The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-04-07

this. A certain small sector had held
on the attacks OF the few previous
days and the line had bent back
straighten the line. We had heard
this old ghost story too often to be
lieve a word of 1t
Our plate had been designated
where we We're TO get into extended
formation, and our general direction
was c]oar. We filed out OF the trench
at $40, and as we passed the other
platoons--we had been to the rear
they tossed us the familiar farewell
hall THE besf o. luck, mytie."
We soon found ourselves In the old
sunken road that ran IN front of Eau
court Abbaye At this point we were
not under observation as rise In the
ground would have protected US, even
though il had been daylight The
moon was shining brilliantly. and we
knew that II would not be anything
in the nature OF a surprise attack.
We got into extended formation and
waited for the order TO advance. /
thought l should 60 crazy during that
short walt Shells had begun to burst
over and around us, and l was sure
the next would be mine.
Presently one burst little behind
me and down went Captain Gren and
tho sergeant major, with whom he
had been talking. Captain Green died
/ a few days later at Rouen. and the
sergeant mi jor lost an arm. This was
a hard blow right at the start. and 1t
spelled disaster. Everything started
to go wrong,
FACE FEARFUL FIRE.
Mr. Blofeld was In command and
another officer thought that he was
! in charge We got conflicting orders
and there was ono grand mixup,
| Eventually we advanced and went
straight up over the ridge. We walked
slap bang into perfectly directed fire.
Torrents OF machine gun bullets
crAckled about us and we went for
ward with our heads down. like men
I facing into a storm. IL was a mar
! vel that anyone could live through II.
a lot of them didn't. Mr.. Blofeld,
who was near me, leape6 in the air,
/ letting go hideous yell. ran to him.
disregarding the instruction not to
stop to help anyone. He was struck
| in the abdomen with an explosive bull
! let and was done for. / felt terribly
about Mr.. Blofeld. az he had been a
good friend to me-
He was the finest type OF officer of
( the new English army, the rare sort
uand respect. He had talked with
me often, and / knew Of his family
and homo life. He was more like an
elder brother to me than a superior
officer / left Mr.. Blofeld and went
/ on.
The hail OF bullets grew worse and
I worse. They whlstled and cracked
and squealed, and began to wonder
/ why on earth l didn't get mine, Men
were falling on all sides, and the
! shrieks OF the hit were the worst /
! had heard. The darkness made 1t
worse, and although | had been over
/ the top before by daylight, this was
I the last limit of hellishness. And
| nothing but plain, unmixed machine
gun fire. As yet there Was not arttl-
lery action to amount to anything.
Once again / put my hand inside
my tunic and stroked Dinky, and said
to him. For Gods sake. Dink. see
ma through this time" / meant It.
too. / was actually praying-to my
mascot. realized that this was plain,
unauthorized, heathenish fstich wor-
ship. but II shows what man reverts
to in the barbaric stress of war.
so YARDS FROM BOOBIES
BY this time we were within about
thirty yards of the Boche parapet, and
could see them standing shoulder to
shoulder on the fire step. swarms of
them. packed In. with the hayonets
cleaning. Machine guns were en-
placed and vomiting death at incred-
ibly short intervals along the parapet.
Flares were going up continuously and
II was almost as light as day.
We wee terribly outnumbered and
the casualties had already been SO
great that / saw we were in for the
worst thing we had ever known.
Moreover, tho next waves hadn't ap-
peared behind us.
was In command. as all the officers
and non-coms so far as could make
out had snuffed. | slgnalled to halt
and take cover, my idea being to wait
for this other waves to catch up. The