Gunnison news-champion., 1917-11-09
CHAPTER VI.

OSmo throwing poruooo WEN
7 SOON found the reason for Tom.
my's absence. for as soon a. I left
the car and started out on foot
was continually being stopped and ask.
come from. what was ! doing and
what was ! going to do. Being on
sleciai duty. had a pass in my pos
session which bore the French stamp
rs well as the British This pass
would take me anywhere In France or
i.elgium. aud dash OF It. coupled
With the words special duty" permit.
d me TO 20 where I pleased. Had
en- withau; It woultl have been A.
rested abor every ten minutes
The desenses in Parts against hostile
aircraft attack were revelation to
me never saw anything more
thorough, In my life ANY OF the more
venturesome Germans who care to
make an attempt against Paris are In
for hot reception.
Two days after my arrival the ofIicer
whom ! was to take back to the front
said he was ready 10 start and to pre-
pare the car for the return journey on
the morrow. The ride back was un.
eventful. but when we arrived We
Ing to be moved north across the Bel
gi@n frontier the next day We were
to take over the job OF holding the
town Of Polieringhe. which the French
had been occupying We were then
tnking over more front than We had
been holding previously
Al this time the roads were In q ter.
ribc condition. They nre made Of cob
bles,ones In the middle. but either side
Is nothing but mud so after few
days rain II one slips on the stones he
f.lts himself In REGULAR Quagmire
and will sink In over the axle.
We took Poperinghe from the French.
and while We we're moving In they
were moving out. and the two lines Of
transport. each going over the came
road. resulted In some fine mixups
Eventually we arrived all right and
found that this place was much better
than Hazebrouck. which We had left
Hazebrouck was the junction OF seven
railroad lines and consequently . popu
lar target for German aircraft
There Was every facility for quarter
ing the men and horses. good Offices
for the staff. and we were much nearer
the firing line Al Poperinghe In my
car ] have made the run from our
trenches to Poperinghe In less than
twenty minutes. 90 you can see that We
were not very far behind the actual
lighting
The people in Poperinghe. while they
had seen British troops before had
never had them In the town for any
length Of time. and they seemed to be
very glad to zee IN We had several
Srotcn regiments IN our corps. ana
when they came ont Of the trenches the
hrst time they created great sensa.
tlon In the town. Their kits were .
never falling source Of astonishment to
the Belgians. The woman In the house
where was billetesi thought that II
was cruel to make them wear the ''lit-
tie dresses" in the cold weather She
wanted 10. know what they wore un.
denleath them. and when told bef
thnt they wore nothing she wouldn't
believe me explained to her that II
WAS against orders for them to wear
trousers under the kilt. but still abs se-
fused tolbeIieve
/. AT this time bomb throwing was BE-
coming more and more popular. and
besides using the hand bombs We were
using larger ones. which were thrown
by Q eatapauit arrangement They
could be thrown long distance and
N many caaes proved to be very ef-,
fective Bomb and grenade schools for
every division were opened. and the
men were trained TO throw bombe
scientifically.
In some places We started using the
slingsbot arrangement with which the
French throw bombs. but It didn't turn
out as well for Us as II did for them
I saw one case In which the nsing OF
one OF these things was very disas
trous. One Of our fellows put . bomb
In the sling and started swinging It.
As he tried to let II go the whole thing
hit the man standing next to him full
IN the jaw. OF course It exploded and
killed several men who were standing
near. including the fellow who had
tried to throw H.
During an attack in the Menin trench-
e | saw an incident that will never
forget Our fellows had taken two
lines Of trenches In . very few min
I,tes In some places there were Ger.
mans occupying . pant Of trench
while We held the other part
A big lrishman came dsshins up With
. i6ad of bombs. and ~ b cams Tor
ward saw thsss Germans raise their
,rifes 70 6rs at him Ths lrishman was
TO quick for them. though. Ter -
riucked : bomb into tAe tsuacb the9
swsrs In. and bearl fls yelL -epait
allslt hrtween ye. ~ swina
4 wiped spt t4e wao's crswe n seeaA.