The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-06-06

just place the large loop around his
neck and no matter II Tommy wishes
to return I" his trenches at the walk,
trot. or sallop, Fritz is perfectly agree
able to maintain Tornmy's rate of
speed.
We were ordered to black our faces
and hands. For this reason At night,
The English and Germans use what
they call star shells. "A sort OF rocket
affair. They are fired from large
pistol about twenty inches long. which
is held over the sandDag parapet of the
trench. and discharged into the air.
These STIR shells attain n height of
abont sixty feet. and range of from
fifty In seventy-fiye yards When they
hit the ground they explode, throwing
out strong calcium light which lights
up the ground in "a circle of II radius of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have parachute star shell which,
after reaching height of about sixty
feet, explodes. A parachute unfolds
and slowly floats to the ground. light
Ing up large circle in No Mans Land
The official name of the star shell is
a "Nery-light." Very-lights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. If q star shell falls In
front of you or between you and the
German lines. you are safe from detec-
tlon. us the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain of light.
But If 1t falls behind you and, as Tom
my says. you get in the star shell
zone" then the fun begins; you have
TO lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light OF
the shell dies out. This takes any
where from forty to seventy seconds.
II You haven't time TO fall 10 the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you were In
when the light exploded: II is advis-
able not TO breathe, as Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
nre knocking at his door. When n star
shell Is burning in Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for week.
You blacken your face and hands 50
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on ycur pale face. In
trench raid there is quite sufficient
reason for your face TO be pale. II you
don't believe me, try IL just once.
Then another reason for blackening
your face and hands is that, after you
have entered the German trench at
night. "whIte face" means Germans.
"black face" English. Coming around
a traverse you see white face in
ing Fritz .'the best o. luck you intro
duce him 10 your '.persuader" or
knuckie knife.
A little later we arrived at the COM
munication trench named Whisky
street, which led to the fire trench AT
the point we were 10 go over the top
and out in front.
In cur rear were four stretcher bear
ers and a corporal of the X. A. NJ. c.
carrying a pouch containing medicines
and frst-aid appliances. Kind OF
grim reminder TO us that our expedi-
tion WAS not going to be exactly pic
mic. The order Of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come FIRST, with the undertakers tag
ring in the rear and then the insur-
ance man. bur In our case. the under
takers We're leading. with the doctors
trailing behind, minus the insurance
ndiuster.
The presence Of the II. A. NJ. C. men
did not seem TO disturb the raiders. be-
cause many joke made in an under
tone. was passed along the winding
column. as to who would he first TO
take a ride on one of the stretchers.
This was generally followed by wish
that, IL you were to be the one. the
wound would be a 'cushy Blighty
one"
The stretcher bearers. no doubt.
hoping that, If they did have to carry
anyone to the rear. he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked at me
when wishing. because l could feel an
uncomfortable. boring sensation ne
tween my shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench. about every
sixty yards or so'we would pass lone
iy sentry. who in a whisper would
wish us the best o. luck. mates" We
would blind at him under our breaths:
that Jonah phrase TO us sounded very
ominous.
Without any casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch. the
front-liue trench. Previously. wiring
party of the Royal Engineers had cut
n lane through our barbed wire To en-
able US 10 get out into No Mans Land.
Crawling through this lane. our
party of twenty took up an extended
order formation about one yard apart.
We had a tap code arranged for our
movements while In No Mans Land.
because for various reasons II is not
safe 10 carry on n heated conversation
few Yards In front OF Fritz lines.