Evening star., 1918-07-14

Inc Gay OF TINS attack Harvey, as was
his custom. followed the captain about
and in the evening. when the captain
went to the gun, Harvey came also.
He asked II he could be of any use,
and we put him to fixing up fuses on
the shells.
-
Harvey took up a position near tho
mouth of our gun and kept at work
with his hands, his feet and his teeth,
getting the shells ready, but not SO
fast as Capt. Barker and 1 could fire
them. When the other men came, men
experienced in fixing fuses. Harvey
refused to leave, saying that his place
was wherever his captain was.
Every time Betsy fred. Harvey was
blown up. Yes. blown up. of his feet,
The next day he said to the captain:
Sir, I've got another tin ear now.
but wouldn'tve missed this for any
thing
AT no time that night. either by gas
or high explosive. did the Germans si-
ience Betsy. One of our men was
blown from the pit across the road
One man had piece of shell strike
his forehead and glance through his
helmet Two were knocked uncon-
scious. We had seven casualties, but.
strange to say, we came through
WllAoUl any l1ldl ones.
AT one time the Germans had car
ried some Of our trench line and were
as close to US as that little woods I
showed you. Our 75s were firing al
most point blank. and we were in dan
ger OF the enemy capturing US and our
gun: But the infantry restored tho
position, and hope we got the Ger
mans when they ran back to their
line. which we were leveling. Pris-
oners Ioid us that our artillery had
stopped three waves of their reserves
upon which they had relied to support
trenches permanently and incorporate
them into the German lines"
we asked some general questions.
learned something about the cold, call
cuiating mathematical game of the
artillery. and again the conversation
came around to Betsy.
., You haven't explained why you cali
her Betsy-is there any significance?ss
NO., the lieutenant replied, "and
that is just why the name remains"
But why the surname Sniper?'
Because she is a big gun, yet does
exactly what a sniper out in no man's
land would do-pick on little things,
I'll tell you what we did one day.
One OF our aviators had had fight
with German back of the German
lines. and he had forced the boche
to descend. The boche got control
near the ground. and broke only his
propeller or his wing. or something.
in landing, and you know that ac-
cording to the French style an avias
tor gets no credit unless the enemy
is witnessed destroyed.
We were sorry for our aviator
whom we had watched with glasses,
Then out came q lot of German ins
fantrymen to save the plane.
I'VE worked our range quickly. Our
first shot missed-too far. Second and
third got closer. Fourth was fine and
scared the Germans. We let Betsy
Sniper go the fifth time. Then we got
the following report from our balloon
observer over the telephone:
German plane and about fifteen
Germans gone out of existence'
"On other occasions we have picked
OF little things like German stan au-
tomobiles, horse artillery. supply
wagons. One day we gave Betsy q
quick test and fired four shots in
twenty-seven seconds. The first had
not exploded when the last was On
its way"
asked the lieutenant how many
distinguished service crosses the bat>
None" he replied. Capt. Barker
would not send in a list OF recon-
mendations. No man in the battery
had done more than he did and 1t is
his opinion that all he and his men
went through was no more or less
than an artilleryman's daty. And he
Eahtssno crosses for that - II ltr
Y t6opyrit6t iSis. By Edward Marshaiz.l i