The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1918-04-26
CHAPTER XIII.
Gas Attacks and Spies.

HI'' uHNS HlicT We nau SllenCed
Fritz, the Germans sent over gas. It
did not catch Us unawares. because the
wind had been made to order, that is
II was blowing from the German
trenches toward ours at the rate OF
about five miles per hour.
Warnings had been passed down the
trench to keep Il sharp lookout for gas.
We had new man at the perSCope,
on this afternoon in question: | was
sitting on the fire step. cleaning my
rifle, when he called out to me:
There's sort Of greeniSh. yellow
cloud rolling along the ground out in
front, it's coming"
But l waited Cor no more. grabbing
my hayOnet. which was detached from
the rife, 1 gave the alarm by banging
nn empty shell case, which was hang
ing near the periscOpe. At the same
instant. gOngS started ringing down the
trench, the signal for Tommy to don
his respirutor, or smoke helmet, as we
call 1t.
Gas travels quickly, so you must not
hose any time; you generally have
about eighteen or twenty seconds in
a gas helmet is made of cloth, treat
ed with chemicals. There are two win
dows, or glass eyes in it, through which
you can see. Inside there is a rubber
covered tube, which goes in the mouth.
You breathe through your nose; the
gas, passing through the cloth helmet.
is neutralized by the action of the
chemicals. The foul air Is exhuled
through the tube In the mouth, this
Tube being so constructed that IL pre-
vents the inhaling Of the outside air or
gas. One helmet Is good for five hours
OF the strongest gas. Each Tommy
carries two of them slung around his
shoulder in n waterproof canvas bag.
He must wear this bag at all times
even while sleeping. To change a de.
nective helmet, YOU take out the new
one, hold your breath, pull the old one
of, placing the new one over your
head, tucking in the loose ends under
the collar of your tunic.
For minute, pandemonium reigneC
On our trcnch-TOmmies adjusting
Sheir helmets, bOmbcrs running here
hnd there, and men turning out of the
hugouts with fixed bayonets, TO man
the fire step.
Re-enforcemcnts were pouring out of
the communication trenches.
cur guns crew were busy mountina
the machine gun on the parapet and
bringing up extra ammunition from
the dugout
German gas is heavier than air and
soon fills the trenches and dugouts
where IL has been known to Iurk for
it"o or three days, until the air is puri
med by means of large chemical spray
erS.
We had to work quickly, as Fritz
generally follows the gas with nm i'm.
fantry attack.
A company man on our right was
TOO slow in getting on his helmet; he
sank to the ground, clutching at his
throat, and after few spasmodiC
itwistings went West (died). 1t was
horrible to see him die, but we were
!n"werlcSs to help him. In III, corn. r
or traverse, little, muddy cur dog.
one of the companyS pets. was living
dead. with his paws over his nose.
It's the animals that suffer the most
-th" horses, mules. cattle, dogs, cats
and ratS-they having no helmets to
save them. Tommy does not sympa.
thiZe with rats in gas attack.
At times gas has been known to
travel, with dire results, fifteen miles
behind the lines.
a gas, or smoke helmet, as II is
called, at the best is a vile-smclling
thing, and ii is not long before one gets
n violent headache from wearing it.
Our eight"en-pounders were burst.
ing in No Mans Land i'm an effort bv
'the artillery, to disperSe the gas
lclOuds.
The fire step was lined with crouch
i3ng men, bayonGts fixed, and bombs
near at hand to repel the expected at
tack.
Our artillery had put a barragc of
curtain fire on the German lines, to try
and break up their attack and keep
DGCk re-cnfOrCements.
trained ny machine gun on their
french and its bullets were raking the
Iparapet.
Then over they came. bayOncts glis.
tening. In their resplrntors, which
have large snout in front, they look
led like some horrible nightmare.
All along our trench, rifles ana ma
Chine guns spoke, our Shrapnel was
Bursting over their heads They went
down in heaps, but new ones took the
places of the failen Nothing could
stop that mad rush. The Germans
Preached our barbed wire, which had
previously been demolished by their
shells, then 1t was bomb against bomb