of ten was similarly organized. First.
there we're two bayonet men. each
with an electric flash light attached
to his rifle so as 10 give light for the
direction Of d bayonet thrust and
controlled by a button at the LETT
hand grasp Of the rifle. Besides his
rifle, all Of these men carried six or
eight Mills No. hand grenades,
weighing from pound and five
ounces to pound and seven ounces.
The Lineup.
They are the same shape as turkey
egg and little larger Upon withdraw
ing the firing pin, a lever sets -FOUR
second fuse going. One Of these
erenades will clean out anything nv'
ing in ten-foot trench section. II
will also kill the man who is throwing
it; if he holds it more than TOUR
seconds, after he has pulled the PIN
The third man Of each ten was an ex-
pert bomb thrower,. equipped as light.
fv as possible TO give him freedom OF
action. He carried a few bombs, him.
self, but the main supply was carried
BY the fourth man who was not 10
throw any unless the third man be-
came Il casualty, in which case NUM-
Der four was TO take his place. The
third man also carried knobkerr1e-
heavy bludgeon to be used IN Whack-
ing an enemy over the. head. ours
were made by fastening heavy steel
nuts on a stout stick Of wood-a very
business-like contriyancc. The fourth
man, or bomb carrier, besides having
d large supply Of Mills grenades, mao
smoke bombs, TO be used IN smoking
the Germans out Of dug-outs and, Ia
ter, II necessary, in covering our re-
latter are very dangerous to handle;
They contain a mixture Of petrol and
hoSphorus, and weigh three pounds
each. On exploding they release
LIQUID fire which will burn through
steel.
The fifth. sixth, seventh and eighth
in line were called utility men. They
we're to take the places of any OF the
four who might become casualties. In
addition, they carried two Stokes-gun
bombs, each These weigh nine
pounds apiece. have two si1-second
fuses, and can be used in wrecking
dug-outs. The ninth and tenth men
were sappers, carrying slabs OF gun.
cotton and several hundred yards or
instantaneous fuse. Thi sexplosive Is
used in demolishing machine-gun en-
and mine sap3. The sap
pers were to lay their charges while
We were at work in the trenches. and
explode them a3 soon as our party
was far enough out. on the return jour
ney, 10 be safe from this danger. In
addition TO these parties OF ton, there
we're three Of us who carried bombs
and had orders TO keep near the three
officers. TO take the place OF any one
Of them that might go down. and
to use our own judgment
about helping the jolly old party
along. | was assigned one OF the
three.
In addition 10 the raiding party
nroper there was relay all across No
Mans Land, at ten PAGES interval,
making human chain 10 show Us our
way back to assist the wounded, and.
in case OF opportunity or necessity. to
reinforce US They were ordered not
to leave their positions when we be-
gan TO come back unit 1.-The last man
Of our party had been accounted for.
The final section Of our encourage was
OF twelve stretcher bearers,
who had been specially trained with
us, so that they would be familiar
with the trench section that we
we're to raid.
The Raid and Its Result. !
There were two things which made
It possible for our raidtng party 10 get
started across No Mans Land. One