The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-11-24
Act A. Shock Troops

crowded behind his tired eyes, lie
continued
Act A. Shock Troops
Il want YOU to get this story home
because it il the first time our boys
got into action ri,ht~~went in as
shock troops over the pick of the Aus
tralians and the Scots. who are cred
tied with being the most desperate
lads ever sent over the top. The folks
back home have every reason to be
proud of the way the New Workers
got away with il at lie Catelet.
Being just private soldier. I'm
not supposed TO know all about the
tactics and strategy of the battle at
LIE Catclet. but, you sec. | was a run
ner for Headquarters company, car
rytng dispatches ami orders when the
field telephones wires were put out OF
business, and so I saw n good deal
f1prD of tire show than the .bo&e with
She rifle. He ,fnesnt know where
he's going or why, poor sucker ana
sometimes nc can s4e ten feet ahead
of him.
I'VE had been fighting with the
English an In Flanders and knew lit
tie about the business of going up
against the iIeinies, but, man. we were
like the five-year kid whose NAM
my takes him to school the first day
when it came to the real close work
such as We got beginning with last
Friday. Oar division was moved up
from the rear over night to take "A
front line position opposite the canal
which the Heinies held protecting
their front before lie Catelet, and we
were told we were to lead the attack
in the morning. with the Australians
backing us up as a reserve, and tele-
scoping through us after we had de-
livered the first wallop.
Hot German BombarIncnt
THE bows We're pretty keen for ii.
and as. we say we were moving into
position in darkness as black as the
inside OF a Brooklyn Bridge vault, they
joked and passed cracks back and
forth. Then when we reached our po-
sition something happened. The Helm
les had be@n tipped off or did some
correct guessing. From o'clock
until $40. when we got word TO start
they tossed over everything they had
In the line of heavy hardware. 1t
went mighty rough with some OF the
regiments
AT O'Clock the British army be-
hind us started a preliminary bonn
bardmont which Yves . bear The
noise of me shells going over us was
just like n subway express going
aroung Spring street curve back
home. Half an hour later they laid
OFF they hontbardment of position and
laid down a barrage l.200 yards ahead
of us. That was our cue. We got up
from the grass and brush where we's
been trying to bold on under the Ger
man fire ana went bang up against
what | heard an Australian staff off,
Ger later say was tn heaviest concern
tration OF machine guns he'd seen in
three years OF fighting, The barrage
overshot most Of the machine guns.
which were concealed in the brush
and along the banks OF the canal and
that's one OF the reasons we got il so
hard.
Like FREELY Convention
Listen: Dark just turning into
gray, With all the woods black like
lines OF signhoards around vacant
lot, ana over yondcr whore we were
going n steady line of little fishes
Like fireflioN--like all the firefies in
the world getting together In CON
vention. Those were the machine
guns. and the bullets making a hiss
ing sound when the cut through the
grass at the feet Of the boys--for the
Germans always iiie low and count
on the ricochet to land. \ bullet that's
tiattened makes a nastier wound.
We'll, sir, you tell the folks hack
home that their New York boys went
right up against those machine guns
and got them by frontal attack In
almost every instance-~-at least until
the light came and they could pick
their way to the flank nests.
Another thing happened we
weren't counting on. A whole flock
tanks ss-at-s~itif- the Scots
and our boys, but the Heinies tried a
new trick which worked. All through
the lines OF their wire they'd planted
heady torpedoesx which would go Off
when heavy weight hit them or