The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1918-08-15
~OVER THE TOP''
BY Am American ARTHUR Guy Empey
Soldier WhoWemt Machine Gunner, Serving in France
bA a aE

over the grip. This guart Is studded
with steel projections. At night in
trench. which is only about three to
rour feet wide, 1t makes very handy
weapon. One punch in the face gem
orally shutters mems jaw and you
can get him with the knife as he goes
down.
Then we had what we called our
"c0me-alongs." These are strands OF
barbed wire about three feet long,
made into moose at one end; ut the
other end, the barbs are cut Off and
Tommy slips his wrist through loop
TO get good grip on the wire If the
prisoner wants to argue the point, why
just place the large loop around his
neck ana no matter If Tommy wishes
TO return to his trenches at the walk,
trot, or gallop, Fritz Is perfectly agree
able to maintain Tommy's rate OF
speed.
We were ordered to black our faces
and hands. For this reason; At night,
the English and Germans use what
they call star shells, sort Of rocket
at1air They are fired from large
pistol about twenty inches long which
is held over the sandbag parapct Of the
trench, and discharged into the air.
These star shells attain a height Of
about sixty feet, and range Of from
htty to sevcnty-fve yards. When they
nit the ground they explode, throwing
out strong calcium light which lights
up the ground in Il circle of Il radius Of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have parachute star shell which,
after reaching q height of about sixty
feet, eXplOdes. A parachute unfolds
and slowly floats to the ground. light
ing up large circle in No Mans Land.
The official name of the star shell ia
"Very-light." Very-ights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. If star shell falls in
front Of YOU, or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detec.
ton, as the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain Of light
But If 1T falls behind you and, rs Tom
my says, "you get in the star shell
zone then the fun begins; you have
to lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionlcss until the light OF
the Shell dies out. This takes an%-
where from forty to seventy seconhB.
If YOU haven't time to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you were in
when the light exploded; 1t Is advis
able not to breathe. as Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When II star
shell Is burning in Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for q week.
Nn,t Inn
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on your pale face. In
trench raid there is quite sufficient
reason for your face to be pale. If YOU
don't believe me- try 1t just once.
Then another reason for blackening
your face and hands is that, after you
have entered the German trench at
night, "whitc face means Germans.
"back face" English. Coming around
traverse YOU see white face in
front Of YOU. With prayer and wish.
ing Fritz "the best O luck" you intro
duce him to your "persuadcr" or
knuckle knife.
little later we arrived Mt the com.
munication trench named Whisky
street, which led to the fire trench at
the point we were to go over the top
and out in front.
In our rear We're four Stretcher bear
ers and corpora Of the II. A. NJ. G..
carrying pouch containing medicines
and frst-aid appliances. Kind Of a
grim reminder to us that our expedJ-
ton was not going to be exactly pic.
nic. The order Of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first, with the undertakers tag.
ging In the rear and then the insur-
ance man, but in our case, the under.
takers were leading, with the doctors
trailing behind, minus the insurance
adjuster.
(TO BE CONTINUED1