The Washington herald., 1918-03-03
COVER THE TOP"
By ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
Copyrighted by Arthur Guy Empey.

/ firing to listen Then he started
in; sure enough he had fallen for
our game. his gun was trying TO
initiate mine. but. at FIRST he made
q horrible mess Of that tune. Again
I butted in with a few bars ana
stopped. Then he tried to copy what
I had played. He was q good sport
all right, because his bullets were
going away over cur heads. must
have been firing into the air.
commenced TO feel friendly toward
him.
This duet went on for Eve days.
Fritz was a good pupil and learned
rapidly, in fact, got better than his
teacher. / commenced 10 feel 3eal-
Gus. when he had completely mas
tered the tune. he started sweeping
the road again and we clicked it
worse than ever. But he signed his
death warrant by doing 90. because
my friendship turned to hate. Every
time he fired he played that tune
and we danced.
The boys in the battalion gave Us
the 'Ha! Hs" They weren't in on
our little frame-Up.
The originator of the rUse and the
other two gunners had Fritz's loca-
tion tHped to the minute, they
mounted their two guns, and also
gave me the range. The next after
noon was set for the grand finale.
Our three guns, with different
elevations, had their FIRE 20 arrang-
ed that, opening up together. their
bullets would suddenly drop on
Fritz like a hailstorm.
About . the next day, Fritz start
I
sharp blast on a whistle, IL was
the signal agreed upon; we turned
/ loose and FTitz's gun suddenly stop
: ped in the middle OF bar. We had
cooked his goose. and our ruse had
worked. After firing two belts each,
/ to make sure Of our Job. we hur-
riedIy dismounted our guns and
took cover in the dUgoUt We knew
what TO expect soon. We didn't
have to wait long, three sSlvos OF
''whizz bangs" came over from
Fritz's artillery, a further confirma-
tion that we had sent that musical
machine gunner on his westward
bound journey.
That gun never bothered us again.
We were the heroes OF the battAl-
: ion. our captain congratulated US.
said it was a neat piece OF work,
and. consequently. we were all pun
ed up over the stunt
There are several ways Tommy
uses to disguise the location OF his
machine gun and get his range.
Some OF the most commonly-used
stunts are as follows:
At night. when he mounts his gun
over the top OF his trench and wants
TO get the range OF Fritz's trench he
! adopts the method Of what he terms
getting the sparks" This consists OF
firing bursts from his gun until the
bullets hit the German barbed wire.
He can tell when they are cutting the
wire, because a bullet when Il hitS a
wire throws out a blue electric sp
Machine-gun fire Is very damagine
wire and causes many a wiring pa
to 70 out at night when II il quiet
repair the damage.
To disguise the flare OF his gun -
night when firing, Tommy uses w
is calfed a flare protector. This is
stove-pipe arrangement which fits Ovsr
the barrel casing of the gun aH
screens the sparks from the right ana
left, but not from the front. So Tom
my, always resourcefUl. adopts this
scheme. About three feet or less in
front OF the gun he drives two stakes
into the ground, about five feet apart
Across these stakes he stretches 4 cur
tain made out Of empty sandbSEs
ripped open. He soaks this curtain
in water and fires through IL. The
water prevents II catching FIRE and ef-
fectively screens the flare Of the firing
gun from the enemy.
Sound is a valuable asset IN locating
machine gun. but Tommy surmounts
this obstacle by placing two machine
guns about 100 to $50 yards apart. The
gun on the right TO cover with its fire
the sector Of the left gun and the gun
on the left to cover that OF the right
gun. This makes their nre cross; they
are fired simultaneously.
By this method il sounds like ons
gun firing and gives the Germans the
impression that the gun is firing al q
point midway between the guns which
are actually firing. and they accord.
ingly shell that particular Epot. The
machine gunners chuckle and say
Fritz is a brainy boy. not 'sf he
amt"
But the men in our lines at the SPOT
being shelled curse Fritz for his iC.
norance and pass a few pert remarks
> down the line in reference 20 the ma.
chine gUnners being windy and
afraid to take their medicine.
10 BE CONTINUED TOMORROW.