Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1918-10-11

don and frcnt-iine trenches. mallns
note Of unusual occurrences, and ar
resting anyone who should. b W. ap
pear to be acting In suspicious man.
ner. We slept during the day.
Behind the lines there was great ac
tivity. supplies ana ammunition pour
Ing in, and long columns Of troops con
stantly passing. We were preparing
for the big offensive. the forerunnsS
Of the battle Of the Somms or big
Push"
The neverendins stream Of men
supplies ammunition and gems pour
ing into the front lines made a mighty
spectacle, one that cannot be dc
scribed. II has to be witnessed. viii
your own eyes to appreciate its vast
ness.
At our part Of the line the influx d
supplies never ended. 1t looked lfks
a huge snake slowly crawling forward
never 4 hitch or break, wonderful
tribute to the sysAem and efficiency On
Great Britain's contemplate LITTLE
army" of five millions Of men.
Huge fifteen-inch guns snaked along
foot by foot. by powerful steam tract
tors. Then long line Of -four point
ave" batteries, each gun drawn by sil
horses, then 4 couple Of mine poini
two" howitzers pulled by immens,
caterpillar engines.
When one of these caterpillars wouk
pass me with It's mighty monster IL
tow. flush of pride would mount Il
my face, because / could plainly rsa4
on the name plate, made In u. 8. A.
and would remember that II wore
name plate it would also read, @Frou
the U. s. A." Then l would stop t.
think how thin and straggly thai
mighty stream would be If all tbs
Made in U. s. A." parts of 1t wer
withdrawn.
Then would come hundreds OF lin
bers and &c. s." wagons drawn b,
sleek, well-fed mules, ridden by sleek
well-fed men, ever smiling. although
grimy with sweat and covered with the
fine, white dust of the marvelouslJ
well-made French roads.
What discouraging report the Ger
man airmen must have taken back to
their division commanders, and thit
stream Is slowly but surely getting big
ger and bigger every day, and the pace
is always the same. No slower. NO
faster, but ever onward, ever forward
Three weeks before the big push Of
July las the battle Of the Somme mas
been called-started. exact duplicates
Of the German trenches were dug
about thirty kilos behind our lines.
The layout Of the trenches was taken
from airplane photographs submitted
by the Royal Aying corps. The trench
es were correct = the foot; they
showed dugOuts, saps, barbed wire de-
lenses and danger spots.
Battalions that were to 20 ever In
the FIRST waves were sent back for
three days to study these trenches, ems
gage in practice attacks and have night
maneuvers. Each man was required to
make 4 map Of the trenches and ia.
miliarixe himself with the names and
location Of the parts his battalion was
to attack.
In the American army noncommis'
stoned officers are put through a course
Of map making or road sketching, and
during my six years service in the
United States cavalry had plenty q
practice in this work, therefore map
ping these trenches was a compare.
lively easy task for me. Each man
had to submit his map to the company
commander to be passed upon. and
was lucky enough to have mine select
ed as being sufficiently authentic to use
in the attack.
No photographs or maps are allowed
to leave France, bat in this case 1t ap
pealed to me as valuable souvenir Of
the great war and managed to Snug
gle 1t through. At this time 1t carries
no military importance as the British
lines. / am happy to say, have since
been advanced beyond this point. u
In having it In my possession 1 am moi
breaking any regulation or cautions
Of the British army.
The whole attack was rehearset
and rehearsed nntil we heartily curse<
the one who had conceived the idea
The trenches were named according
to a system which made It very simple
for Tommy to And, even in the dark
any point In the German lines.
These imitation trenches, or trench
models, were well guarded from obssr
vatien by numerous allied planes
which constantly circled above them
No German airplane could approach
within observation distance. A re
stricted area was maintained and Al
civilian was allowed within tire
miles, 50 we felt sure that We had
great surprise In store for Fritz.