The Cordova daily times., 1918-04-24

on, according to the code names on our map Then to rub 1t in, they hoisted some more signs which read Come on, we are ready, stupid Eng. fish"
 It IS still a mystery to me how they obtained this knowledge. There had been nc raids or prisoners taken. sc it must have been the work of spies in our own lines.
 Three or four days before the big push We tried to shatter FritZ's nerves by feint attacks, and partially sue ceeded as the official reports of July show.
 Although we were constantly bonn. harding their Hines day and night, still we fooled the Germans several times This was accomplished by throwing an intense b2rrage into his Hines then using smoke shells we would put a c9rtain of white smoke across Nc Mans Land, completely ,Obstnuuting his viesS of our trenches, and would raise our curtain of fire as If iR an actual attack. All SdOwn our trenches Ehe men would shout and cheer, and Fritz would tnrn loose with marhinezEun, rifle, and sshrapnel fire, tlhnking we were G0n2. ing over.
 After three or four of these ,dummg "attacks his nerves nlIhst hare been i1par tha hrpa ktny noint
 lOn June 24, 1916, at $40 in the ,raorning our gems opened up saDd hell was let loose. The din WAS terrific, a constant bOOm-fRoom-saoom ln yOur ear.
 lAt night the sky was a red glare. Our bombardment had lasted about two hours when Fritz started peply- ing. Although we We're sending 6@er ten shells to his one, our easuaEtf es were LheaVy. There Was q constant Stream of Stretchers coming oua of ta e communication trenches and burial parties were a common sight.
 Ln the Niugouts the noise 0f the gums almost huet You had the same senSa- ton as when riding on the subway you
  to BroOklgn---a sort of pressure on the ear draMs. and the ground constantly trembling.
 The reads behind the trenches were very dangerous hecause Boche shrap- nel 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 for them because realized how they must be clicking 1t.
 From our fr0nt-line trench, every now and again. we could hear sharp whistle blasts In the German trenches. These blasts were the signals for Stretcher bearers. and meant the wOunding or killing of some German in the service of his fatherland.
 Atwell and had tough time of 1t, patrolling the different trenches at night, but after awhile got used to 1t.
 My old outfit, the machine gun con- pany, was stationed in huge elephant dugouts about four hundred yards be- hind the front-line trench-they were in reserve. Occasionally I would stop In their dugout and have confab with my former mates. Although we tried to be jolly. still, there was a lurking feeling of impending disaster. Each man was wondering, if, after the slogan. lover the top with the best of luck" had been sounded would he still be alive or would he be lying "some. where in France" In an old dilapidated house. the walls of which were scared with machine-gun bullets, No. 8 sec tion of the machine gun company had its quarters. The company's cooks pre- pared the meals in this billet. On the fifth evening of the bombardment a German eight-inch shell registered a direct hit on the billet and wiped out ten men who were asleep in the sup posedly bomb-proof cellar They were buried the next day and I attended tne funeral