Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-04-19

hands with Atwel, and went to the
rear to give my name to the officers In
charge of the raiding party.
| was accepted, worse luck.
At 9:45 that night we reported to the
brigade headquarters dugOut to receive
instructions from Old Pepper.
After reaching this dugout we lined
up in a semicircle around him, and he
addressed us as follows:
"All l want you boys to do is to go
over to the German lines tonight, sur
prise them, secure couple of prison
/ erS, and return Immediately. Our ar
tillery has bombarded that section Of
the line for two days and personally
believe that that part of the German
trench is unoccupied, so just get cou-
pie of prisoners and return as quickly
as possible"
The sergeant on my right, In an I'M
dertone whispered to me:
/ "Say, Yank, how are we going to get
a couple of prisoners If the old fool
thinks personally that that part of the
trench is unoccupied, sounds kind Of
, fishy, doesn't 1t mater"
l had funny sinking sensation in
my stomach, and my tin hat felt as II
1t weighed about ton and my enthusi-
/ assn was melting away. Old Pepper
must have heard the sergeant speak
because he turned in his direction and
in laundering voice asked:
"What did you say?"
The sergeant with scarlet look on
his face and his knees trembling,
smartly sauted and answered:
Nothing sir"
Old Pepper said:
"Well, don't say 1t so loudly the next
time"
Then Old Pepper continued:
I'm this section Of the German
trenches there are two or three ma
chine guns which our artillery, in the
last two or three days, has been I'M
|
sector where two of our communica-
ton trenches join the front line, and
as the brigade is to 60 over the top to-
morrow morning want to capture two
or three men from these guns crews,
and from them may be able to obtain
valuable information as to the exact
location Of the guns, and our artillery
will therefore be able to demolish them
before the attack, and thus prevent
our losing a lot Of men while using
these communication trenches to bring
up re-enforcements."
These were the instructions he gave
us:
"Take off your Identification disks,
strip your uniforms Of all numerals,
Insignia, etc., leave your papers with
your captains, because don't want the
Boches to know what regiments are
against them as this would be valuable
Information to them in our attack to-
morrow and / don't want any Of you
to be taken alive. What / want is two
prisoners and If l get them l have a
way which will make them divulge
all necessary information as to their
guns. You have your choice Of two
weapons-you may carry your per-
suaders' or your knuckle knives, and
each man will arm himself with four
Mills bombs, these to be used only in
case of emergency"
A persuader is Tommy's nickname
for club carried by the bombers. 1t
is about two feet long, thin at one end
and very thick at the other. The thick
end Is studded with sharp steel spikes
while through the center of the club
there is a nine-inch lead bar, to give
1t weight and balance. When you get
prisoner all you have to do is just
stick this club up In front of him, and
! believe me, the prisoners patriotism
for Deutschland ueber Allies" fades
away and he very willingly obeys the
orders of his captor. If, however the