Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1918-03-21
CHAPTER XII.
Over the Top.

Over the Top.
On my second trip to the trenche
our officer was making his rounds o
inspection, and we received the cheer
full news that at four in the morning
we were to go over the top and taxi
The German front-line trench. My hear
turned to lead. Then the officer car
ried on with his instructions. To thu
best of my memory recall them al
FOLLOWS: AT eleven a wiring party vii
70 out In front and cut lanes through
our barbed wire for the passage Of
troops In the morning. At two O'Clock
our artillery will open up with an In
tense bombardment, which will last I'M
I'll four. Upon the lifting Of the bar.
rage the first of the three waves will
20 over" Then he left. Some OF the
Tommies, first getting permission from
the sergeant, went into the machine
gunners' dugout and wrote letters
home, saying that in the morning they
were going over the top, and also that
II the letters reached their destination
II would mean that the writer had been
killed.
These letters were turned over to
the captain with instructions to mail
same In the event of the writer's being
killed. Some of the men made out
their Wills In their pay books, under
the caption, "Will and Last Tesla
ment" "a
Then the nerve-racklng walt com
menced. Every now and then | would
glance at the dial of my wrist watch
and was surprised to see how fast the
minutes passed by. About five minutes
70 two | got nervous waiting for our
guns to open up. could not take my
eyes from my watch. | crouched
against the parapet and strained my
muscles In n deathlke grip upon my
rifle AS the hands on my watch
showed two o'clock binding red flare
lighted up the sky in our rear, then
thunder, intermixed with a sharp, wills.
ting sound in the air over our heads.
The shells from our guns were speed,
ing on their way toward the German
lines. With one accord the men
Eprang up on the fire step and looked
over the top in the direction Of the
German trenches. A line of bursting
shells lighted up No Mans Land. The
din was terrific and the ground trem-
bled. Then, high above our heads we
could hear signing moan. Our big
boys behind the line had opened up
and CPS and 15-inch shells commenced
dropping into the German lines. The
lash of the guns behind the lines, the
scream of the shells through the air,
md the flare of them, bursting, was a
spectacle that put Pains greatest dis
play into the shade. The constant
pup, pup, of German machine guns and
an occasional rattle Of rifle firing gave
me the impression Of huge audience
applauding the work of the batteries. |
Our 1S-pounders were destroying the
German barbed wire, while the heavier
stuff was demolishlng their trenches
and bashing In dugOuts or funk holes. |
Then Fritz got busy.
Their shells went screaming over
head, aimed In the direction OF the
flares from our batteries. Trench NOR
tars started dropping "Minnies" in
our front line. We clicked several cas-
nalties. Then they suddenly ceased |
Our artillery had tapped or silenced
them.
During the bombardment you could
almost read a newspaper in our trench.
In the flare of shell-burst
q mans body would be silhouetted
against the parados of the trench and
It appeared like a huge monster. You
could hardly hear yourself think. When
an order was to be passed down the
french you had to yell it, using your
hands as a funnel into the ear of the
nan sitting next to you on the fire step.
u about twenty minutes a generous
'um issue was doled out. After drink
ng the rum, which tasted like varnlsh
md sent a shudder through your
rame, you wondered why they made
1ou wait until the lifting of the bar
age before going over. At ten min
ties to four word was passed down,
Ten minutes to goi" Ten minutes
o llvel We were shivering all over.
~ legs felt as If they were asleep.
hen word was passed down: "First
rave get on and near the scaling lad
ers."
These were small wooden ladders
Fhich we had placed against the para
ct to enable us to go over the top on
be lifting Of the barrage. Ladders Of