Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-07-12

The knuckle knife rs dagger uHair,
the blade of which is about eight
inches long with a heavy steel guard
over the grip. This guard is studded
with steel projections. At night In n
trench. which is only about three to .
four feet wide, II makes very handy /
weapon. One punch In the face gem
orally skaters n mans jaw and you
can get him with the knife as he goes
down.
Then we had what we called our
"come-alongs." These are strands of
barbed wire about three feet long.
made into a moose at one end; ut the
other end. the barbs are cut off and
Tommy slips his wrist through loop
to get good grip on the wire. If the
prisoner wants to argue the point, why
Just place the large loop around his
neck and no matter If Tommy wishes
to return 10 his trenches at the walk,
trot, or gallop, Fritz is perfectly agree
able to maintain Tommy's rate of
speed.
We were ordered to black our faces
and hands. For this reason At night,
the English and Germans use what
they call star shells, sort of rocket
affair. They are fired from a large
pistol about twenty inches long, which
lis held over the sandbag parapet of the
trench. and discharged into the air.
These star shells attain n height OF
about sixty feet, and range OF from
fifty To seventy-five yards. When they
hit the ground they explode, throwing
out strong calcium light which lights
up the ground In circle of radius of
between ten to fifteen yards. They
also have parachute star shell which,
after reaching a height of about sixty
feet, explodes. A parachute unfolds
and slowly floats to the ground, light
ing up large circle In No Mans Land.
The official name OF the star shell Is
u "Very-light." Very-lights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. If star shell falls In
front of you. or between you and the
German lines, you are safe from detec-
ton, as the enemy cannot see you
! through the bright curtain of light.
But If II falls behind you and. as Tom
my says, "you get In the star shell
zone" then the fun begins; you have
| to lie fiat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motionless until the light of
the shell dies out. This takes any
where from forty to seventy seconds
If you haven't time to fall to the
| ground you must remain absolutely
still In whatever position you were In
when the light exploded; II is advis
able not to breathe. as Fritz has m
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When stai
shell is burning in Tommy's rear h'
can hold his breath for week.
You blacken your face and hands Sc
that the light from the star shells vii
not reflect on your pale face. In ,
trench raid there is quite sufficient
reason for your face to be pale. If 20,
don't believe me, try ii just once.
Then another reason for blackenin;
your face and hands is that, after 20,
have entered the German trench Il
night, "white face" means Germans
"black face" English. Coming aroun
a traverse you see white face II
front of you. With prayer and wisf
ing Fritz "the best o. luck" you intro
duce him 10 your "persuader" o
knuckle knife.
A little later we arrived Mt the con
munication trench named Whisk
street, which led to the fire trench a
the point we were to go over the to
and out in front.
In our rear were four stretcher beal
ers and corporal of the II. A. Nj. {
carrying pouch containing medicine
and first-aid appliances. Kind of
grim reminder to MS that our exped
ton was not going to be exactly pi
mic. The order of things was reversed
In civilian life the doctors general
come first, with the underwriters tai
ging In the rear and then the insu
ance man, but In our case, the unde
takers were leading, with the doctor
trailing behind, minus the insuranc
adiuster.
The presence of the II. A. NJ. c. me
did not seem to disturb the rniders, b.
cause many n joke made In an unde
tone, was passed along the windin
column, as to who would be first
take a ride on one of the stretcher
This was generally followed by wis
that, if you were to be the one. Il
wound would be "cushy Blight
one"
The stretchcr bearers, no doul
hoping that, If they did have to carr
anyone to the rear. he would be sm0
, and light. Perhaps they looked ut II
when wishing, because ! could feel ,
uncomfortable, boring sensation b
, tween my shoulder blades. They g
their wish all right.
Going up this trench, about eve
= sixty yards or 50 we would pass n Ion
l ~ sentry, who In whisper won
, wish MS "the best o luck, mntes.' v
4 would blind nj him under our breath
e that Jonah phrase TO us sounded We
r OmlnOus.
, Without any casualties the mlnStr
= troop arrived mt Suicide ditch, Il
] frnnt-lnc trench. Previously, wiri
+ party Of the Royal Engineers had c
a Il lane through our barhed wire to {