The Southern herald., 1918-10-11

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always want to tell you how good some
other show is, and that was the way
with the sergeant.
"You should see what they did to
us at st. Eloi," he said. "They just
baptized us with the big fellows, They
did not know wnen to stop. When you
see shelllng that is shelling, you will
know it, my son."
"Well, If this is not shelling, what
the devil is it2 Are they trying to
kid us or are you, mon viCux2" which
is a French expression that means
something like "old timer"
"My son, when you see dugouts
caved in, roads pushed all over the
map, guns wrecked, bodies twisted up
in knots and forty men killed by one
shell-then you will know you are
seeing shelling."
Then one Of our men sat up straight
against the parapet and stared at us
and began to shake all over, but we
could not get him to say anything or
move. SO we knew he had shell shock.
And another man watched him for a
while, and then he began to shake,
too. The sergeant said that If we
stayed there much longer we would
not be fit to repel an attack, so he
ordered us into the two dugouts we
had made in the hole, and only himself
and another man stayed outside on
watch.
The men in the dugout kept asking
each other when the bombardment
would end, and why we were not rein
forced, and what was happening, and
whether the Turks would attack us. It
was easy to see why we were not rein
fOrced-no body Of men could have
got to us from the reserve trenches.
The communication trenches were
quite a distance from US and were
battered up at that. Some Of the men
said we had been forgotten and that
the rest Of our troops had either re-
tired or advanced and that we and
the men in the trench who had tried
to signal us were the only detachments
left there.
Pretty soon another man and
relieved the two men who were out
side on watch, and as he went dowI
into the dugout the sergeant shouted
to US that he thought the Turks were
afraid to attack. He also ordered one
Of us to keep a live eye toward oul
rear In case any Of our troops should
try to signal US. When l looked
through little gully at the top O.
the hole, toward the other trench, al
l could see was barbed wire ant
smoke and two or three corpses.
began to shlver a little, and / wa
afraid / would get shell shock, too
So / began to think about Murray anC
how he looked when they took hin
off the wall. But that did not stop tn
shivering, so thought about my grand
mother and how she looked the las
time l saw her. l was thinking abou
! her, guess, and not keeping a yer,
good lookout, when man rolled owe
the edge and almost fell on me. H
was from the other trenches. / carrie
him into the dugOut and then went ou
again and stood my watch until tn
, relief came. We were doing half-hOu
shifts.
When l got into the dugout agai
. the man was coming to. He was jus
: about as near shell shock as ha
been-by this time l was shlverin
!, only once In q while, when did nc
watch myself. He said four men ha
+ been sliced up trying to get to us b'
D fore he came; that they had los
. IL men out of their 80, including tn
Z sergeant-majOr In command and tw
cOrporals; that they were almost OF
: of ammunition; that the trenches o
both sides of them had been blown
0 and that they we're likely to go
9 pieces at any moment. He said the
e all thought the Turks would attac
q behind their barrage for he said tn
g curtain of fire did not extend MOI
than a hundred yards in front Of the
trench. What they wanted us to d
n was to relay man back with tf
Il news and either get the word to al
lt vance or retire or await reinforc
d ments, they did not care whleh-Onl
e to be ordered to do something. Thel
e was not commissioned officer lie
-e with either Of the detachments, yC
" see, and you might say we were u
i in the air-only we were really as fl
le In the ground as we could get.
IS The man thought there were Oth'
i of our lines not far behind US, but v
d knew better; so then he said he d
not see how any one could get baC
70 from there to our nearest lines.
lr did not see either. Then we all q