The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1918-07-18

off. Some of the work had to be
done at night, as it was under OBJ
servation from the German
trenches, but the company has
had more than its share of good
luck and although we have natur-
ally had a few casualties, we have
not had one man killed yet.
We were right in the midst of our
own artillery, and believe me, the
noise at night, when they all open
ed up was awful. The ground
literally shook, and yet, after the
first night and day of it we were
able to sleep without being dis
Iturbed by the noise. 1t was on
our second night out that the
company got "bloodied, i. e. we
received our first casualty. A
British battery had moved up to
new position early in the even
ing, within 100 yards of one of
the trenches in which our boys
were sleeping. Evidently it was
observed by. the Germans, and
that night about $50 they de-
cided they didn t want that par
tlcular battery in that place, and
sent over a polite request for it to
move. The request came in the
form of six inch shells. They
dropped one every 30 seconds for
about an hour or so, and believe
me, the battery moved. SO did
our boys who were occupying the
trenches in the immediate vicini-
| ty. 1t wasn't healthy in that
neighborhood. The German gun
ners are splendid shots, every
she'll sent over that night landed
close to that battery, and if they
had not moved out soon after the
bombardment began, they would
have lost it, as several shells later
made direct hits right where the
gun had been placed.
1t is peculiar thing, but unless
there is too much fire among your
own guns, you can tell when a
gun is fired from the enemy side,
headed in your direction. You
can hear a dull thud, absolutely
distinct from any of the other ex-
.plosions, and almost Immediately
afterwards comes the whine of the
shell coming towards you. Then
you sit down close to the side of
your trench, and wonder where it
is going to hit. Sometimes it
doesn't land within several hun
dred feet and then again, it may
land quite close. 1t isn't a safe
bet, so the best way is to keep un-
der cover, until it does explode.
You get used to them in time how
ever, and seem to know automati-
cally when it is time to take to
cover, and when it is safe to re-
main as you are.
The front line trenches at night
are beautiful sight from a dis
tance. Mind, / say from dis
tance, because closer inspection
shows up things you would rather
not see. But at a distance they
have Coney Island skinned hol- |
low. The various flares, signal
lights and rockets continually |
shooting into the air, with the
flashes from the guns further
back, form a picture a man will |
not soon forget. And if a man
forgets, as he, will forget, what it
all stands for, and the real mean
ing hidden behind it all, he can en-
joy it. But while you are enjoy
ing it "Fritzie" sends over one of
his visiting cards in your direction
and you decide it isn't so pretty i
after all, at least it isn't worth i
staying up to see. Then our own
guns open up with sudden bar
rage and you can't even hear
yourself think, and you wish you
were back home tucked up COM
fortably in nice bed. Then you
fall asleep and dream you are in
Florida, and a big mosquito is
buzzing around you, and you
wake up and find it is a flock of
aeroplanes flying overhead on
their way over to bomb the enc
ny's lines. You doze off again
and wake with start, with ter
rife explosion ringing in your