Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-11-23
AT ZERO HOUR.
(From the December Popular Me-
chanics.)


technical details of "a wave" attack
which official and unofficial report.
mention in every disp- tch, rs the on,
. published in the December number Of
Popular Mechanics magazine under
this head. 1t gives much more than
that. 1t is full of dramatic, not to
say tragic, human-interest anecdote
The story was told to tie anony-
nous writer by the sole survivor OF
one Of the Incidents related, and every
word of it bears evidence of its truth
Indeed it is so life-like that it might
well be called Il moving picture in
words. The very first paragraph puts
the reader right into Inc trenches
With the actors. To quote:
81 counted four of them, and all |
could see at any one time was about
so yards of trench. The truth of it
was that we all were near the bord-
er line of insanity from the suspense,
and these four were weaker links that
couldn't stand the stress. All along
the line it was just the same, for ev-
cry man knew 1T was coming and yet
did net know when. IT stood for zero
hour, the moment our big attack was
to begin"
After relating some queer instanc-
es Of mental alteration in the heat of
battle, the story goes on:
Somehow or other an incident like
that brings home the hideuos reality
of war stronger to me than even the
ear-breaking thunder of heavy shells,
for it emphasizes the strain that we
all are having to bear. One sees every
detail, while in the more active mo-
ments Of conflict the mind is blessed
ly oblivious TO most everything but
the footing and the aim.
"And the worst of it is that these
weak ones that go under often take
others with them. Ches. Wight fin
ished himself and Carney. and l be-
lieved that for two hours | was gone,
too. The three Of us went over the
top one night Monday morning about
three o'clock, to be eXact-to deter
mine whether or not the Germans had
evacuated their first line trench. {.
Wight, Carney and | crept out.
v,
not even letting the glmmcr of star
through, so the time was ideal for
accommodating. We had covered about
10 OF the 10 yards and were beginning
to hear gutterals now and then, when
suddenly / smellcd garlic-not garlic
cooking, but the stencil that comes
from the breath Of person who has
been eating it.
81 touched Carney on the leg and
he signalled to Wight, who was just
beyond. That same instant, creeping
toward us we saw Il Hun, hulking
shadow, very near. The three of us
put an end to his scouting duty quick
ly and without much noise. We just
made sufficient, however, in choking
him to arouse the trench ahead of
us. Stealthly sounds came up of many
men scrambling to the edge
ave could have no further doubt
that the trench still was occupied, so
Carney and started back without
more ado. We could not see Wight,
but thought of course, that he was at
the side of us. Just as we were 20
feet from home, however, we heard
bloodcurdlinb yell behind us. Outlin-
ed roughly against the lesser black
ness of the sky came Wight, running
and waving his arms.
"A commotion arose in our trench.
As Wight charged on, our sentries
evidently mistaking him for the van
of German surprise attack, opened
fire and brought him down. Carney
and both lost our heads for second
and started up. That was enough for
Carney. He went down with four Cam
adian bullets through him. One shot
cut through the skin of my arm just
above the elbow and it brought back
sense to me. l dropped fiat.
For the next two hours | remained
without moving, afarid to attempt to
make the trench before the dawn
guard was posted. tried to call the
attention of one of the earlier sentrics
but to no avail. knew that the bar
rels of 80 rifles and two machine guns
were hanging over the edge, pointed
in my general direction. waiting for
more Germans.
WIN Inc llTSI SITclko VI uuWn
gathered all my courage and called
my captain by name and then each Of
the officers in turn. Then I crawled in,
to be met by very suspicious sentry
who had great difficulty in recognize
ing me.
"Three days later 1 found out that
Wight had apparently gone daft upon
overcoming the German we met on
the waste. He had stopped to search
the body and then had donned the
helmet of our adversary and started
charge all by himself-and in the
direction of our trenches.
"rhe twist of psychology is hard to
understand, perhaps, but it is COM
mon. Once in big University foot
ball match l saw the captain loose
his head in this manner, and forget
which goal his own team was defend
/ ing, but it always seems to border or
the spooky to me-"
PRESIDENT AGAIN PLEDGES