Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-04-01
lover the Top
By An American Soldier
Who Went
ARTHUR GUY EnPEY
lCop,-.ht, .s,7, BY Arthur Cay nmpsy)
Machine Gunner Serpins In France

lCopSasht, .gl1, BY Arthur Guy nmpey)
The dugouts were all smashed In and
knocked about, big sQuare-cut tmbers
splintered into bits, walls caved In and
entrances choked.
Tommy, after taking q trench, learns
to his sorrow that the hardest part of
the work is to hold 1t.
In our case this proved to be SO.
The German artillery and machine
guns had US tapped trange6 for fair {;
1t was worth your lite to expose your
self an instant.
Don't think for q minute that the
Germans We're the only sufferers; we
were clicking casualties so fast that
you needed an adding machine to keep
track of them.
Did you ever see one Of the steam
shovels at work on the Panama canal?
Well, it would look like hen scratch
ing alongside of Tommy digging in"
while under fire. You couldn't see day
light through the clouds Of dirt from
his shovel.
After losing three out of six men of
our crew we managed TO set up our
machine gun. One of the legs Of the
tripod was resting on the chest Of a
half-buried body. When the gun was
firing, it gave the impression that the
body was breathing This was caused
by the excessive vibration.
Three or four feet down the trench,
about three feet from the ground,
foot was protruding from the earth.
We knew it was German by the black
leather boot. One of cur crew used
that foot TO hang extra bandoliers of
ammunition on. This man always was
o handy fellow: made use Of little
points that the ordinary person would
overlook.
The Germans made three counter
attacks, which we repulSed, but not
without heavy loss on our side. They
also suffered severely from our shell
and machine gun FIRE. The ground was
spotted with their dead and dying.
The next day things were somewhat
Quieter, bat not quiet enough to bury
the dead.
We lived, { e and slept in that trench
with the unburied dead for six days.
1t was awful to watch their faces be-
come swollen and discolored. Towards
the last the stencil was fierce.
What got on my nerves the most was
that foot sticking out Of the dirt. 1t
seemed 10 me, AT night, in the moon
light, TO be trying TO twist around.
Several times this impression was so
strong that went to it and grasped it
in both hands, to see if l could feel
movement.
I told this to the man who had used
it for hatrack just before lay down
FOR little nap, as things were quiet,
and l needed rest pretty badly.
When / woke up the foot was gone.
He had cut Ii off with our chain saw
out of the spare parts box, and had
plastered the stump over with mud.
During the next two or three days,
before we were relieved, missed that
foot dreadfully; seemed as If had
suddenly lost chum.
think the worst thing of all was to
watch the rats. at night, and some
times in the day, run over and play
about among the dead.
Near our gun, right across the para
pet, could be seen the body OF Ger
man lieutenant, the head and arms Of
which were hanging into our trench.
The man who had cut off the foot used
to sit and carry on one-sided CONVEX
sation with this officer, used to argue
and point out why Germany was in the
wrong During all of this monologue
/ never heard him say anything out Of
the way-anything that would have
hurt the officers feelings had he been
alive. He was square all right;
wouldn't even take advantage of a
dead man in an argument.
To civilians this must seem dread
full but out here one gets 50 used to
awful sights that It makes no impress
sion. In passing a butcher shop you
are not shocked by seeing dead tur-
key hanging from hook. Well, in
France, dead body Is looked upon
from the same angle.
But, nevertheless, when our six days
were up we were tickied to death to
be relieved.
Our machine gun company lost
seventeen killed and thirty-one wound
ed in that little local affair OF
Strengthening the line" while the
other companies clicked it worse than
we did.
After the attack we went into re-
serve billets for six days, and on the
seventh once again we were in rest bill
lets.