The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-05-17
shell is burning in Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for q week.

shell Is burning in Tommy's rear he
can hold his breath for a 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. If you
don't believe me, try 1t just once.
Then another reason for blackening
your face and hands Is that, after you
have entered the German trench ut
night, "white face" means Germans,
"black face" English. Coming around
q 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 to the fire trench Mt
the point we were to 60 e the top
and out in front.
In our zeal were four stretcher bear
ers and a corporal Of the R. A. M. G.
carrying a pouch containing medicines
and frst-aid appliances. Kind Of a
grim reminder to US that our expedi-
ton was not going to be exactly a pic.
mic. The order Of things was reversed.
In civilian life the doctors generally
come first, with the undertakers tag.
ging in the rear and then the insur.
ance man, but in case, the under
takers were leading, with the doctors
trailing behind, minus the insurance
adjnster.
The presence Of the R. A. N. G. men
did not seem to disturb the raiders, be-
cause many a joke made in an under
tone, was passed along the winding
column, as to who would be first to
take q ride on one Of the stretEhers.
This was generally followed by g wish
that, If you were to be the one, the
wound would be a "cushy Blighty
one" n
The stretcher bearers, no doubt,
hoping that, If they did have to carry
anyone to the rear, he would be small
and light. Perhaps they looked at me
when wishing, because I 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 g. lone
~ sentry, who in a whisper would
wish us "the best o. luck, mates" We
would blind at him under our breaths:
that Jonah phrase to rs sounded very
ominous.
Without any casualties the minstrel
troop arrived at Suicide ditch, the
front-line trench. Previously, a wiring
party Of the Royal Engineers had cut
q lane through our barbed wire to en-
able us to get out into No Mans Land.
Crawling through this lane, Jul
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 Land,
because for various reasons it is not
safe to carry ON a heated conversation
a. few yards in front Of Fritz lines.
The officer was on the right Of the
line, while I was on the extreme left.
Two taps from the right would be
passed down the line until I received
them, then I would send back one tap.
The officer, in receiving this n 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
slowly-and 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 Ut
and inlict as many casualties as pos
sible, secure a couple of prisoners, and
then back to your own lines with the
speed clutch open. -Four taps meant,
II have gotten you into a position from
which it is impossible for me to extri-
cate you, so you are OF your own"
After getting Tommy into a mess on
the western front he is generally told
that he is ION his own" This means,
"Save your skin in any way possible"
Tommy loves to be ION his own" behind
the lines, but not during a trench raid.
The star shells from the German
lines were falling In front Of us, there
fore we were safe. After about twen-
ty minutes we entered the star shell
zone. A star shell from the German
lines fell about five yards in the rear
and to the right Of me; we Rugged the
ground land held our breath until 1t
burned out. The smoke from the star
shell Travelled along the ground and
crossed over the middle Of our line.
Some Tommy sneezed.. The smoke had
gotten up his nose. We crouched on
the ground, cursing the offender under
our breath, and waited the volley that
generally ensues when the Germans