Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-23
CHAPTER xx1I-continued.

| There was one gun in particular
 which use to get our goats. it had the exact range of our elephant dugout~ entrance, and every uVenlng, about the time rations were being brought up, it's bullets would knock up
 the dust on the road more than one
 Tommy went West Or to Blighty by
 running into them
 This gun got our nerves on edge,
 and Fritz seemed to know it. because < he never gave US an hours rest. Our
 reputation as machine gunners was at l stake; we tried various fuses to locate
 and put this gun out of action, but
 each one proved to be a failure, and Fritz became a worse nuisance than i ever. He was getting fresher and more careless every day, took all kinds
 of liberties, ,Swith iis-thought he was l invisible.
 Then one of our crew got a brilliant idea and we were all enthusiastic to put it to the test.
 Here was his scheme:
 When firing my gun, was to play l my tune, and Fritz, no doubt, would added insult This gunner and two others would try, by the sound, to locate Fritz and his gun. After having got the location, they would mount two machine guns in trees; in 2 little clulnp of woods to the left of our cemetery, and while Fritz was in the
 middle of his lesson. would open UT
 and trust to luck. By our calculations it would take at least a week to pull off the stunt.
 If Fritz refused to swallow our bait it would be impossible to locate his , special gun, and that's the one we I 1 of& al alike, a slow up-pup-pup.
 Our prestige was hanging nv 2 thread. In the battalion we had tc endure all kinds of insults and 1tresE
 remarks as to our ability in silencine 5 Fritz. Even to the battalion that
 German gun was'a sore spot. } Next day Fritz opened up as usual ; let him fire away for a awhile ant t then butted in with my "pup- ru pup
 pup-pup- pup kept this up quite . l while, used two belts of ammunition , Fritz had stopped firing to listen.
 Then he started in; sure enough hs ! had fallen for our game, his gun wal : trying to initiate mine, but at frs
 he made>a horrible mess of that tune f Again butted in with a few bars ana : stopped. Then he tried to copy what :, had played. He was a good sport al ! right, because his bullet were goint ]. away over our heads, must have beer ? firing into the air. I comnencd u I feel friendly toward him.
 } r This duet went on for five days B Fritz was good pupil and learned
 rapidly, in fact, got better than hi
 teacher. I commenced to feel jealous
 When he had completely mastered tn
 tune, he started sweeping the roaI n again and we clicked it worse thai . ever. But he signed his death war :. ship turned to hate. Every time h Il fired he played the tune and we :, danced
 The boys in the battalion gave u
 the "Ha! Hal" They weren't in o
 our little frame-up
 Il The originator of the ruse and tn n other two guners had Frit's iocatto = taped to the minute; they fnounte
 | their two guns, and also gave me tn
 range. The next afternoon was SC
 for the grand finale.
 - Our three guns, with different ele It vations, had their f1Ee so arrange r that opening up together, their bullet e would suddenly drop on Fritz like IT hailstorm.
 '- About three the next day. Frit 't started .''pup pupping'' that tune. n blew sharp blast on a whistle. it wa s the signal agreed upon; we turne n loose and Fritz's gun suddenly stoppe et in the middle of a bar. We had cooke n his goose, an our ruse had worke. d after firing two belts each, 10 mak 't l sure of our job. we hurriedly dis
 ] mounted our guns and took cover