The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-08-02

to investigate, met the cloud thuo',
up MS hands and fell dead. Two ser.
! eeants followed and suffered the sam,
tate from the slowly advancing bor.
ror' Then the officers knew that tbe
Vapor was some kind of poison. an6
ordered the men to tear off tha;,
shirts, saturate them with water
cover their faces and lie down with
races TO the ground. But that proved
70 De no perfection and hundreds q,
canadians died horrible death as q
result of their first experience with
poison gas. WIN
IN describing a barrage McKella,
stated that back of the trenches were
statloned large numbers of Lewis
nachlne guns that were used when
the barrage was on to sweep the Hun
trehches. Back of the light machine
guns were more heavier machine
guns. Then back of these machine
guns We're the light field artillery SO
ciose together that he had seen them
on a 80 mile front almost hub to hub
some four miles back of the field ar.
tillery were the heavy guns and how
ltzers. Everything Is accurately
Planned in advance of a charge. The
] nour Is liked for laying the barrage
| Every watch is set for the same time
| Inc minute the show is to come off
is designed as zero. At that moment
all these hundreds of guns break loose
with their frightful din, carving a
whirlwind of death for everything in
the track OF the bursting shells. If
1t be creeping barrage" the shells
burst about 100 yards in front of the
attacking men. The force tolled off
TO execute the prearranged offensive
goes over the top. The barrage moves
forward slowly, the asasulting column
keeping distance of 100 yards to
the rear. So perfectly accurate is
the hre that the shells of the big
guns four miles away, as well as
| those OF the field artillery nearer at
hand, break in perfect alignment at
the front, moving ahead at the regu-
| lation distance. When the barbed
wire entanglements are reached the
Darrage fingers for minute until
the wires are smashed to pieces. 1t
| is then that the advancing troops
creep up within SO yards of the bar
rage. the men often being killed or
wounded by their own fire. But this
Is necessary in order to be as near
| the objective as possible. When the
barrage lifts 1t is directed beyond the
Hun trenches. and at that moment 1t
devolves upon the assaulting column
to leg 1t to the trenches before the
Huns can crawl out of their dugouts
and turn on the machine guns.
Mr.. McKellar's description of his
first experience going over the top
was exciting and amusing. He said
he was in trench some eight feet
deep, fully equipped, and he could
not imagine how he was going to
mount the wall when the time came
to go over. Every man knew what
was expected Of him, as they had
been carefully drilled in the rear with
plan laid out from aeroplane photo
graphs of the Hun trenches. They
were to go over early in the morning,
and were in their places an hour and
half before the moment of starting.
At one hour before zero a whisper
passed from mouth to mouth down the
line stating the time. Again at the
half hour the whisper was repeated
He said the boys were intensely nerv-
Gus from the long waiting. 1t was not
fear although they realized the
chances they were taking, but clear
state of jumpy nerves. At five min
utes to zero the whisper went down
the line to get ready. The boys shook
hands with their nearest comrades
and tightly grasped their guns and
grenades. Mcclellan was again Won
dering how he would ever get out OF
the hole and over the top. All at
once the deafening shock of the guns
broke loose, and the next thing he
knew he was out in No Mans land
following the barrage. He declares
he does not remember how he got
there. He talked with many of his
companions afterwards, and every one
of them had the same experience to
relate. They did not know how they
could ever get over the top on account
of the depth of the trench, yet sud,
denly they found themselves out al
the front with no recollection OF how
they did 1t.
The Canadians stormed the HUI
trenches according to schedule. Nc
said he reached dugout, just as Il
was designated on the plan that he
lhad studied. He dropped bomb ol
1.-TWO in the hole. The major told hin
| to move on and gather the souvenirs
Ion his return. When the trench was
cleared, which was all churned Il
pieces. the men were ordered to clear
out the trench in order to secure
cover against the Hun retaliator!
bombardment. Nc. stated that he wal
not used to handling a shovel, but II
an incredible short period of time HI
had a hole scooped out eight feet deep
In the charge McKellar's battalion
Host twelve officers killed out OF tn
fourteen that led the men. and onl.
l2OO out of the $50 rank and file start
ing on the advance escaped unscath
ed. It is a matter of history that tn
canadians took Vimy Ridge, and tina
ia one of the brightest pages in TN
history of the great war. The entlr
ridge was honey-combed with dugout
and trenches. Some of the dugout
were as much as 100 feet deep, htte
up for the officers most luxuriousl!
The Huns thought the ridge impreg
nable.
Mr.. McKellar closed his monologu
Iby telling how he was WOUNDED ai'e
having gone over the top fourteel
, times without receiving scratch. III
, regiment had been caught IN IN