Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-07-12

on, according to the code names on
holsted some more signs which read
Come On, we are ready, stupid Eng
lish."
1t is still a mystery to me how they
obtained this knowledge. There had
been no raids or prisoners taken, so
II must have been the work of spies
in our own lines.
Three or four days before the big
push we tried to shatter Frltz's nerves
by fent attacks, and partially sue
ceeded MS the official reports of July
/ show.
Although we were constantly bonn
harding their lines day and night, still
we fooled the Germans several times.
This was accomplished by throwing
an intense barrage into his lines
then using smoke shells we would put
a curtain of white smoke across No
Mans Land, completely obstructing
his view of our trenches, and
would raise our curtain of fire
as IL in an actual attack. All
down our trenches the men would
shout and cheer, and Fritz would turn
loose with machine-gun, rifle, and
shrapnel fire, thinking we were com
ing over.
After three or four of these dummy
attacks his nerves must have been
near the breaking point.
On June "a, 1916, at 9:40 in the
morning our guns opened up, and hell
was let loose. The din was terrific, n
constant boom-boom-boom In your ear.
At night the sky was red glare.
Our bOmbardment had lasted about
two hours when Fritz started reply
ing. Although we We're sending over
ten shells to his one, our casualties
were heavy. There was constant
stream of stretchers coming out of the
communication trenches and burial
parties we're common sight.
In the dugouts the noise of the guns
almost hurt. You had the same sensa-
ton as when riding on the subway you
enter the tube under the river going
to Erooklyn--a sort of pressure on the
ear drums, and the ground constantly
! trembling
The roads behind the trenches were
| very dangerous because Boche shrap
mel was constantly bursting over them
| We avoided these dangerous spots by
crossing through open fields.
The destruction in the German lines
was awful and | really felt sorry fol
them because | realized how they mus
be clicking it.
From our front-line trench, ever!
now and again, we could hear sharl
whistle blasts in the German trenches
These blasts were the signals fo
stretcher bearers, and meant thu
woundlng or killing of some German II
the service of his fatherlnnd.
Atwell and | had tough time of II
natrolling the different trenches II
night, but after awhile got used to It,
NV old outfit, the machine gun com
pany. was stationed in huge elephan
dugouts about four hundred yards be
hind the frOnt-line trench-they wer
in reserve. Occasionally | would sto
in their dugout and have confab Wit
my former mates. Although we trie
to be jolly, still, there was lurkin
feeling of impending disaster. Fac
man was wondering, II, after tn
slogan, "Over the top with the best
luck" had been sounded, would he sti
be alive or would he be lying "som'
where in France" In i'm old dllapidate
house, the walls of which were SCARE
with machine-gun bullets, No. SEE
ton of the machine gun company ha
its quarters. The company's cooks pre-
pared the meals In this billet. on IN
fifth evening of the bombardment
German elght-nch shell registered
direct hit on the billet and wiped OF
ten men who were asleep in the SUI
posedly bomb-proof cellar They wei
buried the next day and attended tn
funeral.