The Benson signal. [volume] (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921, 1918-11-16

over the grip. This guard is studded
with steel projections. At night in
trench. which is only about three to
four feet wide, it makes a very handy
weapon. One punch in the face gen
orally skaters mans jaw and you
can get him with the knife as he goes
down.
Then we had what we called Oul
'come-alOngs." These are strands OF
barbed wire about three feet long.
made into a moose at one end; at the
other end. the barbS are cut off and
Tommy slips mis- wrist through a loOL
to get a good grip on the wire. If the
prisoner wants to argue the point, why
just place the large loop around his
neck and no matter il 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.
and hands. For this reason; AT night,
the English and Germans use what
they call star shells, a sort Of rocket
affair. They are fired from large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
is held over the sandbag parapet of the
trench, and discharged into the air.
These star shells attain a height of
about sixty feet, and range of from
fifty to seventy-ive yards. When they
hit the ground they explode, throwing
out a strong calcium light which lights
up the ground In circle Of a radius of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have parachute star shell which.
after reaching 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 she'll Is
"Very-light." Very-lights- 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 it fails behind you and, as Tom
my says, 'eyou get In the star shell
ZOne," then the fun begins; you have
to lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light Of
the shell dies out. This takes any.
where from forty to seventy seconds.
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 star
shell is burning in Tommys rear he
can hold his breath for a week.
You blacken your face and hands SO
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, "white face" means Germans,
"black face" English. Coming around
q 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 ''persuader" or
knuckle knife.
A little later we arrived ut the COM
munication trench named Whisky
street, which led to the fire trench ut
the point g." were to go over the top
and out in trOnt.
In our rear were four stretcher bear
ers and corporal of the r. A. NJ. C.
carrying a pouch containing medicines
and first-aid appliances. Kind of d
grim reminder to us that our eXpe0}-
ton was not going to be exactly a pic.
mic. The order of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first, with the underwriters 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 CONTINUED