The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1917-08-17
Hold Regina Trench at Last.

/
The Regina trench had been taken
and lost three times by the British.
| We took 1t that day and held It. We
went into action with 1900 men of all
| ranks and came out with 600
| have said that because we were on
the extreme right of the line we had
the hottest little spot In France to
hold for awhile. You see we had to
institute double defensive, as we
had the Germans on our front and ON
our flank, the whole length OF the
trench TO the right Of us being still
held by the Germans. There we had
| to form a block" masslng our bomb
ers behind barricade which was only
fifteen yards from the barricade be
hind which the Germans were fighting.
Our flank and the German flank were
In contact as fiery as that of two live
wire ends. And meanwhile the FritZes
tried to rush us on our front with nine
separate counterattacks. Only one OF
them got up close to us, and we went
out and stopped that with the bayonet
Behind our block barricade there was
the nearest approach to an actual fight
ing hell that | had seen.
And yet man who was In the midst
Of 1t from beginning to end came out
without scratch. He was a tall chap
named Hunter. For twenty-four hours,
without interruption. he threw German
''eggshell'' bombs from position at
the center of our barricade. He never
stopped except TO light cigarette or
yell for some one to bring him more
bombs from Fritz's captured store
house. He projected regular curtain
Of fire OF his own. I've no doubt the
Germans reported he was a couple of
platoons, working in alternate reliefs
He was awarded the d. C. NJ. For his
services in that fight, and, though, as
! said, he was unwounded, half the
men around him were killed, and his
nerves finished in such condition that
he had to be sent back to England.
The Big Blunder and What It Cost.
One of the great tragedies Of the war
resulted from bit of carelessness
when a couple of days later the effort
was made to extend our grip beyond
the spot which we took in that first |
fight Plans had been made for the |
Forty-fourth battalion OF the Tenth |
Canadian brigade to take by assault |
the trench section extending to the |
right from the point where we had es-
tablished the ''block' on our flank. The !
hour for the attack had been fixed, |
Then headquarters sent out a counter
handing order Something wasn't
quite ready.
The orders were sent by runners, as |
all confidential orders must be. Tele
phones are of no avail any more, as
both our people and the Germans have I
an apparatus which needs only to be
attached to a metal spike In the ground
to pick up" every telephone message /
within II radius of three miles When /
telephones are used for anything i'm
portant messages are sent In code,
But for any vitality important commu-
nication which might cost serious
losses, If misunderstood old style rum
ners are used, Just as tley were in the
days when tie Geld telephone was I'M
heard Of. tits the rule to dispatch two
or three runners by different routes so
that one at least will be certain to ar
rive. In the case Of the countermand-
ing of the order for the Fourty-fourth
battalion to assault the German posi-
ton on our flank some officer at head
quarters thought that one messenger
to the lieutenant colonel commanding
the Forty-fourth would be sufficient
The messenger was killed by chance
shot, and his message was undelivered
The Forty-fourth, in ignorance Of the
change Of plan. went over" There
was no barrage fire to protect them,
and their valiant effort was simply
wholesale suicide. Six hundred out Of
800 men were on the ground in two
and half minutes. The battalion was
simply wiped out Several officers
were court martialed as a result Of
this terrible blunder
We had gone into the German
trenches Mt little after noon on Sat
urday On sunday night at about 10
o'clock we wire relieved The relief
for,oo hod M cofno In 0varlond and