The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1918-03-07

SAleii AlIc ulu luhluS WHAT SIelCGT we
could in shell holes while our leaders
picked the way to start across. The
extra heavy bombardment had warned
the Germans that something was about
to happen. They sent up star shells
and as o s" signals until there was
a glare over the torn earth like that
which you see at the grand finish of a
Paine's fireworks display, and mean
while they sprayed No Mans Land
with streams of machine gun fire. In
the face Of that we started.
1t would be absurd to say that we
were not frightened. Thinking men
could not help but be afraid. If we
were pallid, which undoubtedly we
were, the black upon our faces hid it,
but our fear struck voices were not
disguised. They trembled and our
teeth chartered.
We sneaked out single file, making
our way from shell hole to shell hole,
nearly all the time on all tours, crawl
ing quickly over the fiat places between
this small shelter. The Germans had
not sighted us, but they were squirting
machine gun bullets all over the place
promtscuously, like a man watering q
lawn with a garden hose, and they
were bound to get some of US. Behind
me I heard cries of pain and groans.
but 1T made little impression on my
benumbed intelligence from the mere
fact that whatever had happened had
happened to one Of the other sections
of ten. and not to my own. 1t seemed,
some way or other, no affair to con-
Germ me. Then a man in front of me
doubled up suddenly and rolled into a
shell hole. That simply made me re-
member very clearly that l was not
to stop on account of it. 1t was some
one else's business to pick that mar
up. Next, according to the queer psy-
chology of battle, 1 began to lose my
sensation of fear and nervousness
After l saw a second man go down I
gave my attention principally to a con-
sideration of the irregularities of the
German parapet ahead of us, picking
out the spot where we were to enter
the trench. 1t seems silly to say it,
oUS IA " Sc Jill sui VI SullS.
faction out of the realization that we
had lost the percentage which we
might be expected to lose going over.
Now, it seemed, the rest of us were
safe until we could reach the next
phase of u undertaking. I heard d.
rections given, and l gave some my
self. My voice vas firm. 1t surprised
me, and I felt almost calm. Our ar
tillery had so torn up the German barb
wire that it gave III no trouble at all.
We walked through it with only a few
scratches. When we reached the low,
sandbag parapet of the enemy trench
we tossed In a few bombs and follow
ed them right over as soon as they had
exploded. There wasn't q German in
sight. They were all in their dug0uts.
But we knew pretty we'll where every
dugout was located, and we rushed for
the entrances with u bombs. Every
thing seemed to be going just as we
had expected it to 60. Two Germans
ran plump into me as I was rounding
a ditch angle with a bomb in my hand
They had their hands up, and each OF
them yelled:
"Mercy, kamerad"
passed them back, to be sent to the
rear, and the man who received them
from me chuckled and told them to
move lively. The German trenches
were practically just as we had ex-
pected to find them, according to our
sample. They We're so nearly similar
to the duplicate section in which we
had practiced that we had no trouble
finding our way in them. I was just
thinking that really the only tough
part of the job remaining would be
getting back across No Mans Land
when it seemed that the whole earth
behind me rose in the air. For a mo-
ment I was stunned and half blinded
by dirt blown into my face. When ]
was able to see I discovered that all
which lay behind me was a mass OF
upturned earth and rock, with here
and there a man shaking himself OF
scrambling out Of it or lying still.
Just two minutes after we went into
their trench the Germans had explod'
ed a mine under their parapet. I have
always believed that in some way or
another they had learned what spot
we were to raid and had prepared for
us. Whether that's true or not, one
thing is certain-that mine blew our
organization, as we would say in Ken
lucky, "plumb to H." And it killed
or disabled more than half of our
party.
Great Confusion.
There was much confusion among
those of us who remained on our feet
Some n gave an order to retire, and
some one countermanded it. More
Germans came out of their dugouts
but instead of s~urrendering as per our
original schedule they threw bombs
among us. 1t became apparent that
we would be killed or captured if we
stuck there and that we wouldn't get
any more prisoners. I looked at my
wrist watch and saw that there re