Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-03-22

wz.sz.sssEzRnF -
INTO three classes according TO Taesr
fighting abilities. They rank as fol.
lows: Prussians, Bayarians and Sax
ons.
When up against Prussian regi-
ment it is case Of keep your napper
below the parapet and duck. A bang
bang all the time and war is on The
Bavarians are little better, but the
Saxons are fairly good sports and are
willing occasionally to behave as gem
tlenen and take it easy, but you can
not trust any of them overlong.
At one point of the line the trenches
were about thirty-two yards apart
This sounds horrible, but in fact it was
easy, because neither side could shell
the enemy's front-line trench for fear
shells would drop into their own. This
eliminated artillery fire.
In these trenches when up against
the Prussians and Bavarians, Tommy
had a hot time of ii, but when the Sax
ons took over" it was a picnic; they
would yell across that they were Sax
ons and would not fire. Both sides
would sit on the parapet and carry on
Il conversation. This generally consist
ed Of Tommy telling them how much
he loved the kaiser, while the Saxons
informed Tommy that King George
was a particular friend of theirs and
hoped that he was doing nicely.
When the Saxons were to be relieved
by Prussians or Bavarians, they would
yell this information across No Mans
Land and Tommy would Immediately
tumble into his trench and keep his
head down.
If an English regiment was to be re-
lieved by the wild Irish, Tommy would
tell the Saxons, and Immediately vol
ley of Bonner und Blitzens'' could
be heard and it was Fritzs turn to get
crick in his back from STOPPING, and
the people In Berlin would close their
windows.
Usually when an Irishman takes over
trench, just before "stand down in
the morning, he sticks his rife over
the top, aimed in the direction of Ber-
lin, and engages in what is known as
the mad minute" This consists of
firing fifteen shots in minute. He
is not aiming at anything in particular
just sends over each shot with a
prayer. hoping that one of his strays
will get some poor unsuspecting Fritz
in the napper hundreds of yards be-
hind the lines. 1t generally does; that's
the reason the Boches hate the man
from Erln's isle.
The Saxons, though better than the
Prusslans and Bavarians, have nasty
trait of treachery in their makeup.
At one point of the line where the
trenches we're very close, stake was
driven into the ground midway be-
II was his turn. Tommy would crawl
TO this jtake and attach some London
papers to 1t, while Mt the foot he would
place tins of bully beef, Tags, sweets.
and other delicacies that he had re-
ceived from Blighty in the ever looked
for parcel. Later on Fritz would come
out and get these luxuries.
The next night Tommy would go out
to see what Fritz put into his stocking.
The donation generally consisted of q
paper from Berlin, telling who was
winning the war, some timed sausages
cigars. and occasionally a little beer,
but funny thing, Tommy never re-
turned with the beer unless 1t was in
side of him. His platoon got Whit of
his breath one night and the offending
Tommy lost his job.
One night a young English sergeant
crawled to the stake and as he tried to
detach the German paper a bomb ex-
ploded and mangled him horribly. Fritz
had set a trap and gained another vic
tim which was only one more black
mark against him In the book Of this
war. From that time on diplomatic re-
lations were severed.
Returning to Tommy, / think his
spirit is best shown In the questions he
asks. 1t Is never "wh0 is going to win"
but always "how long VIII it take?"