Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-04-05
"OVER THE TOP"
By ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
An American Boy Who Got Into the War Two
Years Before His Country
Conyrigh 1917 by Empy

is held over the sandbag parapet Of tn,
trench, and discharged into the air
These star shells attain a height o
| about sixty feet, and a range OF from
| fifty to seventy-flve yards. When the!
hit the ground they explode. throwing
out strong calcium light which light.
up the ground in a circle OF radius o
| between ten to fifteen yards. The,
also have a parachute star shell which
| after reaching n height of about sixt,
feet, explodes. A parachute unfold:
and slowly floats to the ground. light
ing up large circle in No Mans Land
The official name Of the star shell il
a -"very-light." Very-lights are usec
to prevent night surpSet attacks or
the trenches. II q star shell falls ir
front OF YOU or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detec-
ton. as the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain of light
But If 1t falls behind you and as Tom.
my says. "you get in the star shell
zone." then the fun begins: you have
to lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light ol
the shell dies out. This takes any
where from forty to seventy seconds
II you haven't time to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you were ir
when the light exploded; 1t is advis-
able not to breathe. as Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When a stai
shell is burning in Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for a week.
You blacken your face and hands sc
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on your pale face. In q
trench raid there Is quite sufficient
reason for your face to be pale. If you
don't believe me, try 1t just once.
Then another reason for blacking
your face and hands is that, after you
have entered the German trench al
night, white face" means Germans
black face" English. Coming around
traverse you see a white face in
front OF you. With prayer and wish
ing Fritz "the best O. luck" you intro
duce him to your "persuader" or
knuckle knife.
A little later we arrived at the COM
munication trench named Whisky
street, which led to the fire trench at
the point we were to go over the top
and out in front.
In our rear were four stretcher bear
ers and n corporal Of the r. A. M. c.
eetas ca sfetiitfaas pouch containing medicines
and first-aid appliances. Kind Of a
grim reminder to us that our cxpedi-
tion was not going to be exactly pic
mic. The order of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first. with the undertakers tag
ging in the rear and then the insur-
ance man. but in our case. the under
takers were leading, with the doctors
trailing behind, minus the insurance
adjuster.
The presence of the r. A. NJ. G. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders. be-
cause many q joke made In an under
tone. was passed along the winding
column, as to who would be first to
take a ride on one Of the stretchers.
This was generally followed by n wish
that. il you were to be the one, the
wound would be a 'cushy Blighty
one"
The stretcher bearers. no doubt,
hoping that, If they did have to carry
anyone to the rear. he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked at me
when wishing. because / could feel an
uncomfortable, boring sensation be-
tween my shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench, about every
sixty yards or so we would pass lone
" sentry. who In a whisper would
wish us the best O luck, mates" We
would blind at him under our breaths:
that Jonah phrase to us sounded very
ominous.
Without any casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch, the
front line trench. Previously, a wiring
party of the Royal engineers had cut
a lane through our barbed wire to en-
able us to get out into No Mans Land.
Crawling through this lane, our
party of twenty took an extended
order formation about one yard apart.
We had a tap code arranged for our
movements while in No Mans Land,
because for various reasons 1t Is not
safe to carry on a heated conversation
n few yards In front Of Fritz's lines.
The officer was on the right OF the
line. while l was on the extreme left.
Two taps from the right would be
passed down the line until I received
them. then would send hack one tap.
The officer, in receiving this one tap.
would know that his order had gone
down the whole line, had been under
stood. and that the party was ready
to obey the two-tap signal. Two taps
meant that we were to crawl forward
slowly-and believe me, very slowly
for five yards. and then halt to await
further instructions. Three taps meant.
when you arrived within striking dis
tance of the German trench. rush 1t
and infiict as many casualties as pos
sible. secure a couple Of prisoners. and
then back to your own lines with the
speed clutch open. Four taps meant,
Il have gotten you into a position from
which 1t Is impossible for me to extri-
cate you, so you are on your own"
After getting Tommy into a mess on
the western front he is generally told
that he is "on his own" This means.
Save your skin anyway possible"
Tommy loves to be "on his own" behind
the lines. but not during trench raid.
The star shells from the German
lines were falling In front Of us. there
fore we were safe. After about twen-
ty minutes we entered the star shell
zone. A star shell from the German
limos fell about five wards In the rear