Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-03-19

into three classes according TO their
fighting abilities. They rank as fol-
lows: Prussians. Bavarians and Sax
uns
When up against a l'rIissian rcgi-
mcnt il is a case OF keep your nipper
hang AL Tn" time and Il war is on. The
Bavarians ar" it'll" better. hut tn"
SaXons are fairly good sports and are
willing Occasionally TO behave as gen
tlcmcn and take it easy. but you can
not trust any OF them orcrlong.
At one point of the line the trenches
were about thirty-two yards apart.
This sounds horrible. hut in fact it was
the encmy's front line trench for fear
shells would drop into their own. This
eliminated artillery fire.
In these trenches when up against
had a hot time of II. but when the
SaXons "toox over ii was picnic:
they would yell across that they were
Saxons and would not fire. Both sides
would sit on the parapct and carry on
a conversation. This generally consist
ed Of Tommy telling them how much
ne loved the kaiser. while the SaXons
informed Tommy that King George
was a particular friend of theirs and
they hoped that he was doinS nicely.
When the SaXons were to be rrlicv-
I'D 10y rrussians or Bavarians. they
wuuld yell this information across No
Mans Land and Tommy would i'm
mcdiately tumble into his trench and
keep his head down.
Ii an English regiment was to be re-
licvcd by the wild Irish. Tommy
would tell the SlXOnS. and inmrdi-
atcly Il vollcy of "DOnncr und I|lt-
Zcns" could be heard and it was Frlz's
turn To get Il crick in his back from
STOPPING. and the people in Berlin
would close their windows.
Usually when an Irishnan takes
over trench. just hcfor" stand
down" in the morning. hr sticks his
rifle over the top. aimed in the dircc-
tiun of Berlin. and engages in what
is known as the mad minute" This
consists Of firing fifteen shots in Il
minute. He is not aiming al anything
in particular--just sends over each
shot with Il prayer hoping that one
of his strays will get some poor un-
suspccting Fritz in the nappcr hund-
reds of yards behind the lines. II gem
orally does: that's the reason the
Bochcs hate the man from Erin's isle.
The Saxons. though better than the
Prussians and BavarianS. have Il nasty
trait OF trrachcry in their makeup.
vt one point of the line where the
trenches were very close. stake was
driven into the ground midway be-
tween the hostile lines. At night when
il was his turn. Tommy would crawl
to this stake and tack some London
papers to it. while at the foot he would
place tins of bully beef. fags. sweets.
and other dclicacics that ne had re-
ccivcd from Blighty in the ever look
cd for parcel. Later on Fritz would
come out and get these luxalies.r & y
=. The next .pigbtt mJuy basnIff mn
to see what Fritz put into his stocking.
The donation generally consisted OF a
paper from Berlin, telling who was
winning the war. some timed sausage,
cigars. and occasionally little beer
but a funny thing. Tommy never re-
turned with the beer unless II was in
side Of him. His platoon got Whit OF
his breath one night and the offending
Tommy lost his job.
One night Il young English sergeant
to the stake ami as ne tried to
dctach the German paper Il bomb cN-
plodcd and manClcd him horribly.
Fritz had set trap and gained anoth-
or victim which was only one more
black mark against him in the book OF
this war. From that time on diplo-
matte relations were severed.
Returning to Tommy. think his
spirit Is best shown In the questions
he asks. II is never who is going to
win," but always "how long will II
take?"