The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1918-09-12

over and clouted out the best friend
! had In my company. Before the
war he had been one Of the finest sing
ers in the Paris opera houses. When
he was with us he used to say that
the only difference between him and
Caruso was $500 a night.
A pollu and ] dragged him into a
dugout, but II was too late. One side
Of his face was blown OF; the whole
right side Of him was stripped of
and four fingers OF the right hand
were gone.
I stuck my head out Of the dugout
and there was the captain discussing
the matter with himself. curslng the
Germans from here 20 Helgoland and
putting In word for the bombs every
once In a while. All up and down the
trenches you could hear our men
curslng the Germans In all kinds OF
languages. Believe me, I did my bit
and ] could hear somebody else using
good old United States cuss words,
too. II certainly did not make me feel
any better. but II gave me something
to do. ] think that was why all OF
us cursed so much then. though we
were pretty handy with language at
any time. But when you are under
II back as good as you get, you go
crazy unless you have something TO do.
Cussing Is the best thing we could
think of.
Up the trench the third bay was
simply smashed in and the Germans
were placing bomb after bomb right
In II and in ours. The captain yelled
out that he was going up to the next
bay 20 examine II, but no more had
he got there than he had his head
taken clean of his shoulders.
At daybreak our trenches were all
pounded in and most Of our dugouts
were filled up. Then Fritz opened up
with his artillery fire right on us. We
thought they were going to charge and
we figured their barrnge would lift
and we could see them come over.
We received orders TO stand to with
fixed bayonets Then the man at the
perlscope shouted, "They Gomez
A battery directly behind us went
into action first and then they all
Joined in and inside Of FIVE minutes
about eight hundred guns were raising
Cain with Fritz. The Boches were
caught square in No Mans Land and
our rifles and machine guns simply
moved them down. Many of them
came half way across, then dropped
their guns and ran for our trenches
to give themselves up. They could not .
have got back TO their own trenches. !
II was a shame TO waste a shell on /
these poor fish. II they had been civ /
hitting them-you know the kind. |
They could hardly drag themselves |
along.
That is the way they look when you |
have got them. But when they have I
got you-kicks, cuffs. bayonet jabs-
there is nothing they will not do to
add to your misery. They seem to
think that It boosts their own courage.
An artillery fire like ours was great |
fun for the gunners, but 1t was not /
much fun for Fritz or for Us In the /
trenches. We got under cover almost /
as much as Fritz and held thumbs for
the gunners to get through In a hurry.
Then the fire died down and 1t was
so quiet II made you jump.
We thought our parapet was busted
up a good deal, but when we looked
the periscope we saw what
had happened 10 Fritz trenches and.
believe me. they were practically
ruined.
Out In No Mans Land 1t looked like
five-and-ten; everywhere
were gray uniforms, with tincups and
accouterments that belonged TO the
Germans before our artillery and ma
chine guns got TO them.
Our stretcher bearers were busy.
the wounded back 10 first-ald
dressing station. for, Of course, we had
suffered too. From there the blesses
were shipped TO the clearing station.
The dead lay in the trenches all day
and AT night they were carried out
by working parties to "Stiff park" as
called II.
A man with anything on his mini
ought not 10 go TO the front-line
trenches. He will be crazy inside Of
a month. The best way Is not TO
care whether II rains or SHOWS: there
ire plenty OF important things to
worry about.