Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-07-23
CHAPTER Xxx.
MACHINE GUNNER ,jERMhGM FRANCE

| CHAPTER Xxx.
"chats With Fritz"
We were swimming In money, from
the receipts Of our theatrical venture
and had forgotten all about the war
when an order came through that oul
brigade would again take over theil
sector Of the line.
The day that these orders were Is
sued, our captain assembled the com
pany and asked for volunteers to 60 te
the Machine Gun school at st. Omar
volunteered and was accepted.
Sixteen men from our brigade left
for the course in machine gunnery
This course lasted two weeks and We
rejoined our unit and were assigned tc
the brigade machine gun company. II
almost broke my heart to leave my
pmpany mates.
The gun we used was the Vickers
Light 1903, water cooled.
/ was still q member Of the Suicide
club, having jumped from the frying
pan into the fire. / was assigned to
;ection 1, gun No. 2, and the first time
'in" took position In the front-line
trench.
During the day our gun would be
dismounted on the fire step ready fol
instant use. We shared q dugout with
the Lewis gunners. At ''stand to" we
would mount our gun on the parapet
and go on watch beside 1t until "stand
down" in the morning. Then the gun
would be dismounted and again placed
in readiness on the fire step.
We did eight days In the front-line
trench without anything unusual hap
pening outside Of the ordinary trench
routine. On the night that we were to
"carry out" q bombing raid against the
German lines was pulled of. This raid
Ing party consisted Of sixty company
men, sixteen bombers, and four Lewis
machine guns with their crews.
The raid took the Boches by surprise
and was a complete success, the party
bringing back twenty-one prisoners.
The Germans must have been awful.
ly sore, because they turned loose q
barrage of shrapnel, with few min
MES" and "whizz bangs" intermixed
The shells were dropping into our front
line like hailstones.
To get even, we could have left the
prisoners in the fire trench, In charge
Of the men on guard and let them click
Fritz's strafeing but Tommy does not
treat prisoners that way.
Five Of them were brought into my
dugout and turned over to me 80 that
they would be safe from the German
fire.
In the candlelight, they looked very
much shaken, nerves gone and chalky
faces, with the exception Of one, q
great big fellow. He looked very much
at ease. liked him from the start.
got out the rum jar and gave each
nip and passed around some fags
the old reliable Woodbines. The other
prisoners looked their gratitude, but
the big fellow said in English, ~Thank
you, sir, the rum Is excellent and ! ap
preciate 1t, also your kindness"
He told me his name was Car
Schmidt, of the Sixty-sixth Bavariar
Light infantry; that he had lived si1
years In New York (knew the city bet
ter than I did), had been to Coney
island and many of our ball games. He
was regular fan. couldn't make him
believe that Hans Wagner wasn't thu
best ball player In the world.
From New York he had gone to Lon
don, where he worked as q waiter ir
the Hotel Russell. Just before the wal
he went home to Germany to see hill
parents, the war came and he was con
scripted.
He told me he was very sorry t.
hear that London was In ruins from
the Zeppelin raids. I could not con
vince him otherwise, for hadn't he seer
moving pictures In one OF the German
cities Of st. Paul's cathedral In ruins
changed the subject because h
was so stubborn In his belief. 1t wal
my intention to try and pump him To-
information as to the methods Of th'
German snipers, who had been caus
Ing us trouble in the last few days.
I broached the subject and he shu
up like clam. After few minv te
he very innocently said:
sGerman snipers get paid rewards
for killing the English"
eagerly asked, what are theyT
He answered:
'sFor killing or wounding an English
private, the sniper gets one mark. Fol
killing or wounding an English officer
he gets Eve marks, but II he kills Red
Cap or English general the sniper gets
twenty-one days tied to the wheel OF q
timber as punishment for his careless
ness"
Then he paused. waiting Tor me Il
bite. I suppose.
Ibit all right and asked him why the
sniper was punished for killing ar
English general. With . smile he re
piled:
"Well. you see. II all the English gen
erals were killed, there would be nc
me left to make costly mistaken
shut him up. he was getting tot
fresh for prisoner. After while ht
winked at me and winked back, ther
the escort came to take the prisoner
to the rear. I shook hands and wished
him '.The best Of luck and safe jour
ney to Blighty."
liked that prisoner, he WAS Q fint
fellow, had an Iron Gross, too. ad
sised him to keep It out Of sight, Of
some Tommy would be sending It home
10 his girl In Bllghty a. souvenir.
One dark and rainy night while OF
guard we were looking over the toI
from the fre step Of our front-lin'
trench, when we heard q noise lmme