The Washington herald., 1918-03-02
"OVER THE TOP"
By ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
Copyrighted by Arthur Guy Empey.

der arrived! Now 1t was no Blighty
for US.
That return journey was misery for
us; just can't describe it.
When we got back to rest billets,
We found that our brigade was in
the trenches (another agreeable sur
prise). and that an attack was con-
templated.
Seventeen of the forty-one will new
er get another. chance TO go on leave;
they were killed in the attack. Just
think If that train had been on time.
those seventeen would still be alive.
1 hate to tell you how was kidded
by the boys when I got back, but it
was good and plenty.
Our machine gun company took
over their part of the line at O'Clock
the night after / returned from my
near leave.
At $50 the following morning three
waves went over and captured the
first and second German trenches.
The machine gunners went over with
the fourth wave to consolidate the
captured line or dig in." as Tommy
calls it.
Crossing No Mans Land without
clicking any casualties, we came to
the German trench and mounted our
guns on the parados Of same.
! never saw such a mess. in my life
punches Of twisted barbed wire ly-
ing about, shell holes everywhere,
trench all dashed in, parapets gone,
and dead bodies. why that ditch was
full Of them. theirs and ours. II was
regular morgue, Some were man
gied horribly from our shell fire,
while others were wholly or partly
buried in the mud, the result of she'll
explosions caving in the walls of the
trench. One dead German was lying
on his back. with rife sticking
straight up in the air, the bayonet
OF which was buried to the hilt in his
chest. Across his feet lay a. dead
English soldier with a bullet hole in
his forehead. This Tommy must have
been killed Just as he ran his bayonet
through the German.
Rifes and equipment were scattereL
ABOUT and occasionally a steel helmet
could be seen sticking out of the mud.
AT one point, Just in the entrance of
a communication trench, was a
stretcher On this stretcher a Ger
man was lying with a white bandage
around his knee. near to him lay one
OF the stretcher-bearers, the red cross
on his arm covered with mud and his
helmet filled with blood and brains.
Close by, sitting up against the wall
OF the trench. with head resting on
MS chest. was the other stretcher-
bearer. He seemed to be alive, the
posture was so natural and easy, but
When l got closer. could see a large
jagged hole in his temple. The three
must have been killed by the same
shell-burst.
The dugouts were all smashed in
ana knocked about, big square-eut
tlmoers splintered into bits, walls
cayed in and entrances choked.
tommy, after taking a trench,
learns to his sorrow that the hardest
part Of the work is to hold it.
In our case this proved to be so.
Inc German artillery and machine
guns had US taped (range0 for fair;
was worth your life to expose your
SELF for an instant
Don't you think for a minute that
tne Germans were the only sufferers;
we were clicking casualties so fast
.nat you needed an adding machine
to keep track OF them.
AN Jou ever see one OF Ine steam
shovels at work on the Panama
Canal? Well, it would look IKE hen
scratching alongside of a Tommy
digging in" while under fire; you
couldn't see daylight through the
elouds OF dirt from his shovel.
After losing three out Of six men of
our crew, we managed to set up our
machine gun. One of the legs Of the
tripod was resting on the chest of a
nan-ouried body. When the gun was
nring 1t gave the impression that the
oody was breathing: this was caused
oy the excessive vibration.
Three or four feet down the trench.
about three feet from the ground. a
loot was protruding from the earth;
We knew ii was German by the
black leather boot. One OF our crew
used that foot to hang extra bando-
Hers OF ammunition on. This man
always was handy fellow; made use
OF little points that the ordinary per-
son would overlook.
The Germans made three counter
attacks which we repulsed but without
heavy loss on our side. They also
suffered severely from our shell ana