Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-04-11
'.0ver the Top
By An American Soldier
Who Went
ARTHUR GUY EhPEY
tOosSr.at :s'7. b. A,saur Cav snpsy,
CHAPTER XVI.
Msehine Gunn., Se,eins In F,snes
An Outlet ~ on the we..ern Front

y
G. o. @. general officer comlnanding)
and the divisional commander. From
this conversation learned that we
were 70 lombard the German lines for
eight days. and on the first Of July the
sbig push" was to commence.
~ In few days orders were issued to
that effect, and it was common prop,
erty all along the line. =
On the afternoon Of the eighth day Of
our 'strafeing," Atwell and were sit,
ting In the front-line trench smoking
Tags and making out our reports Of the
previous nights tour Of the trenches,
which we had to turn in to headquar-
I tiers the following day, when an order
was passed down the trench that Old
Pepper requested twenty volunteers to
60 over on q trench raid that night to
try and get few German prisoners for
Information purposes. / Immediately
volunteered for this Job. and shook
hands with Atwell, and went to the
rear to give my name to the officers In
charge Of the raiding party.
was accepted. worse luck.
At Gas that night we reported TO the
brigade headquarters dugout to receive
instructions from Old Pepper.
After reaching this dugout we lined
up In a sernicircle around him, and he
addressed us as follows:
"All / want you boys to do IL to 20
over to the German lines tonight, sur.
prise them, secure a couple Of prison
ers. and return Immediately. Our ar
tilery has bombarded that section Of
! the line for two days and personally
believe that that part Of the German
trench IL unoccupied. 80 Just get cou-
pie Of prisoners and return rs quickly.
AZ possible"
The sergeant on my right, In an I'm.
dsrtone. whispered to me:
"Say. Yank, how are we going to get
q couple Of prisoners II the old fool
thinks personally that that part Of the
trench II unoccupied, sounds kind Of
6shy. doesn't It mater
Ishad = funny sinking sensation In
my stomach, and my tin hat felt as II
It weighed about q ton and my enthusi.
asm was melting away. Old Pepper
must have beard the sergeant speak
because he t6rned in his direction and
A laundering voice asked:
''what did you ssy9''
The sergeant with q scarlet look on
hts face and his knees trembling,
Amartly salutsd and answered:
Nothing. IL"
Old Pepper said:
Wei. don't say 1t 20 loudly the next
tiuSs.v
]! Then Old Pepper continued:
TN this section Of the German
trenches there are two or three ma
chine guns which our artillery, in the
last two or three days, has been I'M.
liable 70 tape. These guns command the
sector where two Of our communica-
Mon trenches join the front lire, and
las the brigade is to 60 over the top to-
morrow morning want to capture two
ior three men from these guns crews,
.land from them l may be able to obtain
valuable information a. to. the exact
location Of the guns. and our artillery
win therefore be able to demolish them
before the attack. and thus prevent
iour losing lot Of men while using
these communication trenches to bring
mp re-enforcements." y.
& These were the instructions he rave
ms:
Take OF your Identification disks,
strip your uniforms Of all numerals.
insignia, ETC., leave your papers with.
your captsins. because don't want the
Boches to know what regiments are
against them az this would be valuable
information to them In our attack to.
morrow and ] don't want any Of you
i ito be taken alive. What, Iwant Ii two
prisoners and Il I get them I have q
lway which will make them divulge
all necessary information Is to their
gums. You have your choice Of two
veapons-ydd may carry your per-
Ssuaders' or your knuckle knives, and
leach man will arm himself with four
mills bombs. these to be used only in
case Of emergency" a5..
= A persuader Is Tommy's nickname
FOR club carried by the bambers. 1t
rs about two feet long. thin at one end
and very thick at the other. The thick
end Is studded with sharp steel spikes,
while through the center Of the club
there is nine-tnch lead bar, to give
At weight and balance. When you get
IA prisoner all you have to do is Just
stick this club up In front Of him, and
believe me- the. prisoners patriotism,
FOR Deutschland ueber Allies" fades
away and he very willingly obeys the
orders Of his captor. II, however, the
prisoner gets high-toned and refuses to
FOLLOW you. simply persuade" him by
,,frst removing his tin hat, and then
well the use Of the lead weight in the
.persuader is demonstrated, and Tom.
my looks for another prisoner.
The knqckle knife Is a dagger affair,
the blade Of which is about eight
Inches long with heavy steel guard
over the grip. This guard is studded
with steel projections. At night in a
trench, which Is only about three to
four feet wide, It makes, very handy
weapon. One punch in the face gen.
orally skaters mans jaw and you
can get him with the knife as he goes
down.
): Then we had what we called our
scome-alongs." These are strands of
barbed wire about three feet long.
made into q moose at one end; at the