Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-03-20
CHAPTER XII:

!
full news that at four in the morning
we were to go over the top and take
the German frOnt-line trench. My heart
turned to lead. Then the officer car
ried on with his instructions. To the
| best of my memory I recall them as
follows: "At eleven a wiring party will
go 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 Commandment, which will last I'M
ill four. Upon the lifting of the bar
rage the first of the three waves will
go over" Then he left. Some of the
Tommies, first getting permission from
the sergeant, went into the machine
gunners' dugOut and wrote letters
nome, saying that in the morning they
were going over the top, and also that
If the letters reached their destination
it 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, Twill and Last Tesla
ment"
Then the nerve-racking wait COM
menced. Every now and then 1 would
glance at the dial of my wrist watch
and was surprised to see how fast the
minutes passed by. About five minutes
to two I got nervous waiting for our
guns to open up. / could not take my
eyes from my watch. I crOuched
against the pdrapet and strained my
muscles in q doathlike grip upon my
rife. AS the hands on my watch
showed two o'clock a binding red flare
lighted up the sky in our rear, then
thunder intermixed with sharp, Whis-
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
sprang 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 a signing moan. Our big
boys behind the line had opened up
and 9.2's and 15-inch shells commenced
dropping into the German lines. The
flash Of the guns behind the lines, the
scream OF the shells through the air.
and 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
nm occasional rattle of rifle firing gave
me the impression of q huge audience
IpDlauding the work of the batteries.
Our 1S-pOunderS were destroying the
German barbed wire, while the heavier
stuff was demolishing their trenches
and bashing in dug0uts or funk holes.
Then Fritz got busy.
Their shells went screaming over
head, aimed in the direction of the
fare" from our batteries. Trench NOR
tars started dropping "N1innies'' 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.
Sometimes in the fare Of a shell-burst
4 mans body would be silhOuetted
against the paradOs of the trench and
t appeared like huge monster. You
could hardly hear yourself think. When
an order was to be passed down the
trench you had to yell it, using your
hands as funnel into the ear of the
nan sitting next to you on the fire step.
In about twenty minutes q generous
rum issue was doled out. After drink
ing the rum, which tasted like varnish
and sent q shudder through your
frame, you wondered why they made
you wait until the lifting of the bar
:age before going over. At ten min
ltes to four word was passed down,
Ten minutes to go!'' Ten minutes
20 live! We were shivering all over
Ny legs felt as If they were asleep
Then word was passed down: "First
| wave get on and near the scaling lad
1ers."
These were small wooden ladders
which we had placed against the para
pet to enable us to go over the top on
The lifting Of the barrage. Ladders of
| death" we called them, and vertically
they we're.
BEFORE charge Tommy Is the pO-
itest Of men. There is never any push
| ing or crowding to be first up these
ladders. We crouched around the base
Of the ladders waiting for the word
to go over. I was sick and faint. and
was putting away at an unlighted fag.
Then came the word, "Three minutes
to go; upon the lifting of the barrage
| md on the blast of the whistles Over
the top with the best O. luck and give
them hell" The famous phrase of
the western front. The Jonah phrase
Of the western front. To Tommy it
means if you are lucky enough to come
back you will be minus an arm or q
leg. Tommy hates to be wished the
best Of luck; so, when peace is de-
clared, If it ever is, and you meet a