The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-02-14

line. AS he proceeds forward he hears
the crackle of the machine guns amid
the barking Of the field guns and the
roar Of the heavieS. If the trenches YOU
are going into are new ones, your party
is met by a guide who takes you to
your positions. 1t is not the fear of
bullets or shells that gets new
man SO much as the awesomeness and |
the uncertainty of it all.
| All relieves are made according to |
} circumstances, such as weather condi- |
| tions, observations and the unit you |
may be relieving.
/ In the trenches every man has to |
take his turn at cooking, doing guards, |
! gas guard, going for water and rations.
The rations are brought up every night
and one thing / must say is, we usually
got first class food and plenty of it.
The only time rations were ever short.
was under most exceptional circum-
stances
Our work as machine 9unners in the
line was chiefly TO support the infan
try. Sometimes we were simply on the
watch, in " silent positions, Just wait
ing for Fritz to come over. At other
times we had to do night firing, which
consisted OF sprinkling many thousands
of rounds of pills up and down our
worthy friends transport roads. Dc
casionally Fritz got annoyed and would
send over a few whiz-bangs, just to let
us know he was still on the lob
\ trip into the line usually lasted
about a week, sometimes less, sometimes
more; it all depended on the position
and the activity of the enemy The
news that we were to be relieved was
always received with welcome arms,
for il meant a dry billet, a bath, and
: a clean shirt, (notice l underline the
, latter.) Those ''little friends are
r always with you out there and it is al
most impossible to get rid of them.
Z The British have n good system of
, baths for the men and also of funligat
| ing their clothing.
I During my stay in France, I was
@ through some of the hardest battles
= the Canadians were in, e. g, Vimy
Ridge, Arleux Hill 20, Loos, Lens and
q Paschendaele Ridge. At several of
V these places Fritz tried using gas on the
: Canadians but to no avail, for every
~ time he sent over one shell, our artil
lery men sent him back at least five IL
: return.
a At one particular battle after the
boys had taken their objective, Fritz
Il made no fewer than 90 odd counter
attacks III about five DAYS, and it wa,
\ there that the machine gunncrs showed
their mettlc. According to the otfieia
reports, four of our six attacking Hun
Il divisions were practically annihilated
due to the splendid cooperation Of tht
q machine guns with the artillery. II
n tins battle the Canucks took many pris
oherS, quite a number Of whom wert
B mere boys. According to Fritz, tn,
frenchman fights for home, the English
man for honorS but the Canadians fo
souvenirs and / must say there is
n grain of truth in his statement: 70
+ really, il is laughable to see the boy
getting curios off the prisoners Til
y Hun Is always ready to shout ''kameI
n al when the attack gets too close an,
then be offers anything in the line O
II souvenirs. Watches. knives, helmets
matchboXcs, i'll fact. trinkets of an
kind. he il always willing to hand over
n The buttons disappear off his tunic an
trousers 80 quickly, that-wcll it s real
r. " wonderful how he even gets dow
tho line with any pants on at all
The Canadian army is the same a
the coming American army. You fin
all classes III the ranks ministers, law
Yers, business men, students, farmer
n cowboys and railroad men-in fact, me
from every walk in life. To obtain
n commission man must now rise frol
the ranks and must have had, at leas
n SIX months service in the trenche.
\ which has proven itself to be the be,
ana only way To make good officers
4 The spirit Of the Canucks is a han
3 ore to beat On parade they are we
3 disciplined but i'll the line the ''re
y tape disappears to practically notl
s ing and it, more like being in n h
family. The officers mingle quite FIRE
~ with the men and il is this spir
B ot eomradeship that makes them Site
together 50. There is a great rivah
b between battallonS as to which is goil
8 70 take such and such position an
Y Que instance ! can cite was when
n certain battalion refused assistant
from another, because the BOYS 81
they had been ordered to take it a,
they would, no matter if they had 10
y heavily and they did take it-and he
II. One outstanding thing about t
men IS that they always want TO knc
cXactlF what Is required of them he
far they have to go and when they q
to dig in. Tell them this and it don
matter if every officer is shot dow
they II get there, if anyone can, a
4 viii aold their position; which FIR
4 has learned TO his regret a number
q times.
B 1t IS really sad sight to go throu
- the devastated parts of France and
. the beautiful cathedrals all destroy,
the villages in ruin and the former f.
ests simply few charred stumps. VII
you travel about the country and
the ruin on every hand, it makes '
stop and ponder over the meaning
1t all. As one poet recently put it:
~ wonder if the world will be
Hame
VIII Time heal all the wounds
Just rs this ruined France grows or,