The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-10-31

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Boy" said he, "we're at the big show
at last"
him. Within sight of the spot where
he sat wondering he later fell in action
and died. The scene which so i'm
pressed him gave us all feeling of
great awe. Great shells from q thou
sand guns Were streaking and criss.
crossing the sky. Without glasses i
counted thirty-nine of our observation
balloons. Away of in the distance !
saw one German captive balloon. The
other aircraft were uncountable. They
were everywhere, apparently in hun
dreds. There could have been no more
wonderful panorama picture Of war in
it's new aspect.
Our battalion was in and out Of the
town Of Albert several days waiting
for orders. The battle of Courcelette
was then in progress. and the First.
Second and Third Canadian divisions
were holding front positions at terri
BILE cost. In the first part of October.
1916. we went in" opposite the fa-
nous Regina trench. The battle-ground
was just miles and miles of debris and
shell holes. Before we went TO our
position the officers and non-coms
were taken In by scouts to get the lay
OF the land. These trips were called
Cooks tours" On one of them
went through the town Of Poizers
twice and didn't know it. 1t had a
population of 10000 before the war.
On the spot where 1t had stood not
even a whole brick was left, it seemed.
Its demolition was complete. That
was an example Of the condition Of the
whole country over which our forces
had blasted their way for ten miles
since the previous July. There were
not even landmarks left.
The Cooks Tour"
On the night when We went In to in
spect the positions we were to hold, our
scouts, leading us through the fiat des
ert OF destruction. got completely turn.
ed round and took us back through
trench composed of shell holes con.
nected up until we ran into battal.
ion OF another brigade. The place was
dreadful beyond words. The stencil
Of the dead was sickening. In many
places arms and legs of dead men
stuck out of the trench walls.
We'made fresh start after our blum.
der, moving in single file and keeping
in touch each with the man ahead of
him. We stumbled along in the dark
ness through this awful labyrinth until
we ran into some of our own scouts
ut a. m. and found that we were
halfway across No Mans land, sew
eral hundred yards beyond our front
line and likely to be utterly wiped out
in twenty seconds should the Germans
sight us. Fine guides we had on this
Cooks tour" At last we reached
our proper position. and fifteen min
utes after We got there a whiz-bang. a
low explosive murdere'. buried me
completely. They had to dig me out
A few minutes later high explosive
shell fell In trench section where
three Of our men were stationed. All
we could find after it exploded were
one arm and one leg. which we buried
The trenches were without trench
mats. and the mud was from six inches
to three feet deep all through them
There were no dugOuts, only merely
miserable funk holes" dug where IL
was possible to dig them without un.
covering dead men. We remained il
this position four days, from the l1tl
TO the 2lst of October, 1916.
There were reasons. OF course. f.
the difference between conditions IL
Belgium and on the Sommc. On th
Somme we We're constantly preparin'
for a new advance, and we were onr
temporarily established on groun,
which we had but recently taken ate
long drumming with big guns. Tn,
trenches were merely shell holes con
nected by bitches. Our old ana ubiqui
tous and variously useful friend. tn,
snndbag. was not present la any e..
pacity, and therefore We had no para