Connecticut western news., 1918-07-04
CHAPTER XxVI.
All Quiet t?> on the Western Front


 At brigade headquarters I happened to overhear conversation between our G. O. c. (general officer commanding and the divisional commander. From this conversation I learned that we were to lombard the German lines for eight days, and on the first of July the ''big push" was to commence.
 In few days orders were issued to that effect, and 1t was common prop erty all along the line.
 On the afternoon of the eighth day of our "strafeing," Atwen and l were sit ting in the frOnt-line trench smoking flags and making out our reports of the previous nights tour of the trenches, which we had to turn in to headquar- ters the following day, when an order was passed down the trench that Old Pepper requested twenty volunteers to go over on a trench raid that night to try and get few German prisoners for information purposes. l immediately volunteered for this job, and shook hands with Atwell, and went to the rear to give my name to the officers in charge of the raidinS party. -r was accepted, worse luck.
 At 9;A5 that night we reported to the brigade headquarters. dugoptf to receive ipstructsqns from Old Pepper. After reaching this tdugout ve lined y1p in semicircfes around him, and he addressed stssxs .slaWs: ..1. A,+.s. .s...
 E ~An I want you boys to do l. to go over to the German lines tonight Tsur4 prise them, secure a couple of prison CTS, and return Immediately. Our 1rs tiilerx has vhombarded that section sof tne line for two days and personally I beaisyei thet thsti part of the German trench is unoccupaed, so just get a cou- pas Of prisoners and return as quickly as possible" |. { The sefeeant on my Hght, in an un- 6sssene, -whfspeesd to.hns: U <. s rs> ,.. : NSay, Tank. how are we going to set a couple of prisoners if the old fool thinks personally that that part of the trench ia unoccupied, '-sounds kind of dshy, doesn't 1t mater, .,..,.. ao.te
 I had funny sinking sensation In
 my stomach, and tmy tin hat felt as if it weighed about ton and ny enthusi- asm was melting away. Old Pepper must have heard sthe serssapts speak because he turned In hls dile<tt1on AAA dsasa thundexane volca a&ksds-. VI, ewha& Md ysu sayf ,.z-..---.
 j: The sergeant with scarlet ISok on hss fses' and his knees krsmbaf1s. sxnartiy saluted and answersd:. .-. . x Nothins, sir -a9'
 : Old Pepper said:
 | ~Well, don't say it go loudly the next time" s... - .... AT. ..z. 4.
 ', Then Old Pepper continued:
 Tn this section of the German trenches there are two or three ma chine guns which our artillery, in the last two or three days, has been un- able to tape. These guns command the sector where two of our communities ton trenches join the front line, and as the brigade is to go over the top to- morrow morning I want to capture two or, three men from these guns crews, and from them I may Dc able to obtain valuable 'information ias to the exact location oS the guns, and our artillery, will therefore be able to demolish them before athes. attack. and thps1 prevent our losing lot of men while using these communM trenches to bring up re-enforcements.r " ! .at
 These were the instructions he gave tis: ...#
 '"Take off your Identification disks, strip your uniforms of all numerals, insignia, etc., leave your papers with your captains, because don't want the Boches to know what regiments are against them as this would be valuable information to them in our attack to- morrow and don't want any of you to be taken alive. What I want is two prisoners and if gete them I have @ way which will make them divulge all necessary information as to their guns. You have your choice of two weapons-you may carry your per. suaders' or your knuckle knives, and each man will arm himself with four Mills bombs, these to be used only in case of emergency
 A persuader Is Tommy's nickname for club carried by the bombers. It is about two feet long, thin at one end and very thick at the other. The thick end Is studded with sharp steel spikes, while through~the center of the club there Is nine-fnch lead bar, to give 1t weight and balance. When you get a prisoner all you have to. do is just stick this club up in front of him, and believe me, the prisoners patriotism for Deutschland ueber Alles'' fades away and he very willingly obeys the orders of his captor. If, however, the prisoner gets high-toned and refuses to follow you, simply 'persuade" him by first removing his tin hat, and then well, the use of the lead weight in the persuader is demonstrated and Tom