The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-04-12

ment, and we hurried them some
And when our lines were reached,
what ''spread'-tea, sugar, butter,
bread, bully!
Really, Hindenburg was most in
formally generous.
The captives crestfa11en though
they undoubtedly were, did not suffer,
but their thoughts, like ours, must
have gone back to the poor devils on
the other side of No Mans Land who
were waiting anMously, hungrily, for
the food that never came. Well, all's
fair in love and war, the luck
was ours that night.
By this time I had taken part in
three separate battles, and half a doZ-
IN bombing parties, as a good meas
ure.
Big scraps had no more terror for
me. In fact, what we hated the most
was ''idIeness Our company was
gain transferred to another section
and we had scarcely taken our new
positions Wner the signal to go lover
the top was given.
TIL take you right through that bat
RE from the beginning.
First of all, there was the artillery
bombardment-
If it were allowable could tell you
something that woIld astonish YOU
about the big gun onslaught, not about
it's intensity, for that could never be
adequately described-it was so over
whelning.
1t was five o'clock in the morning
when we went over and I can as
sure you there has prcb badly never
been anything like that charge in the
history of the war.
He VIII Explain Later
Not that there was any sanguinary
fighting or that sort of thing-for
eason I'll explain later-but 50 keen
were the men to 'up and at 'em"
that many would actually have out
stripped their officers had they not
Eeen kept N hand!
That's a fact.
It was a breathless race behind the
barrage.
Right in front of US 1t streamed,
| like a swift cascade of steel and
smoke, and where it fell the earth
was boiling like black water in pot.
You never saw anything so wonder
ful-for those in it's rear. For the
Germans in front of it-wel1, it was
not long before we found out what
they thought. We had a good idea Of
their opinions as we passed over the
ruins of their trenches, but not until
we had come into actual contact with
them did we realize what a terror
of an ordeal it was which they had
endured
Ordered to Take Certain Trench.
We had been ordered to take GER
tain spot and not to go beyond it, but
to clean up all the Boches we came
across.
There were four lines of trenches
included in that area, and over one,
two and three we swept without ever
c1apping eye on a living one.
There were plenty of dead.
Not until We were nearing the
fourth did we run up against, or rath-
er observe the first batch Of live ones.
Our barrage had lifted bit by
this time, and there they wera. rae
ing around like hunted things
With a. yell we were at them, when
suddenly disaster came-for me! A
bit of Hun shrap burst near me, and
was down and out with a crippled
foot and leg.
Bad luck? I don't know what tc
call it when I think of the sequel
I had been running alongside an
old pal and when I fell the first thing
I did was to ease myself up to sex
how he had Jared. I was sure hi
would be down and out, too, but wher
[ glanced around he was nowhere to
be seem
His Pal Disappears
: Had he been blown to bits, or had
he escaped? These were the questions
that ran like mad through my mind
I was soon to have them answered
The moment found I could go n,
. further I commenced to crawl bacl
towards our lines. 1t was painful 60
: ing, and after what reckoned a cen
tury of it I dropped into a bit o.
: trench.
Now for the sequel.
: A sleety rain was falling, and had
just spread my coat over my wounded
leg and foot, and was preparing tt
make myself as comfy as possible IN.
l til the stretcher-bearer happened
, along, when all of a sudden came the
9 scuffle, scuffle, scuffle of many feet
! and the next moment a dozen Ger
! mans had cleared the trench aboy
, me and had landed on the other side
For the life of me I could not IN
derstand it.
o CTo Be Continued)