El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-07-14

fighting in Belgium. and then the great
prepare rious for the Soume battle Tn this
tnstaImeut he tells Of conditions and
describes first hand the fighting in that
greatest OF all battles
- UR high command apparently
meant TO make a sure thing Of
- the general assault upon the
Regina trench. in which we were To
participate. Three times the order to
go over the top was couutermanded-
The assault was first planned for Oc-
tober 19- Then the date was changed
to the goth. Finally. at 1910 noon. of
October q, we went. tt was the first
general assault We had taken part in.
and we were in a highly nervous state
III admit that
It seemed almost certain death 20
start over in broad daylight yet as IL
turned out. the crossing OF No Mans
Land was accomplished rather more
easily than in our night raids our
battalion was on the extreme rlght OF
the line. and that added materially 10
our difficulties. first by compelling us
To advance through mud so deep that
some of our men sank TO their hips
in II and. second, by giving us the
hottest little spot in France 10 holo.
The ..MoppinE Up~ Wave.
was i'm charge of the second
"waveT or assault line This IS called
the hopping up wave because the
business of the men composing % is
thoroughly TO bomb out position
crossed by the first wave. 20 capture
or Kill all of the enemy remaining and
TO put the trench in condition TO be
defended against q counter attack by
reversing the fire steps ana throw
our artillery had given the Ger
mans such a barrerIuE and the curtain
fire which our guns dropped just 80
TO 90 Yards ahead Of us was so power
full that we lost comparatively few
men going over-only those who were
knocked down by shells which the
Germans landed amOn- US through
our barraEe. They never caught US
with their machine gun sweeping uu- .
til we ueared their trenches Then .
good many Of our men began 20 drop. .
but We were in their front trench be
fore they could cut US up any where .
near completely
Hit BY shell Fragments
Going over 7 was struck by shell .
fragments on the hand and Les, but .
the wounds were not severe enough .
10 stop me. In fact, ] did not know .
that had been wounded until felt .
blood running into my shoe Then .
7 discovered the cut in my leg but saw .
mar il was quite shallow. and that no .
artery OF importance had been dam
aged. So I went on
had the familiar feeling OF nerv-
business and physical shrinking and I.
nausea ar the beginning OF rms Il=Al,
but BY the time we were half way .
across No Mans Land. 7 mad my nerve F.
hack. After had been hit. 7 remem- .
Der feeling relieved that hadn't been
hurt enough 10 keep me from going
on with the men. I'm not trying 20
-aT hawn Q
ing 10 tell you how an ordinary man
mind works under the stress OF fight
fnc and the danger Of sudden death
There are some queer things in the
psychology OF battle For instance.
when we had got into the German
trench and were holding it against the
most vigorous counter attacks. the
thought which was perslsreurly ur-
1ermOs- in my mind was LlaL I L-A
lost the address Of a girl in London
thrown awa-. Just before we started
over. and which 7 should certainly
never be able 20 find again
Hold Regina Trench, at Last.
The Regina trench had been taken
and lost three times by the BRUSH
We went into action with 1900 men
Of all ranks and came out with 500
The position, which was the objective
Of our battalion was opposite 10 ana
only 1900 Yards distant from the town
d.
meaning Of the French sound was
highly inappropriate name for that
particular village During good
many months, for good many miles
D 0uud about that place, there WASH.
any such thing as peace From our
position. We could see a church steeple
IN the town Of Baupaume until the
Germans found that our gunuers were
using II as a zero mark and blew
IL down with explosives.
.
7 have said that because we were
7n the extreme right OF the line. we
had the hottest little spot in France
10 hold for G while. You see. we had
10 institute double defensive, as
ne had the Germans on our front and
ln our flank, the whole length Of the
reuch 20 the right or as being still
7eId by the Germans There we had
o form q block maSsllE our bomb
.rs behind a barricade which was only
3 yards from the barricade behind
which the Germans were fighting our
Tank and the German flank were
n contact as fiery as that of two live
7fre ends And. meanwhile. the
Tritzes tried to rush us on our front
g-irh nine separate counter attacks
and we went out and stopped that
sitn the baEoueL Behind our block
lzrricade there was the nearest au-
lroach to an actual fighting hell that
had seen
out without a Scratch.
And vet a man, who was In the
ridst Of it from beginning 20 end.
,ame out without a scratch He was a
all chap named Hunter For p hours,
without interruption, he threw Ger
nan egg shell" bombs from a posi-
ion at the center Of our barrIcade- He
lever stopped except TO light "A
.igaret OF yell for some one 20 bring
i'm more bombs from FritZ's captured
tore house. He projected regular
.urtafn Of fire OF his own. I've no
Ioubt the Germans reported he was
couple Of platoons, working IN al
ornate reliefs- BE was awarded the
; C. II for his services in that fight
nd though as I said, he was un-
wounded. half the men around him
3 ere killed. and his nerves finished in
rch condition that ne had 10 be sent
.ack 10 England
Big HIunder-And What It Cost
one OF the great tragedies Of the
var resulted from bit OF careless
.ess when. a couple Of days later, the
fort was made 10 extend our grip
.evoud the spot which we took in that
irsr fieht. Plans had been made for
he z4th battalion Of the tenth Cana
ian brigade to take by assault the
reuch section extending to the right
rom the point WneIe We nao ess ~
.shed the block on our flank The
orr for the attack had been fixed
hen HEADQUARTERS sent out counter
7audfug order Something wasn't
~, orders were sent by runners. as
ID confidential orders must be. Tele- I
homes are Of no avail any more as
of17 o11r Deople and the Germans have !
J, e-l-Iars tins which needs only 10 be
+fsrfed 10 a metal spike IN the a
round 10 pick W every Telephone S
,esszre within a radius OF three \
rHEaa