Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-07-30
PunIshments and Machine. Gun Stunts.

CHAPTER XXI.
Punlshments and Machine Gun Stunts.
Soon after my arrival In France; In
fact, from my enlistment, had found
that in the British army discipline Is
very strict. One has to be very care
full In order to stay on the narrow path
of government virtue.
There are about seven million ways
Of breaking the kings regulations; to
keep one you have to break another.
The worst punishment Is death by q
firing squad. or "up against the wal"
rs Tommy calls 1t.
This is for desertion, cowardice, mu-
tiny, giving information to the enemy,
looting, rape, robbing the dead, forcing
a safeguard, striking superior, etc.
Then comes the punishment of sixty
four days in the front-line trench with
out relief. During this time you have
to engage in all raids. working parties
In No Mans Land, and every hazardous
undertaking that comes along. II you
live through the sixty-four days you
are indeed lucky.
This punishment Is awarded where
there Is doubt as to the willful guilt
Of q man who has committed an Of
fence punishable by death.
Then comes the famous field pun
ishment No. /. Tommy has nicknamed
it "crucifxion." It means that man
Is spread-eagled on a timber wheel,
two hours a day for twenty-one days.
During this time he only gets water,
bully beef and biscuits for his chow.
You get "crucifed" for repeated minor
offenses.
Next in order is field punishment
No. 2.
This Is confinement In the "clink,"
without blankets, getting water, bully
beef and biscuits for rations and doing
all the dirty work that can be found.
This may be for twenty-four hours or
twenty days, according to the gravity
Of the offense.
Then comes "pack drill" or default
ers' parade. This consists Of drilling,
mostly at the double, for two hours
with full equipment. Tommy hates
this, because 1t Is hard work. Some
times he fills his pack with straw to
tighten it. and sometimes he gets
caught. If he gets caught, he grouses
at everything in general for twenty
one days, from the vantage point Of q
timber wheel.
Next comes &C. B." meaning "con-
fined to barracks" This consists OF
staying in billets or barracks for twen-
ty-four hours to seven days. You also
get an occasional .defaulters' parade
and dirty jobs around the quarters.
The sergeant major keeps what Ii
known as the crime sheet. When a
man commits an offense, he Is
'crimed," that is, his name, number
and offense is entered on the crime
sheet. Next day at 8 a. m. he goes to
the "orderly room" before the captain.
who either Furnishes him with 70. B."
or sends him before the O. @. (of1cer
commanding battalion). The captain
Of the company can only award &c. B."
Tommy many a time has thanked
the king for making that provision IN
his regulations.
: To gain the title Of "smart soldier"
Tommy has to keep clear Of the crime
sheet, and you have to be darned smart
to do It.
I have been on 1t few times, most
ly for yankee impudence."
During our stay Of two weeks IN
rest bilrets our captain put Us through
q course Of machine-gun drills, trying
out new stunts and theories.
After parades were over, our guns
crews got together and also tried out
some theories Of their own in reference
to handling guns. These courses had
nothing to do with the advancement OF
the war, consisted mostly Of causing
tricky jams In the gun, and then the
rest Of the crew would endeavor to To-
cate as quickly as possible the cause
Of the stoppage. This amused them
for a few days and then things came to
a standstill.
r One Of the boys on my gun claimed
that he could play tune while the
gun was actually firing, and demon
strated this fact one day on the target
range. We were very enthusiastic and
decided to become musicians.
After constant practice ! became
quite expert in the tune entitled IAN
Conductors Have Big Feet"
When I had mastered this tune, our
two weeks rest came to an end, and
once again we went up the line and
took over the sector In front Of C.
wood.
At this point the German trenches
ran around the base Of hill, on the
top of which was dense wood. This
wood was infested with machine guns,
which used to traverse our lines at
WILL and Sweep the streets OF q little
village, where we were billeted while
In reserve.
There was one gun In particular
which used to get our goats. It had-the
exact range Of our elephant" dugout
entrance, and every morning, about the
time rations were being brought up, Its
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 nervey on edge,
and Fritz seemed to knew It, because
he never ave rs an hours rest. Our
reputation as machine gunners was at
stake: we tried various ruses to locate
and put this gun out Of action. but
each one proved to be a failure. ana
Fritz became q worse nuisance than
ever. He was getting fresher and more
careless every day. took all kinds OF
liberties with us-thought he was IN
vincible.
Then one Of our crew got . brilliant
idea and we were all enthuSiasdc 20
put It to the test.
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun, was to play
my tune. and Fritz, no doubt, would
fall for 1t, try to initiate me a. an
added Insult This gunner and two
others would try, by the sound, to lo-
cate Frits and his gun. After having
cn< <hn N,ca t,on thev vould mount