Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1918-05-30

tors. Then long line of -four point
five" batteries, each gun drawn by six
horses. then couple of mine point
two" howitzers pulled by immense
caterpillar engines.
When one of these caterpillars would
pass me with its mighty monster in
tow, a flush of pride would mount to
my face, because could plainly read
on the name plate, ''Made in U. S. A."
and would remember that if wore a
name plate it would also read, ''From
the U. S. A." Then l would stop to
think how thin and straggly that
mighty stream would be If all the
"Made in U. S. A" parts of it were
withdrawn.
Then would come Hundreds of linn
bers and &c. s." wagons drawn by
sleek, well-fed mules, ridden by sleek,
well-fed men, ever smiling, although
grimy with sweat and covered with the
fine, white dust of the marvelously
well-made French roads.
What discouraging report the Ger
man airmen must have taken back to
their division commanders, and this
stream is slowly but surely getting big
ger and bigger every day, and the pace
is always the same. No slower, no
faster, but ever onward, ever forward
Three weeks before the big push of
July las the battle of the SOmme has
been called-started, exact duplicates
of the German trenches were dug
about thirty kilOs behind our lines.
The layout of the trenches was taken
from airplane photographs submitted
by the Royal flying corps. The trench
es were correct to the foot; they
showed dugOuts, saps, barbed wire de-
lenses and danger spots.
BattaliOns that were to go over In
the first waves were sent back for
three days to study these trenches, en-
gage in practice attacks and have night
maneuvers. Each man was required to
make a map of the trenches and fa-
miliarize himself with the names and
location of the parts his battalion was
to attack.
In the American army noncommis
stoned officers are put through a course
during my six years service In the |
United States cavalry had plenty of |
practice in this work, therefore map |
ping these trenches was a compara-
lively easy task for me. Each man
had to submit his map to the company |
commander to be passed upon, and 1
was lucky enough to have mine select
ed as being sufficiently authentic to use
In the attack.
No photographs or maps are allowed
to leave France, but in this case 1t APP
pealed to me as q valuable souvenir Of
the great war and l managed to snug
gle ii through. At this time it carries
no military Importance as the British
lines, am happy to say, have since
been advanced beyond this point, so
In having it in my possession I am not
breaking any regulation or cautions
Of the British army.
The whole attack was rehearsed
and rehearsed until we heartily cursed
the one who had conceived the idea.
The trenches were named according
to a system which made it very simple
for Tommy to find, even in the dark,
any point in the German lines.
These imitation trenches, or trench
models, were well guarded from obser-
walton by numerous allied planes
which constantly circled above them.
No German airplane could approach
within observation distance. A re-
stricted area was maintained and no
civilian was allowed within three
miles, so we felt sure that we had
great surprise in store for Fritz.
When we took over the front line
we received an awful shock. The
Germans displayed signboards over
he top of their trench showing the
names that we had called their
trenches. The signs read Fair"
Fact" Fate" and Fancy" and so
IN, according to the code names on
)ur map. Then to rub it in, they
loisted some more signs which read,
Gene on, we are ready, stupid Eng
ish."
1t is still mystery to me how they
obtained this knowledge. There had
)een no raids or prisoners taken, so
t must have been the work of spies
n our own lines.
Three or four days before the big
)ush we tried to shatter Fritz's nerves
~ feint attacks, and partially sue
,eeded as the official reports of July
show.
Although we were constantly bonn
,arding their lines day and night, still
We fooled the Germans several times.
This was accomplished by throwing
IN intense barrage into his lines
hen using smoke shells we would put
curtain of white smoke across No
Mans Land, completely obstructing
lis view of our trenches, and
would raise our curtain of fire
IS If in an actual attack. All
lown our trenches the men would
hout and cheer, and Fritz would turn
Dose with machine-gun, rifle, and o.