Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-11-30
No. 3 &
Over the Top and
Give EN- He'll
bp Sergeant Alexander neClintock.
D. G. NJ, 9Th Overseas BAIT
Canadian Cren. Guards
1917. by the Bell Syndicate. 1ue
Great Confusion.

Great Confusion.
There was much confusion among
those Of Us who remained on our feet.
Some one gave an order to retire. and
some one countermanded it. More
Germans came out Of their dugouts,
but instead Of surrendering az per our
o1i;ss::ae! schedule they threw bombs
among US. 1t became apparent that
we would be killed or captured If we
stuck there and that we wouldn't get
any more prisoners. looked ut my
wrist watch and saw that there re-
manned but i've minutes more Of the
time which had been allotted for our
stay in the trench. SO blew my whis-
tie and started back. had seen Pri-
vate Green (No. IT, 250) knocked down
by a bomb in the next section, and I
picked him up and carried him out
over the wrecked parapet. I took shell
ter with him in the first shell hole, but
I found that he was dead and left him
there. A few yards farther back to-
ward our line I found Lance Corporal
Glass in . shell hole with part Of his
hip shot away. He said he thought he
could get back II helped him, and I
started with him. Private Hunter,
who had been in a neighboring shell
hole, came to our assistance, and be-
tween us Hunter and got Glass to
our front trench.
We found them lining up the surviv-
ors Of our party for roll call. That
showed SO many missing that Major,
Lewis, formerly of the Montreal Star,
called for volunteers to 60 out in No
Mans Land and try to find some Of
our men. Corporal Charleson. Private
Saunders and went out. We brought
In two wounded, and we saw q number
Of dead, but on account Of their black
ened faces were unable to recognize
them. The scouts later brought In sew
eral bodies.
OF the sixty odd men who had start
ed In our party forty-three were found
TO be casualties-killed, wounded or
missing. The missing list was the
longest. The names of those men were
marked I'm. b. h." (missing; believed
killed) on our rolls. have learned
since that some few Of them have been
reported through Switzerland as pris-
oners Of war in Germany. but most Of
them are now officially listed as dead.
All of the survivors Of the raiding
party were sent twenty miles to the
rear at o'clock, and the noncommls
stoned officers were ordered to make
reports in writing concerning the en-
tire raid. I never slept more than az
hour at q time for several days and
nights. / would doze of from sheer
exhaustion and then suddenly find my
self sitting straight up, scared half to
death all over again.
There may be soldiers who won't
get scared when they know they are
in danger or even when people are be-
ing killed right around them, but I'm
not one Of them. And I've never met
any Of them yet. I know boy who
won the military cross In the battle Of
the Somme, and I saw him on his
knees before his platoon commander,
shamelessly crying he was coward
and begging to be left behind, just
when tie order to advance was given.
In this war in every offensive, big
or small, the man who has been train
ed to throw bomb thirty yards Is
buster and more important than the
fellow with the modern rifle, which
will shoot mile and half and make
hole through house. In good
many surprising ways this war has
carried us back to first principles. I
remember a crusaders mace which I
once saw in the British museum that
would make bang up knob kerrie,
much better than the kind with which
they arm our No. men in a raiding
section. It had round iron head,
with spikes all over, 1t. wonder that
they haven't started factory to turn
/. thorn ont
Tricks Of Bombing.
When the Canadians first introduced
bombing the bombs were improvised
ont Of mess tins, the fuses were cut
according to the taste and Judgment
OF the individual bomber, and just
when the bomb would explode was
more or less problematical. Frequent
" the Germans have tossed our bombs
back into our trenches before they
went oil. That was dangerous and ir-
ritating. They can't do that with
Mills grenade or any Of the improved
factory made bombs, because the men
know Just how they are timed and are
trained to know Just how to throw
them. Then the Germans used to
work little bomb trick Of their own.
They learned that our scouts and raid
ers were Nil anxious to get German.
helmet q souvenir. They'd put hel.