Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-04-11
CHAPTER xxi.
Punishments and Macbine-eun Stunt

CHAPTER xxi.
Punlshments and Machine-G Gun Stunts.
Soon after my arrival in France; in
fact, from my enlistment, had found
that in the British army discipline is
very strict. One has to be very care
full in order to stay on the narrow path
of government virtue.
There are about seven million ways
of breaking the kings regulations; to
keep one you have to break another.
The worst punishment is death by Il
firing squad, or up against the WALL"
as Tommy calls it.
This is for desertion, cowardice, mu-
tiny, giving information to the enemy,
! footing, rape, robbing the dead, forcing
Il safeguard, striking a superior, etc.
Then comes the punishment of sixty
I four days in the front-line trench with
out relief. During this time you have
to engage in all raids, working parties
In No Mans Land, and every hazardous
undertaking that comes along. If you
live through the sixty-four days you
are indeed lucky.
This punishment is awarded where
there is doubt as to the willfdl guilt
of Il man who has committed an Of
! fence punishable by death.
Then comes the famous field pun
lshment No. /. Tommy has nicknamed
, 1t scrucitiXion." 1t means that man
Is spread-eagled on timber wheel,
two hours a day for twenty-one days.
During this time he only gets water,
bully beef and biscuits for his chow.
You get "crucified" for repeated minor
offenses.
Next in order is field punishment
No. ..
This is confinement in the "clink,"
without blankets, getting water, bully
beef and biscuits for rations and doing
all the dirty work that can be found.
This may be for twenty-four hours or
twenty days, according to the gravity
Of the offense.
Then comes pack drill or default
ers' parade. This consists of drilling,
/ mostly at the double, for two hours
| with full equipment. Tommy hates
/ this, because it is hard work. Some
times he fills his paci; with straw to
/ tighten it, and sometimes he gets
1 caught. IL he gets caught, he grouses
at everything in general for twenty
4 one days. from the vantage point OF Il
/ timber wheel.
| Next comes &C. b." meaning "con-
! fined to barracks" This consists of
! staying in billets or barracks for TWEEN
/ ty-four hours to seven days. You also
| get an occasional defaulters' parade
and dirty jobs around the quarters.
The sergeant major keeps what is
anown as the crime sheet. When a
! man commits an offense, he is
"climed," that is, his name, number
and otfense is entered on the crime
sheet. Next day at Il. M. he goes to
| the Orderly room before the captain,
who either Furnishes him with &c. b.
or sends him before the O. c.. (officer
] commanding battalion). The captain
of the company can only award &c. b.
Tommy many a time has thanked
the king for making that provision in
| MS regulations.
To Gain the title of Smart soldier
i Tommy has to keep clear of the crime
sheet, and you have to be darned smart
to do it.
have been on it few times, most.
ly for yankee impudence."
! During our stay of two weeks in
rest billets our captain put us through
a course of machinegun drills, trying
i out new stunts and theories.
| After parades We're over, our guns
4 crews got together and also tried out
1 some theories of their own in reference
to handling guns. These courses had
| nothing to do With the advancement of
i the war, consisted mostly of causing
tricky jams in the gun, and then the
rest of the crew would endeavor to 10.
cate as quickly as possible the cause
/ of the stoppage. This amused them
/ for few days and then things came to
standstill.
One of the boys on my gun claimed
that he could play tune while the
gun was actually firing, and demon-
| strated this fact one day on the target
range. We We're very enthusiastic and
decided to become musicians.
After constant practice / became
quite expert in the tune entitled "All
Conductors Have Big Feet"
When had mastered this tune, our
two weeks rest came to an end, and
once again we went up the line and
took over the sector in front of c.
! wood.
AT this point the German trenches
ran around the base of a hill, on the
top OF which was a dense wood. This
wood was infested with machine guns.
which used to traverse our lines at
VIII, and sweep the streets of a little
J village, where we were billeted while
in reserve.
There was one gun in particular
which used to get our goats, it had the
exact range of our elephant" dugout
entrance, and every morning, about the
time rations We're being brought up, its
bullets would knock up the dust on the
road; more than one Tommy went
West or to Blighty by running into
them.
! This gun got our nerves ON edge,
end Fritz seemed to know 1t, because