The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-09-18
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The II. Il. o. stuck us all into one
car. We didn't care; 1t was as good
as a Pullman to us.
Two days we spent on that train,
humping, stopping. jerking ahead. and
sometimes sliding back. At three sta
lions we stopped long enough to make
some tea. but were unable to wash, so
when we arrived at B. where we
were to embark for Blighty. we were
as black as Turcos and, with our I'M
shaver faces, we looked like a lot of
tramps. Though tired out, we were
happy.
We had packed up. preparatory to
determining, when II. Il. O. held up his
hand for us to stop where we were
and came over. This is what he said !:
''Boys, I'm sorry, but orders have just
been received cancelling all leave. If
you had been three hours earlier you
would have gotten away. Just stay in
that train, as ii is going back. Rations
will be issued TO you for your return
journey to your respective stations.
Beastly rotten, l know" Then he left.
A dead silence resulted. Then men
started TO curse, threw their rifles on
the floor of the car; others said moth
ing. seemed osbe stupefied, while some
had the tears running down their
cheeks. 1t was bitter disappointment
TO all.
How we blinded at the engineer of
that train; ii was all his fault ESQ we
reasoned) why hadn't he speeded up
little or been on time. then we would
have gotten off before the order ar
rived? Now ii was no Blighty for us.
That return journey was misery to
us; just can't describe 1t.
When we got back to rest billets, we
found that our brigade was In the
trenches (another agreeable surprise)
Seventeen of the forty-one will never
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.
/ hate to tell you how was, kidded
by the boys when got back, but Ii was
good and plenty.
Our machine gun company took over
their part of the line at seven o'clock.
the night after returned from my
near leave.
At 3 80 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 cap
tured line or "dig in" as Tommy calls
1t.
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 mess In my life
punches of twisted barbed wire lying
about, shell holes everywhere, trench
all Dashed in, parapets gone, and dead
bodies, why, that ditch was full of
them, theirs and ours. 1t was regu-
lar morgue. Some were mangled hor-
ribly from our shell fire. while others
were wholly or partly buried in the
mud, the result of shell explosions cav
ing I'm the walls of the trench. One
dead German was lying on his back,
with rifle 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 bull
let hole In his forehead. This Tommy
must have been killed just as he ran
his bayonet through the German.
Rifles and equipment were scattered
about, and occasionally steel helmet
could be seen sticking out Of the mud.
At one point, just In the entrance to
a communication trench, was stretch
er. On this stretcher a German 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
filed with blood and brains. Close by,
sitting up against the wall Of the
trench, with head resting on his chest.
was the other stretcher-bearer. He
seemed to be alive. the posture was SO
natural and easy; but when got
closer I could see large, jagged hole
In his temple. The three must have
been killed by the same shell-burst.
The dugouts were all smashed In and
knocked about. big square-cut timbers
spllntered into bits, walls caved In and
entrances choked.
Tommy, after taking trench, learns
to his sorrow that the hardest part Of
the work Is to hold II.
In our case this proved to be so.
The German artillery and machine
guns had Ms tapped (ranged) for fair;
Il was worth your life to expose pour
self an instant.
Don't think for q minute that the
Germans were the only sufferers: we
were clicking casualties no fest that