The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1918-11-14
CHAPTER VIl-Continued,


surely wished was the gunner
officer. would have enjoyed it more
Il | could have got back at Fritz
somehow But l was not the gunner
officer and I told him so. / had to
shout at him quite Il while before he
would believe me. Then he wanted
me to tinU the gunner officer, but l
did not know where to find him. If I
could have got to our guns 1 guess I
would have had another medal for
working overtime, but l missed the
chance there.
About this time another bomb came
over and clOuted out the best friend
| had in my company. Before the
war he had been one of the finest sing
erS ia the Paris opera houses. When
he was with us he used to say that
the only difference between him and
Caruso was $500 night.
pOilu and l dragged him into
dugout, but it was too late. One side
of his face was blown off; the whole
right side of him was stripped off
and four fingers of the right hand
were gone.
stuck my head out of the dugout
end there was the captain discussing
the matter with himself. curSing the
Germans from here TO HelgOland and
putting in a word for the bombs every
once in q while. All up and down the
trenches you could hear our men
cursing the Germans In all kinds of
languages. Believe me. l did my bit
and ] could hear somebody else using
good old United States cuss words.
TOO. It certainly did not make me feel
any better. but it gave me something
to do. l think that was why all of
US cursed so much then, though we
were pretty handy with language at
any time. But when you are under
heavy fire like that and cannot give
1t back as good as you get. you go
crazy unless you have something to do.
CuSsing is the best thing we could
think Of
Up the trench the third bay was
simply smashed in and the Germans
were placing bomb after bomb right
In it and in ours. The captain yelled
out that he was going up to the next
bay to examine it, but no more had
he got there than he had his head
taken clean off his shoulders.
At daybreak our trenches were all
pounded in and most OF our dEgOuts
were filled up. Then Fritz opened up
with his artillery fire right on us. We
thought they were going to charge and |
We figured their barrage would lift |
and we could see them come over.
We received orders to stand to with |
fixed bayonets Then the man at the |
pertscOpe shouted '"They conner
battery directly behind us went |
INTO action first anal then they all
joEed in and inside of five minutes
about eight hundred guns were raising
Cain with Fritz. The BOches were
caught square in No Mans Land ana +
our rifles and machine guns simply
moved them down. Many of them
came half way across, then dropped
their guns and ran for our trenches
TO give themselves up. They could not
nave got back to their own trenches.
1t was a shame to waste shell on
theSe poor fish. If they had been civ
'leS the law would prevent you from
hitting them-you know the kind.
me; could hardly drag themselves
along
That is the way they look when you
nave got them. But when they have
s't you-licls, cuffs, bayonet jabs-
Unere is nothing they will not DO to
aoa to Your misery. They seem to
"'Ihk that it boosts their own courage.
An artillery fire like ours was great
tun Tor the gunners, but it was not
much fun for Fritz or for us i'll the
trenches. We got under cover almost |
~ =. much as Fritz apd held thumbs Tor
"'e gunners to get through in hurry.
linen the fire died down and it was
y Yo'et it made you jump.
we thought our parapet was busted
~ W good deal, but when we looked
though the periscope we saw what
h Nu happened to Fritz trenches and,
IVA. me, they were practically
out In No Mans Land it looked like
O'"orth'S fve-and-ten: everywhere