Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-04-11

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they cali star shells, sort OF rocket
affair. They are fred from large
pistol about twenty inches long. which
{ is held over the sandbag parapet Of the
trench, and discharged into the air.
These star shells attain a 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 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 oficial name OF the star shell il
a "very-light." very-lights are used
to prevent night surprise attacks on
the trenches. II star shell falls In
front Of you, or between you and the
German lines. you are safe from detec-
tion, as the enemy cannot see you
through the bright curtain Of light.
But II It falls behind you and. as Tom
my says. you get in the star shell
zone" then the fun begins :. you have
to lie fat on your stomach and remain
absolutely motiohless until the light Of
the shell dies out. This takes any
where from forty to seventy seconds.
II you haven't time. to fall to the
ground you must remain absolutely
still in whatever position you were in
when the light exploded; 1t is advis-
able not to breathe. as Fritz has an
eye like an eagle when he thinks you
are knocking at his door. When q star
shell Is burning In Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for week.
You blacken your face and hands so
that the light from the star shells will
not reflect on your pale face. In a
trench raid there is quite SUFFICIENT
reason for Your face to be pale. II you
don't believe me, try it just once.
Then another reason for blackenine
your face and hands Is that, after you
have entered the German trench at
night, white face" means Germans,
sblack face" English. Coming around
o traverse you see q white face In
front Of you. With a prayer and wish.
ing Fritz "the best o luck" you intro
'duce him to your 'persuader" or
knuckle knife.
A little later We arrived at the COM
munication trench named Whisky
street, which led toathei IRE trench at
the point We were q 60 over the top
and out In front.
IN our rear were four stretcher bear
ers and corporal OF the b. A. NJ. O..
carryinga pouch containing medicines
and first.aid appliances. Kind Of a
grim reminder to us that our expedi.
ton was not going to be exactly pic
ME-. The order Of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first. with the pndertakers tag
ging In the rear and then tho insur-
ance: man, but in our case. the, under
takers were leading. with the doctors
trailing behind, minus the Insurance
adjuster.
The presence OF the r. A. NJ. G. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders, be.
cause many a Joke made in ar under
tone, was passed 4olong the winding
column, as, to who woub be first I'd
take a ride on ons of the stretchers.
This was generally followed by 4 wish
that, II you were to be the one, tina
wound would be q "cushy Blighty:
one" bessss 9!9
The stretcher bsersrs, no doubt,
hoping that, if they did have TO carry
anyone tosthe rear, he would he small
and light. Perhaps they looked at me.
when wishing, because could feel an
uncomfortable. boring sensation be.
tween my shoulder blades. They got
their wish all right.
Going up this trench. about every
sixty yards or SO we would pass lone
ly sentry, who in q whisper would
wish us "the best D. luck, mates" We
would blind at hiInsunder our breaths
that Jonah phrase to us sounded very
ominous.
Without any Casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch, the
front-line trench. Previously. wiring
party Of the Royal Engineers had cut
a lane through our barbed wire to en-.
able US to get out into No Mans Land.
Crawling through this lane, our
party Of twenty took up an extended
order formation about one yard apart.
We had a tap code arranged for our
movements while In No Mans Lanl,
because for various reasons 1t is not
safe to carry on a heated conversation
q few yards in front of Fritz lines.
The officer WIS on the right Of the
line, while was On the extreme left.
Two taps from the right would be
passed down the line until received
them, then would send back one tap.
The officer. in receiving this one tap,
would know that his order had gone
down the whole line, had been under
stood. and that the party was ready
to obey the two-tap signal. Two taps
meant that we were to crawl forward
believe me, very slowly
for five yards, and then halt to await
further instructions. Three taps meant,
when you arrived within striking dis
lance Of the German trench. rush it
and infiict as many casualties as pos
sible, secure a couple of prisoners, and
then back to your own lines with the