New Britain herald., 1918-03-21
MEN WHO CAME BACK
 SPIN TRENCH YARNS
True Tales From Fields of France
 Told by Recruiters
(By Major G. c. Wright 1st Division,
 4th Canadian Rattnlinn

VI On the night the big show began S (the second battle of Ypres, April 22, 3 1916), my regiment was ba elk in bill @ lets about ten miles from the trenches. @ Everything seemed as usual with us 3 Then we began to get rumors of @ something doing" Civilians came @ running down the road. Old men, q women with babies and furniture I@ everything they could carry and still @ run-appeared.
 @ 'The Germans are coming. The 8 Germans are coming." was their cry. 8 The Germans had put over some kind V of poison gas, had broken through 8 our lines and were coming steadily @ forward, they said.
 l We could only wait It was nearly M midnight when our orders came to 3 stand to" and we were soon on our M way to the trenches. The roads were 2 crowded with frightened civilians SN coming toward us, running for their Mslives, and batteries of our own artil- @Iery passed us, galloping toward the 8 front. So our progress was slow. We 88 crossed the Yser north of Yprcs, and HM nalr mile farther on got orders to 8 slt tight and stop the Germans rom crossing the canal at that point. 2 Stlll we had no authentic knowledgo K of the situation. We did not know where the Germans were. No sound 3of battle was heard
 3 It' looked to me as if We were to 3 lie around there in the sun all day EMWnen, at daybreak, a shell from mo- |M where whizzed close by. More shell. @machine gun and rifle fire soon re- }@vealed the positions of the Germans ASon Pilkem Ridge opposite us.
 we aug in Personally I found my SMser In rather uncomfortable posi- NNrion for a few minutes, as officers do sAnot Scarry intrenching tools. Shells @were bursting on all sides. Just as " was looking around to see how to 8SRVoid stopping some German bullets M saw man on my right who, as he
 tarted to lay down behind the mound
 earth he had dug, was shot in the 8a@ cad and killed. l took his intrench- 8@ng tool and lost no time digging a S# ole for myself for shelter
 we received orders to take the ridge
 head or us. We advanced in extend NHsd order by short rushes of about fen SC fifteen yards. After about a thou Msand yards, our men falling at every #@tep, we lost men so heavily that we
 ouId not make further progress with
 ot Felnforcements. So we dug in &M nee more.
 
 @nd worse, but I was just thinking @nat we would possibly be able to stick Mt out there until dark, when we got Mroefs to advance again. When the
 Foers were passed on I looked iowa rd
 MY platoon sergeant on my right. He
 ds last asleep In the hole he had
 lug Tn. A fine man and a good
 pldler he was. I rushed over. walk
 Ped him and told him we had orders m advance.
 we got orders to attack. We start
 over the one hundred and fifty
 aFos or open, the German concen- |
 a@nS not hre on us from the l
 age. We had no artillery behind |
 totkeep this fire down, as our guns W at were on this sector had been 1
 ptured by the Germans in their ad- g nee the night before 8 The whole show looked hope1ess to 1 m as far as we personally were con
 rned. All the other officers excent ! Wyself were either killed or wound l
 mad only handful of men [
 It. We Kept on about a hundred l
 H'fos 1arther. With so few men, and 1
 l ose rapidly growing less, it seemed 1
 Seless to proceed and again we dug | M aRd stayed there until darkness !
 @aoled us to move about and get a
 earer idea of the situation.
 Then l found we had about thirty i
 en and shortly behind us I ran into 1
 Engllsh subaltern who had been | RE lowing us up to the attack. He M b had about thirty men left from @ regiment. While considering o,r M@y .precarious position, a runner
 ought us word that the rest of our M pops would take up a position in
 old trench about two hundred
 rds to the rear. So we collected
 small commands, picked up the Sunded and moved off to this new Gition. There 1 found three more cers of our regiment with a num-
 or men, Here we were able to M ganize to some extent We found M of twenty officers and eight hun d men, we had four officers left n two hundred men. Two hours were spent in this S anch when orders came to move off the support of some of our other MMS pressed battalions in our diyi- Ms& who were lying about four miles ey. Three days more under con- W 1t, heavy shell fire; two more of 8 officers and fifty more of men e lost; no food but the emergency X iron" rations we carried. because x@ transports were not able to find M@ such was my experience in the a ond battle of Ypres. At the end m that time the billcts in the rear med luxurious
 Burned out that the Germans &#d put the gas on the French Co., M ial troops and on the Canadians ' N the right of the Colonials. The x 8 Ter got the worst dose and had to re. This left a big gap in the @ Me' and the Canadians, who stub x MW ny held on, were almost sur # nded. We were advanced just