The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-02-07
VERDUN ATTACKS
BEGGARS WORDS
OF AMBULANCIER
Continued from Page g.

Continued from Page g.
noise of the bursting shells told him
they had him at their mercy the front
wheels of the ambulance struck
aaeIl-hole, flew off the road and iaa
wheels still spinning in the air, land
=: on it's back in the ditch, just as the
shell that should have wrecked the
outfit screamed overhead.
Trick Pulled on Germans
| There were many camouflage
screens along the road; a bunch of
them added greatly to the difficulty. |
1t was in the Champagne that 1 saw |
clever trick pulled off on the |
Boches. Just behind the French lines |
was shell shattered trunk of a great |
| tree. The French used the trunk |
which was about thirty feet in height, |
asa shipping and observing post, but |
it was an unhealthy look out, as the |
along in the fiery light. In and out, |
humping and groaning, through the |
gas and Smelling, the brave little car
reaches its destination, a first line
dressing station near the Douaumont
fort.
| Down here on the turn of the road
were many horse-wagons and some
motor cars held up by the gas and
Smelling. The horses jumped and
kicked under their terrible nervous
Germans kept a rather steady ma
chine gun fire on the place when they
thought anything was in the wind.
One night after French engineers
had made minute diagrams of the
tree trunks outline and coloring, a
steel tree exactly a duplicate of the
wooden one was drawn up to the
lines; the old natural trunk cut down
and the fake one put up. 1t was quite
a long while before the Boche gun
ners found out why their bulletI
didn't seem to affect the French snip.
er and observers.
When orders arrived for our imme-
date moving from the Argonne to
the Verdun sector winter was in full
swing. Snow had been falling for al
most a full month and now the freez-
ing point was setting in, with a bit
ing wind that whipped the snow
about like a sand storm. We were on
the road two days-one night we put
up in an old building used as a hos
pital.
They gave us a big stone and con-
| crete room, or rather a cellar-it was
: much colder than any refrigerator
I've run across. And from the rooms
= above groans and cries drifted down
Some diseased child had been brought
in by its mother for treatment, and it's
cries and screams came down to US.
We arrived on the second day at q
: place called M, behind the YER
!. dun sector of Mort Homme and Hill
: S04, and took up our quarters in a
long row of dark houses made by Ger
man prisoners-made of only
: branches, twigs and leaves. We had
: a few old stoves left by section four
: when we relieved them but they came
back within three days to take off
a their stoves to their new quarters,
T leaving US with no heat of any kind.
:. Warmth Big Problem
Our big problem when off the roads
e was trying to get warm. We made
+ stoves out of old oil cans-no Chin
u neys-just the can with the tops cut
n off; so that when the can was filled
k with wet wood and oil the thing roar
s ed and vomited ashes and charred
d wood about the room. For six weeks
k after a months steady snowfall, it
IS remained eight and even ten degrees
p below freezing. We never bathed or
d shaved, rarely washed and never got
y out of our clothes.
After working on the front line for
d twenty-four, thirty-six or even forty
d eight hours it was nightmarish to re-
2, turn to these frozen houses, roll our
g selves in the damp blankets with all
n our clothes, boots and caps on, and
try to nap. In the morning feet would
g be frozen to the blankets, with layer
is of frost overlapping all.
1T One night three of US were sitting
J. huddled around one of these impro-
u vised stoves. We were off duty, but
id in expectation of an extra call had a
er bucket of water next the can stove in
IL readiness for filling a radiator. One
of the men on duty slipped off a steep
j. road in the darkness, and, turning
ID over three times, pulled up on the
cars back at the foot of the hill. Sc
h one of us was called out to relieve
A. him, and when the bucket of water
J. was called for it was solid ice-and
i had been sitting next to the stove
Id for two hours.
a Duty on Cold Night
Many dark, blustery cold night
we'd be cNllll out again after a cou-
PIE of hours sleep; then dig through
the iced stream for a bucket of wa.
ter, and crank the car until our stom-
@ achs caved in. All radiators had tC
- be completely covered with a wrap
ping of blankets, even while running
of on the road, otherwise the fool radia
p tors would freeze solid on the bot
er tom.
r One of our leafy arbor dwelling
n was put on fire by makeshift stove
o. and after some difficulty was quench
In ed by two of the boys. Everybod!
Ir. else was sore and we all grouped
nv around blaming the two chaps VIII
of had put out the fire. That was tn
ITS only chance of the winter we had t,
ne get warm and somebody had to spoi
nc it!
"a When we took over the front lin
,t work the day after we arrived GU
bo commandant took three of us up t
-, the lines in his staff car. When W
- got near the lines every French bat
- terry was barking away at topnotc
speed, trying to Guido the din of tn
- incoming shells. We had been toll
u to expect a Boche attack that day
he and it surely began to look like i
IN fha loo CT hrin n