Oxford eagle., 1918-07-04

he never gave MS m hours rest. Our
reputation as machine gunners was at
stake; we tried various ruses TO locate
and put this gun out Of action, but
each one proved TO be a failure, and
Fritz became a worse nuisance than
ever. He was getting fresher and more
careless every day, took all kinds OF
liberties with us-thought he was in
vincible.
Then one Of our crew got a brilliant
idea and we were all enthusiastic 10
put II TO the test
Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun. was 10 play
my tune, and Fritz, no doubt, would
fall for II, try 10 initiate me as an
added insult. This gunner and two
others would try. by the sound, 10 To-
cate Fritz and his gun. After having
got the location, they would mount
two machine guns in trees. in little
clump Of woods 10 the left Of our Gene
tery. and while Fritz was in the middle
Of his lesson. would open up and trust
TO luck. BY our calculations. II would
tnke at least a week TO pun of the
stunt.
II Fritz refused 70 swallow our bait
II would be impossible 10 locate his
special gun, and that's the one we were
after. because they all sound alike, a
slow pup-puT-pup.
FfHsr Tfrraa hwwr1nw hE
thread. In the battalion We had 70 e.
dure all kinds Of insults and fresh re-
marks as 10 our ability In silencing
Fritz. Even TO the battalion that Ger
man gun was q sore spot
Next day. Fritz opened up as usual.
I let him fire away for while and
then bufted In with my 'pup-pup-pup-
pup-pup-pup." / kept tbs up quite q
while, used two belts q ammunition.
Fritz had stopped firing - listen Then
he started in: sure enough. he had
fallen for our game. his gun was trying
10 Initiate mine, but. al FIRST he made 8
horrible mess Of that tune. Again !
bufted IN with n few hars and stopped
Then be tried 10 copy what had
played. He was a good sport all right.
because his bullets were going away
over our heads. must have been firing
into the air. commenced 10 feel
friendly tOwardshim.
This duet went on for FIVE DAYS
Fritz was q good pupil and learned
rapidly, In fact, got better than his
teacher. ] commenced TO feel Jealous.
When he had completely mastered the
tune, he started sweeping the road
again and we clicked IL worse than
ever. But he signed his death warrant
by doing so. because my friendship
turned 10 hate. Every tine he fired be
played that tune and we danced.
The boys In the battalion gave N
the "Hal Hal" They weren't in on
our little frameup.
The originator Of the ruse and the
other two gunners had Fritz's location
taped TO the minute; they mounted
their two guns. and also gave me the
range. The next afternoon was set fol
the grand finale.
Our three guns. with different eleya
lions, had their fire so arranged, that
opening up together, their bulletl
would suddenly drop on Fritz IKE /,
hailstorm.
About three the next day, Fritz start
ed ''pup-pupping" that tune. blew
sharp blast on a whistle. ii was the sig
nal agreed upon; we turned loose ant
Fritz's gun suddenly stopped In tn,
middle Of q bar. We had cooked hi
goose, and our ruse had worked. Afre
firing two belts each, TO make sure O
our job, we hurriedly dismOunted on
guns and took cover In the dugout. W
knew what 10 expect soon. We didn'
have 20 wait long. three salvos O
'whizz-bangs" came over from Fritz
artillery, further confirmation tina
we had sent that musical machine-gur
ner on his Westward-bound journe,
That gun never bothered US agair
We were the heroes of the battalion
our captain congratulated us, said
was neat piece Of work, and, cons.
ouently. We were all pulled up over th
stunt.
There are several ways Tommy use
to disguise the location of his machip
gun and get his range. Some OF ii
most commonly used stunts are as 70
lows:
At night, when he mounts his gu
over the top Of his trench and want
to get the range of Fritz's trench /
adopts the method of what he tern
getting the sparks" This consists ,
firing bursts from his gun until u
bullets hit the German barbed wir
He can tell when they are cutting Il
wire, because q bullet when II hits
wire throws out blue electric spar
Machine-gun fire is very damaging
wire and causes many a wiring par
: to go out at night when II is Quiet
repair the damage.
To disguise the fare Of his gun /,
night when firing, Tommy uses what
called fare protector. This is a STOW
pipe arrangement which fits over n
7 >~--si esSlaS "a tha gun ana so-.o..