Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-08-15

with steel projections. Al night In Q
trench. which II only about three To
four feet wide. II makes q very handy
weapon. One punch In the faee gem
orally skaters a mans Jaw and you
can get him with the knife 40 be goes
down.
Then va had what We called q
"come-alongs." These are strands Of
barbed wire about three feet long.
made into a moose at one end; at the
other end, the barbs are cut OF and
Tommy slips his wrist through Q loop
to get q good grip On the wire. II the
prisoner wants to argue the point. why
just place the large loop around his
neck and no matter II Tommy wishes
to return to his trenches at the walk.
trot, or gallop. Fritz Is perfectly agree
able to maintain Tommy's rate OF
speed.
We were ordered to black q faces
and hands. For this reason: At night.
the English and Germans use what
they call star shells. a sort Of rocket
affair. They are fired from a large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
is held over the sandbag parapet Of the
trench. and discharged into the mir.
These star shells attain a height Of
about sixty feet. and a range Of from
fifty to seyenty-hve yards. When they
hit the ground they explode. throwing
out a strong calcium light which lights
up the ground In a circle Of a radius Of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have a parachute star shell which,
after reaching a height of about sixty
feet. %explodes. A parachute unfolds
and slowly fonts to the ground. light
ing up q large circle In No Mans Land.
The official name Of the star shell IL
a "Verylight." Very-lights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. II a star shell falls In
front Of you. or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detec.
ton, as the enemy cannot rec you
through the bright curtain Of light.
But II It falls behind you and, as Tom.
my says. you get In the star shell
zone," then the fun begins; you have
to lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light Of
the shell dies out. This takes any
where from forty to seventy seconds.
II you haven't time to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you were in
when the light exploded; It - advis'
able not to breathe, a. Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When q star
shell IL burning in Tommy's rear hs
can hold his breath for a week.
You blacken your face and hands 10
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect On your pale face. In q
trench raid there Is quite suflcient
reason for your face to be pale. II you
don't believe me, try 1t Just once.
Then another reason for blackeninl
your face and hands Is that. after you
have entered the German trench q
night, white face" means Germans
"black face" English. Coming around
a traverse you e q white face II
front Of you. With a prayer and wish
ing Fritz THE best o luck" you Intro
duce him to your "persuader' Of
knuckle knife.
A little later We arrived ct the com
m%unication trench named Whisk!
street, which led to the FIRE trench q
the point ws were to 20 over the tol
and out In front. @
In our rear were four stretchsr bear
ers and a corporal Of the r. 4. N. 6
carrying q pouch containing medicine
and hrst.aid appliances. Kind Of
grim reminder to US that u expe6l
! ton was not going to DO exactly . PHI
) mic. The order Of things was reversed
In civilian life the doctors general
come arst, with the undertaksrs tal
ging In the rsar and then the iusul
ance man, but In our case. the unds'
takers were leading, with the doctor
trailing behind, minus the insuranc
adiuster. a