Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-06-21

tureu line or "uig In, as tommy cuiis
IL.
Crossing No Mans Land without /
clicking any casualties, we came to /
the German trench and mounted our
guns on the parados of same.
l never saw such mess In my life
punches of twisted barbed wire lying
about, she'll holes everywhere, trench
all Dashed in, parapets gone, and dead
bodies, why, that ditch was full of
them, theirs and ours. II was regi-
lar morgue. Some were mangled hor-
ribly from our shell fire, while others
were wholly or partly buried in the
mud, the result of shell explosions cav
ing in the walls of the trench. One
dead German was lying on his back,
with rifle sticking straight up In the
air, the bayonet of which was buried
TO the hilt in his chest. Across his feet
lay dead English soldier with n bull
let hole In his forehead. This Tommy
must have been killed just as he ran
his bayonet through the German.
Rifles and equipment were scattered
about, and occasionally steel helmet
could be seen sticking out of the mud.
At one point, just in the entrance to
q communication trench, was stretch
er. On this stretcher German was
lying with white bandage around his
knee, near to him lay one of the
stretcher-bearers, the red cross on his
arm covered with mud and his helmet
| filed with blood and brains. Close by,
sitting up against the wall of the
trench, with head resting on his chest,
was the other stretcher-bearer. He
seemed to be alive, the posture was so
natural and easy but when / got
closer / could see large, Jagged hole
In his temple. The three must have
been killed by the same shell-burst.
The dugouts were all smashed In and
knocked about, big square-cut timbers
splintered into bits, walls caved In and
entrances choked.
Tommy, after taking trench, learns
to his sorrow that the hardest part Of
the work Is to hold it.
In our case this proved to be so.
The German artillery and machine
guns had us taped (ranged) for fair
II was worth your life to expose your
self an instant.
Don't think for n minute that the
Germans were the only sufferers; we
were clicking casualties so fast that
you needed an adding machine to keep
track of them.
Did you ever see one of the steam
shovels at work on the Panama canal
Well, 1t would look like a hen scratch
Ing alongside of Tommy digging in
while under fire. You couldn't see day
light through the clouds of dirt from
his shovel.
After losing three out of six men OF
our crew we managed to set up oul
machine gun. One of the legs of th'
tripod was resting on the chest of ;
half-buried body. When the gun wa
firing, 1t gave the impression that tn
body was breathing. This was cause,
by the excessive vibration.
Three or four feet down the trench
about three feet from the ground,
foot was protruding from the eartl
We knew ii was II German by The blac
leather boot. one of our crew use
that foot to hang extra bandoliers O
ammunition on. This man always wa
handy fellow; made use of littl
points that the ordinary person woul
overlook.
The Germans made three counter
attacks, which we repulsed, but no
without heavy loss on our side. The
also suffered severely from our She
and machine-gun fire. The ground wa
spotted with their dead and dying.
The next day things were somewha
Quieter, bat not quiet enough to bur
the dead.
We lived, ate and slept In that trenc
with the unburled dead for six day.
1t was awful to watch their faces b'
come swollen and discolored. Toward
the last the stencil was fierce.
What got on my nerves the most wa
that foot sticking out of the dirt.
seemed to me, at night, In the mooi
light, to be trying TO twist aroun'
Several times this impression was 5
strong that / went to IT and grasped
In both hands, to see II could feel
movement.
told this to the man who had use
II for hatrack just before l lay dow
for little nap, as things were quie
and / needed Il rest pretty bndl
| When l woke up the foot was gon
| BE had cut ii off with our chain sa
u out OF the spare parts box, and hi
D plaStered the stump over with mud.
plrng the next two or three day
before we were relieved, | missed tn
V foot dreadfully; seemed as If ! h'
l. suddenly lost chum.
! think the worst thing Of all was
watch the rats, mt night, and som
l. times in the day, run over and pl;
bout among the dead.
Neur our gun, right across the par
II pet, could be seen the body of o CO
man lieutenant, the head and arms
# which were hanging into our trenc
@ The man who had cut off the foot us
II to sit and carry on IA one-sided convt
d sltion with this officer, used to arg
r and point out why Germany was in d
$. wrong. During all of this monolog
o never heard him say anything out