American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-07-12

by the boys when | got back, but 1t was
good and plenty.
Our machine gun company took over
their part Of the line at seven o'clock,
the night after 1 returned from my
Rear leave.
At 3 80 the following morning three
waves went over and captured the first
and second German trenches. The
machine gunners went over with the
fourth wave to consolidate the cap
tured line or "dig In" as Tommy calls
II.
Crossing No Mans Land without
clicking any casualties, we came to
the German trench and mounted our
guns on the parados Of same.
/ never saw such a mess In my life
punches of twisted barbed wire lying
about, she'll holes everywhere, trench
all Dashed IN, parapets gone, and dead
bodies, why, that ditch was full of
them, theirs and ours. 1t was a regu-
lar morgue. Some were mangled hor-
ribly from our shell fire, while others
. were wholly or partly buried In the
mud, the result of shell explosions cav
ing In the walls of the trench. One
dead German was lying on his back,
with a rife sticking straight up In the
air, the bayonet Of which was buried
to the hilt in his chest. Across his feet
lay q dead English soldier with a bull
let hole In his forehead. This Tommy
must have been killed Just as he ran
his bayonet through the German.
Rifles and equipment were scattered
about, and occasionally a steel helmet
could be seen sticking out of the mud.
At one point, just In the entrance to
q communication trench, vas a stretch
err. On this stretcher a German was
lying with a white bandage around his
knee, near to him lay one Of the
stretcher-bearers the red cross on his
arm covered with mud and his helmet
filed with blood and brains. Close by,
sitting up against the wall of the
trench, with head resting or his chest,
was the other stretcher-bearer. He
seemed to be alive, the posture was so
natural and easy; but when l got
closer 1 could see a large, jagged hole
In his temple. The three must have
been killed by the same shell-burst.
The dugouts were all smashed in and
knocked about, big square-cut timbers
splintered into bits, walls caved in and
entrances choked.
Tommy, after taking a trench, learns
to his sorrow that the hardest part Of
the work is to hold it.
In our case this proved to be so.
The German artillery and machine
guns had us tapped (ranged) for fair /;
1t was worth your life to expose your
self an instant.
Don't think for a minute that the
Germans were the only sufferers; we
were clicking casualties so fast that
you needed an adding machine to keep
track of them.
Did you ever see one Of the steam
shovels at work on the Panama canal?
Well, 1t would look like a hen scratch
ing alongside of a Tommy digging in
while under fire. You couldn't see day
light through the clouds of dirt from
his shovel.
After losing three out of six men Of
our crew we managed to set up our
machine gun. One of the legs Of the
tripod was resting on the chest Of a
h%alf-buried body. When the gun wes
firing, it a V the impression that the
body was breathing. This was caused
by the excessive vibration.
Three or four feet down the trench
about three feet from the ground, q
foot was prOtruding from the earth
w. T----- Z ~~,- q, Earr,an nv tho black
leather boot. One of Our crew USED
that foot to hang extra bandoliers OF
ammunition on. This man always was
q handy fellow; made use of little
points that the ordinary person wOuiC
overlook.
The Germans made three counter
attacks, which we repulsed, but no
without heavy loss on our side. They
also suffered severely from our shell
and machine-gun fire. The ground wa.
spotted with their dead and dying.
The next day things were somewha
quieter, bat not quiet enough TO bur,
the dead.
We lived, ate and slept in that trencl
with the unburied dead for six days
1t was awful to watch their faces be
come swollen and discOlOred. Toward
the last the stencil was fierce.
What got on my nerve the most wa
that foot sticking out of the dirt. ]
seemed TO me, at night, in the moor
light. to be trying to twist arounC
Several times this impression Vas 5
strong that 1 went to it and grasped
In hn4k b,nI- e, cna a. / nnnl6 fool
movement.
l told this to the man who had use
1t for a hatrack just before lay dow
for a little nap, as things were quie
and l needed a rest pretty badl.
When l woke up the foot was gon'
He had cut it of with our chain sa'
out of the spare parts box. and ha
nln c-nrna thn rtrrnnn nrnr with mud